Balsams

Glitterbeat's instrumental music imprint tak: til, is undertaking an exciting label partnership with VDSQ Records, the acclaimed US based label specializing in "21st Century Guitar".Chuck Johnson is a composer and musician residing in Oakland, CA. His 2017 album Balsams ended up on albums-of-the-year lists at Uncut, Pitchfork, and NPR. Tak: til is releasing Balsams for the first time ever on CD - with two additional tracks. Chuck Johnson's pedal steel guitar debut delivers a group of pieces for ambient meditation. Recorded in a single two-week session during late 2015, and subsequently arranged/constructed/treated in the studio in spring of 2016, Balsams is awash in layers of tonal perfection. The album constantly evolves while maintaining a unified approach across both sides. Balsams is a record that lives outside genre and time, one that continues to develop with each successive deep listen. A unique expansion in the VDSQ catalog, Balsams is an album created in the hopes of providing solace and regenerative energies for many years to come."On this expressive and singular new album, Chuck Johnson gives his steel pedal guitar the starring role, and creates a kind of country post-rock. It feels like a universe unto itself." -Pitchfork (8.1)"Chuck Johnson often writes for solo acoustic guitar, but lately has been stretching his ambient composition skills with the tenderness heard throughout his discography. For Balsams, he layers loops of pedal steel guitar that rest on the edge of dusk, just when the tumult of day subsides and seeps into the soul's reflection." -NPR (Best Music of 2017)