Sam Gendel – blueblue – LP

“blueblue” is the latest full-length, via Leaving Records, from multi-instrumentalist and all-around vibe wizard, Sam Gendel.

The record is a concise, tightly wound song suite whose 14 tracks each correspond to a pattern within sashiko, a traditional style of Japanese embroidery. This conceit remains playfully ambiguous — to what extent, if at all, is Kagome (籠目, woven bamboo) meant to evoke the pattern of the same name, for example? But there is an intuitive sense, throughout “blueblue“, that Gendel has, in this instance, narrowed his focus.

To say that “blueblue” feels richly textural might be a little on-the-nose, thematically, but alas…it does. There is an intimacy, a humility, and a strength at play here that typifies the work of a master craftsman. Only an artist like Gendel could make it sound so effortless.

Leaving Records

Additional information

Listen Here: Sam Gendel - blueblue