Jessica Ackerley Shares Single "Conclusion: In Four Micro Parts" from Upcoming Album

Today Jessica Ackerley shared their new single "Conclusion: In Four Micro Parts." This micro suite covers a diverse range of terrain in its short nine-minute span. Right out of the gate comes a ripping guitar solo inspired by Avant/free jazz improvisers, setting the tone for the piece's eclectic, winding composition. The transition from rock buildup to collective improvisation and simmering, chiming sleigh bells might seem like an odd juxtaposition, yet the band maneuvers seamlessly from section to section without hesitation.

The single is the latest piece shared from the guitarist's distinctive LP, All Of the Colours Are Singing, due out August 16th, 2024 on AKP Recordings. Reflecting significant changes and transitions in Ackerley's life over the past three years, the album "is a documentation of my navigation amongst joy, change, uncertainty, and grief," they say. "I wanted to capture beautiful dynamic gestures and viscerally emotive sounds in response to it all."

The guitarist also announced their upcoming fall tour across Canada and the West Coast. See below for details.

TOUR DATES

• October 26th - Edmonton, AB @ Yardbird Suite
• October 27th - Calgary, AB @ Highline Brewery
• October 29th - Nelson, B.C. @ Selkirk College
• October 30th - Seattle, WA @ Earshot Festival: The Royal Room
• October 31st - Victoria, B.C. @ Orange Light
• November 1st - Vancouver B.C. @ TBD
• November 2nd - Los Angeles, CA @ 2220 Arts Archives

ABOUT ALL OF THE COLOURS ARE SINGING

Jessica Ackerley has spent the last decade carving out ample space for their sonic vision to flourish: vacillating between more composed jazz on their earliest albums Coalesce (2017) and New Kind of Water (2018), working with their NYC noise rock band ESSi,

and the free improvisation they’ve focused on since 2020 with venerable collaborators like Patrick Shiroishi in supergroups such as SSWAN: Invisibility is an Unnatural Disaster (2022) and with free jazz legend, Daniel Carter, in Friendship: Lucid Shared Dreams and Time Travel (2021). But Ackerley had a very specific vision for All of the Colours Are Singing, which they hashed out in a slow and refined process of composing and editing the work over the last two years.

Following their move to Hawai’i in 2021, Ackerley began to work with acrylic paints. When they’d be back in NYC for performances, it was a joy to actually have the free time during the day they rarely had as a city resident. In the course of checking out art galleries, Ackerley came upon an exhibit of Georgia O’Keefe’s work at the MoMA, titled after a quote from O’Keefe: “to see takes time.” Highlighting the charcoal, pencil, watercolor, and pastel works O’Keefe made developing her unique vision and hitting her stride later in her career, it granted Ackerley an inspiring glimpse into the artist’s working methods and a framework for their own trajectory. Painting is also tied to Ackerley’s time taking art classes with their first friend in Hawai’i, who was diagnosed with cancer while Ackerley was working on the string arrangements for this album last spring. Their friendship blossomed from the early composing stages of the music.

It’s apparent that the knowledge Ackerley is gathering from painting is altering and emboldening their approach to music–the lush strings, everything going so vivid, so vibrant. But there are other factors: the natural beauty of Hawai’i and the increase in time for self-reflection in nature there, as well as being super focused on the work and not having a lot of distractions from bustling big city life. This environment enabled them to truly incubate and understand on a deep level what they were trying to do with this music.

Building on O’Keefe’s observation, perhaps it not only takes time to see, but many different vantage points and directions. Every road Ackerley has been traveling down converges in a beautiful hybridity on All of the Colours Are Singing, a musical document which clarifies beauty as convulsive and chaotic as often as it is mellow and winding