John Hayes – “Nowness”
“Allow your mind to experience inner balance and peace. Feel free floating, direct your thoughts to the spiritual realm and realize the touch with another civilization. This is the beginning of a journey to other worlds with John Hayes.”
“Позвольте вашему сознаниюощутить внутренний покой, баланс и умиротворение. Почувствуйте свободное парение, направьте ваши мысли в духовную сферу и ощутите прикосновение с другой цивилизацией. Это — начало путешествия в иные миры вместе с -John Hayes-.”
-Nagamag.com
Today, Minneapolis multi-instrumentalist and producer John Hayes signs to Nettwerk Records (The Album Leaf, Alaskan Tapes, Neighborhood Libraries) and makes his debut with the label, sharing new single “Nowness.” Known for expansive, atmospheric sounds, his delicate blend of ambient and electronic music has garnered fans around the world including KEXP, BBC, and James Heather’s Soho Radio Show ‘Moving Sounds.’ Listen to “Nowness” on all digital retailers
The roots of the song came about at the start of the pandemic as Hayes was jamming with a friend.
“We were playing around with different arpeggios and different delay effects on my Moog Sub 37,” John reflects. “More just experimenting than anything else... I finally came across something that I quite enjoyed and decided, ‘why not record this?’ For a long time, it just existed as this arpeggio you hear playing throughout the song. I would revisit it here and there but never had any plans to do much. I really enjoyed it existing as just this private little piece that I could revisit here and there. Once the pandemic hit, I had a lot of time on my hands, and I decided to elaborate on it a bit. I started to add layers on my Minilogue [synthesizer] that I though emulated strings. I wanted it to be this blend where you can’t tell exactly what is artificial and what is real. This idea of the artificial world online that we dive into each day and the real world that is right out of our window being blended became something that I started to think about quite a bit. This song started to take on that form as I continued to tinker with it. I wanted there to be a blend where it becomes hard to tell where the synthesizers and the real strings begin and end, all while this arpeggio keeps dancing in the background. The artificial world and real-world meeting in music, and shaking hands."
Reviewed by Nagamag on March 12, 2022