{"id":231,"date":"2012-05-02T20:05:20","date_gmt":"2012-05-02T20:05:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/apsaramusic.com\/?p=231"},"modified":"2023-04-30T16:54:20","modified_gmt":"2023-04-30T16:54:20","slug":"jef-stott-arcana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/apsaramusic.com\/?p=231","title":{"rendered":"POWER AND PEACE: JEF STOTT ACHIEVES PERFECT BALANCE WITH ARCANA"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jef Stott’s new album<\/em> Arcana invites listeners to follow a strong, snaking bass line to a place of skillfully balanced power and peace.
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\nA female voice mingles with a buzzing bass line for a few moments and then crescendos through and above it on “Deep Playa,” the opening track of Arcana<\/em>, San Francisco-based musician Jef Stott’s<\/a><\/strong> latest album.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Throughout the entire recording, Stott merges vocals and acoustic instrumentals\u2014at once ageless- and ancient-sounding\u2014with electronic beats and percussion loops. He pairs the future with the past and strength with sensitivity, revisiting many previous collaborations along the way.<\/p>\n

“This album is like a scrapbook of my whole career,” said Stott during a recent interview. “Sonja Drakulich from Stellamara is on it, for example, and she and I hadn’t worked together in more than 10 years. There’s also some motifs from earlier pieces that I’ve written.”<\/p>\n

Stott, who has been releasing albums since the late 1990s, never completely stepped away from music while pursuing a career path in a different direction and a master’s degree in interactive media. But Arcana<\/em> represents his renewed focus on music after life dealt him a series of blows, and symbolizes his coming back to the beginning and re-gathering strength.<\/p>\n

“The sound of the album is me artistically and personally reclaiming space,” he said. “It’s letting the world know\u2014and letting myself know\u2014that I’m still here and that I still have something to say.”<\/p>\n

Arcana<\/em> draws on Stott’s years of expertise in Middle Eastern music, including studying with oud virtuoso Hamza El Din, and on his success as a DJ at festivals like Burning Man. But at the album’s heart is actually a much earlier and simpler musical experience.<\/p>\n

“I started playing guitar when I was around 11 or 12 years old, and went through all of the permutations\u2014punk rock, heavy metal, and all sorts of different things,” he said. “For Arcana<\/em>, I started working with acoustic guitar.”<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Jef Stott playing oud (courtesy the artist)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Stott built upon this six-string foundation with lush, synthesized sounds and with skillful juxtapositions and looped recordings of talented friends like singer MC Rai, tabla player Jason McKenzie, and multi-instrumentalist Eliyahu Sills. On “Hero’s Return,” for example, Stott interspersed segments of Sills playing bansuri, an Indian bamboo devotional flute, throughout the track.<\/p>\n

“There was a lot of editing in the bansuri parts because I didn’t want it to overpower the song,” he said. “I had to find just little pockets and phrases that were going to complement the melody.”<\/p>\n

The intense bass line from “Deep Playa” snakes its way throughout Arcana<\/em>, stopping short of the final track “White Tara.” Compared with his earlier recordings, the powerful sound of Arcana<\/em> may take some listeners by surprise.<\/p>\n

“I kind of stepped out of the shadows on this one,” Stott said. “What I was trying to do was just to be really open and lay it all out emotionally\u2014that was my main goal with this record.”<\/p>\n

Even with the bumpy road Stott encountered before recording the album\u2014or perhaps because of it\u2014Arcana<\/em> presents a perfect balance of power and peace. It tells the story of coming full circle, and of honoring the past while welcoming the future.<\/p>\n

Arcana is now available on Six Degrees Records<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

“Deep Playa” from\u00c2\u00a0Arcana<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n