Tyondai Braxton used to be the frontman of the experimental rock icons Battles, but he's kept up a busy and prolific solo career since his departure in 2010. His most recent solo album Telekinesis — his orchestral piece that also included electric guitars, electronics, and a choir — arrived in 2022, and today he's announced its official follow up Splayed Werks. Before the full thing arrives in August, its lead singles "UnFS" and "Piiano" are out now.
A 15-song collection of electronic and electroacoustic compositions, Splayed Werks has been years in the making, with older singles like 2021's "Dia" and "Phonolydian" landing on the tracklist. It also marks his first proper full-length since becoming a father and a professor of music composition at Princeton. He explains in a press release:
My philosophy on releasing music has changed a lot, but also my idea of what it means to be an artist. The important part of the artist’s job is to archive what you're doing — what you're excited about, what you're dealing with, what you're reacting against — putting that in a form that documents your life... At the moment, we're all looking out into the world, dealing with the helplessness in a time of war, media over-saturation. What's the role of the artist in that? I think the archiving of any particular creative idea in the moment is one of the most significant things an artist can do now. Things I previously thought were important — "this piece means so much to me," or "listen to how this chord arrived" — are actually much less so.
Check out "UnFS" and "Piiano" below.
TRACKLIST:
01 "Bell Smear"
02 "Multiplay"
03 "Dia"
04 "Vali"
05 "UnFS"
06 "Salt Point"
07 "Oslo"
08 "Realistic Water"
09 "Multiplay II"
10 "Phonolydian"
11 "Piiano"
12 "4 Zones"
13 "Nimble FX"
14 "Clouds Of"
15 "K Space"
Splayed Werks is out 8/21 via Erased Tapes.
