Zaftig Lime by Milieu

'Zaftig Lime' is the first single for/from the forthcoming new Milieu album Watch the Head and carries with it three non-album tracks as b-sides, which hopefully give listeners some idea of what to expect from the album, even though (paradoxically) b-sides are outtakes and therefore recordings that did not make the cut for qualitative reasons, so in this sense, your mileage may vary.

Pedantic needling aside, 'Zaftig Lime' is full to the brim with all the Summer Milieu tropes that you probably know by now - happy-sad melodies, bouncy rhythms with lots of stimmy detailing, loads of basslines that blur the boundaries between lead and support instruments, sun-baked chords emanating from tape-warped keyboards. Altogether, there isn't anything entirely new offered here at a topical level, and that suits me just fine. Comfort and familiarity come at the cost of not breaking new ground at every turn, but with that said, I do feel like a lot of the progress I've tried to make with my compositions is happening at a deeper level, affecting arrangements and metric designs and spatial definitions. Who knows? (The Shadow knows)

As I write this now, on the last day of July, I am still in the midst of shaping and finishing Watch the Head, which I wanted to be completed by now, but it's difficult to give yourself constant challenges in what your work *is* and have those fairly align with when that work *happens* - so, onward we go. 'Zaftig Lime' is more of a progress report than an extract from a completed work, something etched into a tree in this winding forest that's placed here just as much for my navigational sake as it is for your orientation.

So, please enjoy this scatterbrained set of Summer jams. I'm fond of each of them for one or several reasons, but aside from the title track, these are little scenic jaunts off the main path that are pleasantly diverting, as my wife would say. For the "too long, didn't read" crowd - imagine if Shallow Earth, Housewares and The Flower to Disappear had a mutant baby, and you're probably pretty close. ☕

Tracklist

1.	Zaftig Lime	5:58

2.	Free Phase	4:57

3.	Jaded Coral Segoid	5:00

4.	Golden Lassitudes	7:26

Credits

released August 4, 2023

W/P by Brian Grainger. Recorded at White Pillar, Spring-Summer 2023. Mastered by The Analog Botanist. Text and design by ABM&D. This is Milieu Music number MML183. (C) + (P) Oscillog ASCAP 2023. All nights preserved.

License