Open Arms to Open Us

by Ben LaMar Gay

Overview

Chicago cornetist, multi-instrumentalist, and all-around musical mad scientist Ben LaMar Gay continues to push the edges of his genre-defying sound on 2021's surrealistically ambitious Open Arms to Open Us. The album follows several years of Gay's already boundary-pushing work with artists like Makaya McCraven and Nicole Mitchell, as well as his own albums like 2018's equally expansive Downtown Castles Can Never Block the Sun. Loosely triangulating the kinetic post-rock of Tortoise, the cross-pollinated pop experimentalism of David Byrne, and the globally minded avant-garde jazz of Don Cherry, Gay has crafted an album with the giddy, disorienting quality of a David Lynch film. That might lead you to think Open Arms to Open Us will confound your ears; on the contrary, Gay pulls you deeper into his Lynchian dreamscapes, contrasting his wildly inventive genre-clashing with soulful hooks and infectious Krautrock grooves. It's a vibe that's especially redolent on the bubbly, evocatively titled "Bang Melodically Bang" in which Gay croons in a serpentine stream of consciousness against a swirling stew of jazzy bass, drums, and electronic bleeps. Yet more vibrant stylistic mash-ups arrive throughout the album as Gay brings on board a slew of guest performers, including pairing with Chicago indie duo Ohmme for the spiraling prog-R&B number "Sometimes I Forget How Summer Looks on You" and British-Rwandan singer Dorothee Munyaneza on the poignantly dissonant African folk song-meets-Steve Reich composition "Nyuzura." We also get equally potent collaborations with vocalist Ayanna Woods, cellist Tomeka Reid, singer/performance artist Onye Ozuzu, and others. Gay more than succeeds in weaving all of these seemingly disparate sounds together, and Open Arms to Open Us has the engaging feeling of walking through a kaleidoscopic multimedia art installation. ~ Matt Collar

Product Details

Release Date:	11/19/2021
Label:	Nonesuch
UPC:	0075597912692

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Ben LaMar Gay   Primary Artist,Organ,Cornet,Vocals,Voices,Zither,Balafon,Beatbox,Beat Box,Pandeiro,Sampling,Triangle,Percussion,Synthesizer,Drums (Bass),Temple Blocks,Synthesizer Bass,Vocals (Background)
Tommaso Moretti   Xylophone,Percussion,Drums
Gira Dahnee   Featured Artist
Angel Bat Dawid   Featured Artist
Adam Zanolini   Oboe,Sax (Soprano)
Johanna Brock   Viola,Violin
Mina   Voices,Choir/Chorus
Leia   Voices,Choir/Chorus
Xoco   Choir/Chorus
A. Martinez   Spoken Word,Featured Artist
Tomeka Reid   Vocals,Voices,Featured Artist,Cello
Dorothee Munyaneza   Voices,Featured Artist
Alyssa   Choir/Chorus
Hannah   Choir/Chorus
Matthew Davis   Tuba,Trombone
Adam   Choir/Chorus
Sima Cunningham   Vocals,Voices
Francesca   Choir/Chorus
Macie Stewart   Vocals,Voices
Rob Frye   Flute,Percussion
Ohmme   Featured Artist
Onye Ozuzu   Voices,Spoken Word,Featured Artist
Ayanna Woods   Vocals,Voices,Bass (Electric),Featured Artist,Vocals (Background)

Technical Credits

Alejandro Ayala   Portraits
Johanna Brock   Lighting
Alyssa Hyde Martinez   Composer
Ayanah Moor   Artwork
Antonio Martinez   Poetry,Composer
Dave Cooley   Mastering
Dorothee Munyaneza   Composer
Traditional   Composer
Bob James   Composer
Craig Hansen   Design
Dave Vettraino   Mixing,Engineer,Producer
Ben LaMar Gay   Composer,Producer,Liner Notes,Programming,Art Manipulation,Drum Programming