Jagjaguwar Launches Second Installment in Year-Long 25th Anniversary Celebration with This is a Mindfulness Drill
New Album from Hypnotic Brass Ensemble features Moses Sumney, Perfume Genius & Sharon Van Etten Reimagining Richard Youngs’ Sapphie
Additional Initiatives Include Partnership with Mindfulness Platform Open, Plus Meditation Version by Emily A. Sprague
Listen to “Soon It Will Be Fire” (feat. Moses Sumney)
Today, Jagjaguwar reveals the next phase of their 25th Anniversary, with the resurrection of another mantra from the label’s storied history: This is a Mindfulness Drill. Out June 25th, This is a Mindfulness Drill encompasses the second installment of the record label’s commemorative Jag Quarterly series — a year-long, four-part celebration of collaboration and community — and it features a fully reimagined reissue of Richard Youngs’ 1998 album, Sapphie. In this new take on a definitive moment of the Jagjaguwar catalog, the Hypnotic Brass Ensemble transforms Youngs’ intimate compositions, originally recorded with just classical guitar and voice, expanding the instrumentation to include affecting and intuitive arrangements of horns and more. Moses Sumney, Perfume Genius and Sharon Van Etten pay homage to Youngs’ plaintive vocal performances, delivering remarkable, reinterpreted renditions to each of Sapphie’s three torch songs.
Listen to “Soon It Will Be Fire” (feat. Moses Sumney), the nine and a half-minute opening to This is a Mindfulness Drill, and watch the new visualizer here:
https://jagjag.co/soon-it-will-be-fire
In the spirit of This is a Mindfulness Drill, Jagjaguwar has partnered with mindfulness platform Open to develop exclusive, deep listening experiences around the music and mantra. “Soon It Will Be Fire” premiered through a guided meditation on the social space, and a second track will be debuted in a similar fashion later this quarter. Jagjaguwar has also announced a Meditation Version of the album created by ambient artist Emily A. Sprague. Building on Hypnotic Brass Ensemble’s instrumentals, Sprague transforms This is a Mindfulness Drill into a 42-minute looping piece of cycles and drones, slowly pulling listeners like a gentle tide. Her piece will be available via cassette on June 25th, in addition to the This is a Mindfulness Drill LP.
Pre-Order This is a Mindfulness Drill Here:
https://xag.jagjag.co/mindfulness-drill
When Jagjaguwar first discovered and released Sapphie as a CD in 2000, they called it “one of the most important unheard treasures of the last half decade of the twentieth century.” At the time, the album was Richard Youngs’ fifth solo LP, and although the discography of the avant-garde Glaswegian has grown to over 100 titles, Sapphie remains a meditative, centering force for many at Jagjaguwar. As A&R Director Eric Deines describes, its three, 37-minute acoustic tracks have provided “a place we go for a rare little bit of peace, or maybe even for a good, private, cleansing cry.”
From Richard Youngs to Bon Iver, Dinosaur Jr., Lonnie Holley, Angel Olsen, Moses Sumney, Jamila Woods, Sharon Van Etten, Unknown Mortal Orchestra and dozens of others, Jagjaguwar has been championing seemingly superhuman singers and songwriters since Darius Van Arman founded the company in 1996. In marking its 25th Anniversary through the many endeavors of Jag Quarterly, Jagjaguwar honors the world-building ethos that has defined their decades of growth and influence, as they continue to share and collaborate, create art and community, and build towards the future together.
Each edition of Jag Quarterly will be guided by a different mantra from Jagjaguwar’s past. The four projects include their own distinct collections of new music, partnerships and physical mediums, uniting artists from within and outside of the Jagjaguwar family. All of the installments arrive with new actions and energies, and “This is a Mindfulness Drill” means to be relentlessly present. It is the way that Deines and the label listen to Sapphie, like a lonely traveler experiencing the unfamiliarity of a foreign country.
This is a Mindfulness Drill follows Dilate Your Heart, the inaugural Jag Quarterly collection released in March, which pairs the poetry of acclaimed author and educator Ross Gay with music from Bon Iver, Mary Lattimore, Angel Bat Dawid, Gia Margaret and Sam Gendel. It embodies a mission to make welcome new faces and concepts, and since its release the collaboration has extended to a limited edition wine, visual art, a special conversation with Jamila Woods and beyond.
Listen to Dilate Your Heart:
https://rossgay.ffm.to/dilate-your-heart
Learn more about Jag Quarterly, and stay updated on all the happenings of JAG25 in the ongoing, online XagXaguVar zine:
Jagjaguwar will share additional initiatives related to This is a Mindfulness Drill soon, and will unveil the next two Jag Quarterly projects – Join the Ritual and Sentimental Noise – later in 2021. Stay tuned.
This is a Mindfulness Drill Tracklist
“Soon It Will Be Fire” (feat. Moses Sumney)
“A Fullness of Light in Your Soul” (feat. Perfume Genius)
“The Graze of Days” (feat. Sharon Van Etten)
Follow Jagjaguwar
