PhiPsonics - Octava

Gondwana Records are proud to announce Octava the sublimely beautiful second album from immersive LA deep-jazz masters Phi-Psonics.

Phi-Psonics is a meditative, deeply soulful immersive jazz group from Los Angeles, led by bassist Seth Ford-Young and featuring Sylvain Carton on woodwinds, Mitchell Yoshida on electric piano, and Josh Collazo on drums. Their deeply soulful music draws on jazz and classical influences together with Ford-Young’s own musical experiences, relationships, and his introduction to spirituality, yoga and philosophy at a young age, along the way they create something uniquely their own, beautiful landscapes for your thoughts to roam within.

Octava is their second album and like the Cradle before it’s emotional, introspective, and unusual approach to spiritual jazz offers us a beautiful space for uplifting contemplation and wields a quiet power to create a spiritually inspiring world of timeless, warm melodies and instrumental exploration for the deep listener. Originally from Washington DC area, Ford-Young moved to California in the early 90s and fell in love with the deep sounds of the upright bass and the music of Charles Mingus, John and Alice Coltrane, and Duke Ellington along with Bach, Chopin, Pärt, and Satie. He immersed himself deeply in music and keen to learn combined intense personal study with collaborations, tours, and recordings with artists such as Tom Waits, Beats Antique, and John Vanderslice. In 2010 he moved from the San Francisco Bay area to the Los Angeles hills and continued his explorations and although Phi-Psonics music has been described as spiritual jazz, or deep immersive listening music but this is music for fans of Radiohead and The Invisible as well as fans of Alice Coltrane and Pharaoh Sanders.

The album opens with Invocation as we embark on our journey. The repeated melody at the end feels ancient but also contains an energy that is driving forward. An Offering is a humble but beautiful tune full of texture and colour. We Walk in the Gardens of Our Ancestors shows clear eyed reverence for those who came before us as we walk through their gardens. Green Dreams is a tender, gentle love song to Seth’s wife. Where We've Been Is a group improvisation centered around the drums. Lunar Reflections is a romantic ode to nature that draws inspiration from where Seth lives a green oasis within the sprawling cityscapes of LA. Becoming draws on memories of the dark days of 2020 but this was a period that was also full of beauty and light and this song elevates and uplifts us. Finally New You offers hope of change.