MICHAEL MANRING, one of the most versatile and vibrant bass players on the modern scene, follows up his acclaimed 2022 album Small Moments with the all new, mostly instrumental Subtext – and today, its majestic title track spins off as a single, a brief but so alluring taste of the magic to come.
SINGLE: https://orcd.co/michaelmanring_subtext
Manring’s musical background should need little introduction. As an in-house musician for new age label Windham Hill, he appeared on many of that label’s most acclaimed releases – Bass Player magazine readers voted him Bassist of the Year in 1994.
He teamed up with Alex Skolnick (Testament) and Tim Alexander (Primus) in Attention Deficit – whose own career will be coming under the Cleopatra microscope later this year. Later, in the 1990s, he was a member of the acclaimed Seattle-based band Sadhappy.
For Subtext, too, he is joined by a remarkably gifted coterie of guests… and friends! Craig Ochikubo handles keyboard and synthesizers; Al Garcia takes care of electric guitars; and multi-instrumentalist Christopher Garcia is responsible for (deep breath) drumset, cajon, marimba, North Indian tabla, South Indian kanjira, caxixi, Mesoamerican clay ehecatls, double and triple Mesoamerican chambered flutes, gongs, temple bowls and voice.
“It was Chris Garcia, says Michael, who “really made this album happen. Chris is a drummer and percussionist I’ve played with for about 20 years in several projects. When folks would chat with us after shows in various parts of the world, he often heard people ask me about an instrumental rock album I did in 1994 called Thonk. It was a bit of a departure for me as I had been working mostly in the New Age and singer-songwriter worlds in those days, but it seems to have developed a bit of a cult following over the years.
“Chris suggested we try something similar with some of his friends from the LA area. Since Thonk was a solo album, I pretty much called the shots for it, but I wanted to do things a bit differently this time and Subtext is a collaborative effort. I’m grateful for everyone’s input and it was a lot of fun sharing ideas.”
He acknowledges that there are similarities between the two albums, but also the two albums he recorded with Attention Deficit. But he adds, too, his work with Sadhappy, “and a recent project called Dystopia with fellow bassists Stuart Hamm and Alberto Rigoni. At this point I’ve done quite a few projects in the instrumental rock world.”
That said, Subtext itself is one of the most eclectic, yet dynamic releases of the year so far, a vivid collection of eight originals, topped off by a remarkable cover of Michael Hedges’ “Watching My Life Go By,” the title track from the so-called “heavy-mental” guitarist’s 1985 solo album.
“I’ve never been too concerned about genres. It seems to me there’s interesting music in every category, and for me it’s always been about content rather than the box something fits in. Although I was trained as a jazz musician, I’ve found myself working kind of all over the map — New Age, avant-garde, fusion, progressive, folk, etc. I enjoy it all and working in these various styles inspires me, but it can be confusing for listeners!
“Although an album like this is far from pop music, I hope fans of deep listening will enjoy it. I gave a lot of thought to the compositional structures and there are a fair number of ‘Easter eggs’ for folks to discover if they’re open to it.”
–CD: https://cleorecs.com/products/michael-manring-and-friends-subtext-cd
–DIGITAL: https://orcd.co/michaelmanring_subtextalbum
Track listing
1) Subtext
2) Dream Maze
3) Malichu
4) Falls the Shadow
5) The Circle Closes
6) Selene
7) Convergence
8) Before the Flood
9) Watching My Life Go By (4:01)
(Michael Hedges, Naked Ear Music, BMI)
