Two experimental music icons are teaming up for a collaborative LP. Translation From Unspecified brings together David Grubbs (Gastr Del Sol, Bastro, Squirrel Bait, etc.) and Jan St. Werner (Mouse On Mars, Microstoria, etc.). The collaboration is the result of a years-long exchange of ideas, leading up to a recording session just before the pandemic. As Drag City explains:

In January 2020 Grubbs arrived at Mouse On Mars’ Berlin studio Paraverse with a guitar and “Translation From Unspecified,” an open-ended, seemingly self-generating poem suggesting AI, one of the themes in St. Werner’s recent work. This became the side-length title track, a winding corridor of electronic fanfares and spontaneous musical miniatures urging Grubbs’s slow and steady recitation to grow wings and graduate into song.

“Translation From Unspecified” runs past the 18-minute mark, but a short excerpt is being circulated online to promote the record. The other side of the album is filled up with another lengthy composition, the 19-minute “Soixante Ooze.” Preview the A-side title track below.

Translation From Unspecified is out 5/20 on Grubbs’ Drag City sub-label Blue Chopsticks. Pre-order it here.