
It was fascinating watching the rise of Hiatus Kaiyote over ten years ago, as they transcended their Melbourne roots, helped by their city’s moment in the sun and its Wondercore Island Mixtape snapshots, to being one of the finest, futuristic soul jazz outfits about with an incendiary live show. Whilst not letting her bandmates down, main woman Allysha Joy soon developed her more focussed nu-soul solo project, and her new LP is yet another modern soul gem. That voice!
Correction: Thanks to Sjors P for correcting my misconception that Allysha Joy was the front woman of Hiatus Kaiyote, she is in fact the front woman of Melbourne’s 30/70 and Nai Palm is the Hiatus Kaiyote singer. Needless to say I have punished the offending writer and the editorial team.
What The Release Notes Say
'The Making of Silk' is about a new understanding of the meaning of love.
Joy says, "it's the kind of love that bell hooks writes about, that lives in the poetry of Mary Oliver, Hafiz and the passionate dreaming of a Koryusai painting. It’s about a love that is compassionate, that lives in open conversation, deep listening, the front lines of social movement and would never seek to stifle the light in you. It’s about accepting our aloneness, the impermanence of all things and still forever wanting to prove it wrong, to say that I understand that all things change, all things end, hurt exists, but I will love regardless."
Riding on the waves of rich string arrangements, layers of vocal harmony and the raw poeticism she is known for, Allysha Joy's next album is embodying love.
Credits
This music was written and produced by Allysha Joy and is the result of many years of shared learning, listening and living alongside incredibly beautiful, musical people.
Allysha Joy : Vocals, Rhodes & Percussion
Finn Rees : Synths & Clavinet. Rhodes : Track 1
Matthew Hayes : Bass
Ziggy Zeitgeist : Drums : Track 6,8,9,11
Hudson Whitlock : Drums : Track 7 & 10
Lucky Pereira : Drums & Congas : Track 1,2,3,4,5
Sam Michnik : Additional Drums : Track 11
Jansen Santana : Congas : Track 7 & 9
Oscar Jerome : Guitar : Track 1,5
Annalisa Fernandez : Backing Vocals. Voice Note : Track 3
Jace XL : Backing Vocals : Track 1,4,5,11
douniah : Voice note : Track 8
Abbey Howlett : Backing Vocals : Track 4,7
Max Dowling : Sax & Flute : Track 3
Chloe Sanger, Lewis Reed, Robyn Blann & Eunise Cheng : Strings
Allysha Joy & Finn Rees : String arrangements
Finn Rees : Engineering strings at Dune Castle Studio
Gloria Glockenspiel : Track 6,7
Benjamin Vukelić : Mix Engineer
Allysha Joy : Producer
Henry Jenkins : Engineer : tracks 1,2,3,4,5,7,10
Max Dowling : Co-Producer : tracks 1,2,3,4,5,10
Lewis Moody : Engineer : tracks 6,8,9,11
Noel Summerville : Mastering
Recorded at : Rolling Stock & Hopestreet Studios
Matt Bailey : Album Layout
Jess Brohier : Photography
Thank you to 30/70 Collective, First Word Records, Carly Martin-Gammon and Chris Dunn. Thank you to all my beautifully supportive friends and family, every single one of you that has supported me on this journey with your heart, your ears, your love, a home, a piano or studio on the road. Thank you to the selectors and DJs and to everyone that played or assisted in the creation of this work — thank you for your patience, trust and care.
I acknowledge that this music was written and recorded on stolen land, the land of the Wurundjeri peoples of the Kulin Nation. I pay my respects to Elders past and present and to all First Nations People. I acknowledge the ongoing battle for sovereignty, the battle for freedom of expression, culture, language, movement, connection with art, family and country. I acknowledge the spirit that lives within this music and the long history of poetry, music, art and resistance that inspired so much of this expression. It is with deep respect that I create and share this work.
Move with love, care, poetic fire and compassion.
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