SML’s Jeremiah Chiu Readies New Album Edge Conditions

Jeremiah Chiu, the synthesist at the heart of the Los Angeles improv quintet SML, has unveiled his debut solo LP as a composer. Due out via International Anthem, Edge Conditions will be available via physical editions and digital download on October 9, but won’t hit DSPs until October 27. Lead single “Plastic Mind / Elastic Machines” features field recordings from Takako Minekawa and a beat from Chiu’s SML bandmate Booker Stardrum, and arrives with a video drawn and animated by Korey Martin (who also illustrated the album cover). Check it out below.

The single, Chiu says in a press release, “was truly the guiding beacon for the entire record. Prior to rediscovering this track, I imagined an album with a more defined ensemble that was less drum-centric. Once I heard this, I felt drawn to follow this direction and let it take me wherever it was headed.” Korey Martin, Chiu adds, uses “repetitive visual motifs” to “create a hypnotic quality that perfectly accompanies the song.”

Other players on the record include Chiu’s longtime collaborator Marta Sofia Honer, percussionist Ben Lumsdaine, trumpeter Marquis Hill, Resavoir’s Will Miller, and, on saxophone and field recordings, Patrick Shiroishi. Chiu has also teased a U.S. tour, of which dates at Chicago’s Plantasia, New York’s Public Records, and Los Angeles’ Zebulon are confirmed. See the poster below.

Read the review of SML’s new, semi-self-titled album Spontaneous Music Live, named Best New Music.