‘Milk Symposium’ by White Manna | New Album, ‘First Welcome’
Exclusive track premiere of ‘Milk Symposium’ by White Manna taken from their upcoming album, ‘First Welcome’, out December 10, 2021 via Centripetal Force and Cardinal Fuzz.
‘First Welcome’ is the eighth full length album from the ever evolving, veteran psychonauts White Manna. The album is being presented in a 500 copy vinyl pressing and will be made available for preorder on November 12th. The official release date is December 10th.
David Johnson of White Manna says:
“The track ‘Milk Symposium’ began at Anthony Talibi’s 3D Light Studio, just before COVID hit. Anthony and I spent some sessions together, just the two of us, mostly improvising and often each of us playing synthesizers or organs. The drum machine track was the preliminary launch pad, and we ran that through a delay pedal. Once we started playing over the drums together, the song quickly took on this “milky” dub sound. We put the song on the shelf for a couple of months, and then COVID came along and shut everything down. Anthony and I still worked on the song, but in different locations. The song morphed over time, but it really did become a symposium about milky sounds. The “blessings” of sending tracks via email. I recorded a few synth tracks and a guitar track while spending time in Costa Rica, and Anthony did the final mix at his place. To me, it sounds like Roedelius remixing a Spacemen 3 track. A milky affair of sorts.”
‘First Welcome’ is an album that features warbled country leanings, airy blooms of ambience, and occasional hints of a German yesteryear, all implemented into the band’ s signature hazy and spacey mosaic of sound. None of these developments are unexpected, as they do build off of their previous album ‘ARC’, but here we see the band expand these elements and really make them their own.
I t should be noted that ‘First Welcome’ is a product of the COVID era, with much of the recording happening in quarantine or while socially distanced. The band’s process relied on communicating via email and sending music files back and forth. For White Manna this made the world of COVID both more fun and challenging, and they used the opportunity to get friends in different places to overdub tracks. Backing vocals and slide guitar were recorded while camping in the Mojave Desert. The saxophone was recorded in Liverpool. England. The trumpet sounds and some of the passages on the Rhodes were laid down in Northern California, and much of the vocals, piano, and synthesizer tracks were recorded in Costa Rica. As a result, the sound of ‘First Welcome’ is reflective of the circumstances of these contemplative times.
White Manna Facebook / Instagram / Bandcamp
Centripetal Force Official Website / Facebook / Instagram / Twitter / Bandcamp
Cardinal Fuzz Facebook / Twitter / Bandcamp / Bigcartel
Various Artists – ‘Stay Holy: Sonic Attack at Liverpool Psych Fest’ (2015)
