Tag Archives: matt borghi

Matt Borghi & Michael Teager’s ‘Convocation’ Out Now!

Convocation, an ambient album I recorded with my friend and partner Matt Borghi, is out now. We recorded this in early 2012 and are very proud of what we captured. Aside from some of Matt’s post-production work, all of the source material was recorded in one take over the course of a single evening. Just the two of us, our instruments and gear, and a recording environment provided by Dan Jaquint‘s The Fort.

The goal this particular evening wasn’t necessarily to record an album, but just to capture some musical dialogue. We had recently gone back to exploring our improvisatory ambient work after many months spent focusing on Teag & PK‘s indie catalogue. Our “rehearsing” consisted of a few conversations and a couple emails.

Below is the official announcement from Slo.Bor Media, the label we’re releasing it through. You’ll be able to find Convocation through all the usual places; more info at the bottom.

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Convocation is the work of ambient composer Matt Borghi (www.mattborghi.com) and saxophonist Michael Teager (www.michaelteager.com). Recorded as a series of improvisational structures in spring of 2012, this is the first recording that Borghi and Teager have done together after a half-decade of working together.

With Convocation, Borghi brings in spacious guitar textures to create a harmonic fabric for Teager to lay out his saxophone playing with subtlety and nuance. With a background in classical and jazz saxophone, Teager brings a wide palette of influences to the music. Listeners will hear aspects of Jan Garbarek, John Coltrane and Dave Liebman that’s juxtaposed over Borghi’s pastoral guitar sounds that have more of their timbral origins in the work of Claude Debussy or Ralph Vaughan-Williams than they do other contemporary ambient guitarists.

Convocation, as a whole, aims to create a deep and timbrally interesting listening experience while also bringing together an interesting musical pairing and improvisational process. Saxophone and ambient music have never sounded like this, and Borghi & Teager attribute this to their friendship, their approach to the work and their diverse musical interests.

Buy the hardcopy CD here now, or you can visit online retailers such as Amazon, iTunes, or eMusic to name just a few…

News Update: Recording, Teaching, Blogging

The last couple months have been pretty busy, and that’s a good thing. I wanted to send a dispatch to keep everyone updated:

 

— Matt Borghi and I are currently finalizing a recording we made last month. I don’t want to share too much about it until it’s ready for release, but suffice it to say we’re quite happy with it. We’re excited to eventually share it with the public.
— I also laid down some tracks for Brooklyn-based White Gold Scorpio. I haven’t yet heard the final product, but what I’ve heard thus far is really good. I’ll offer up more info when it’s ready for release.
— And I might as well remind you to check out The Fencemen‘s Times Are Alright if you haven’t yet. The album really is great, and I’d be saying that if I wasn’t involved with it.
— MT-Headed Blog continues to grow and truck along. Do pay a visit if you haven’t in a while. The posts will be less frequent over the next month while I’m teaching abroad, but it wont’ stay completely dormant.
— Finally, as mentioned, I’m teaching in Bregenz, Austria until the first part of August for MSU’s Office of Study Abroad. I’m looking forward to another great program.
— I’ve already lined up a number of gigs for August and September, a few of which are posted on my Itinerary. The rest will be posted once dates and times are finalized. I’ll be immediately marking my return home by playing with The Fencemen, followed by shows with First Flight, more Fencemen, keyboardist Levi Taylor, and West Michigan Symphony. and more.

The Fencemen, Teag & PK

I’ve recently been collaborating with The Fencemen, a solid, gritty rock band – too much for one hand – based here in Lansing. We met virtually through a mutual friend and I recorded some sax for their forthcoming album Times Are Alright. I sat in with the guys last month at Lansing’s The Loft (some video here), and I’ll be doing so again this coming Saturday at Mac’s Bar in Lansing. If rock is your bag, this band is not to be missed. I grew up on rock and in a way it’s sort of a home base for me, so this has been a real treat. I’ve had a great time getting to know and make music with them. I should be sitting in some more beyond this weekend so be sure to check my itinerary for updates. And definitely hit up their website.

Teag & PK continues to surprise both Matt and myself (in good ways). After going full bore into the singer/songwriter direction (including our 3-Way Singles Club edition and some other recording) we unexpectedly dove back into the ambient explorations a couple weeks ago at East Lansing’s Wanderer’s Teahouse. Matt reflected on the evening . We intend to hit the studio to capture some sonic escapades soon. We have a show at the end of the month at Jackson Coffee Co. if you’re in the area.

And of course I should shamelessly plug MT-Headed Blog while I’m at it. Subscribe via RSS if that’s your thing.

2012 has thus far proved to be another productive year, and it’s been so great to be making music back in Michigan. There are some June dates in the works before I head to Austria to teach throughout July, and I have an eclectic potential series of gigs already in the works for my return in August. Stay tuned.