The idea of collaboration can take on many forms. In music, it represents two ideologies melting over each other to form one coherent emotional release for both parties. In its best shape, collaboration sounds like it isn’t happening at all. The two artists blend their styles together to form something new and refreshing. Such is the case for Ohio rockers Six Parts Seven & Goodmorning Valentine, two veterans of the local scene combining forces for one concentrated effort. The results can be found on February 16 when the two bands release Kissing Distance, their collaborative effort: Preorder it here.
Before we feel the power of collaboration in its full force, the single “Instrumental 2” is here to be a guiding light for the upcoming LP. The new single is three minutes of experimental bliss with lush melodies and murky drums shaping the effort that fans of Califone will adore. The slow-burning nature of the song gives it a relaxed feeling while the tones tell a different story, a story of heavy emotions and vulnerable confessions. “Instrumental 2” is a gorgeous welcome to Kissing Distance, an album that is sure to flip the conventional idea of collaboration on its head.
“‘Instrumental 2’ is the final band recording by Six Parts Seven. The first piece of music in our catalog written by Tim Gerak.” Explains Six Parts Seven frontman Allen Karpinski. “A song that would have been further developed on the follow-up to Casually Smashed to Pieces (alas an album never to be). Memory’s warp and twist tells me that Tim introduced the chord progressions and changes on the second and last day of recording; it’s his guitar you hear first.” That menacing first guitar welcomes you to “Instrumental 2”.
Goodmorning Valentine frontman Joseph Allen Beltram explains “I remember seeing Six Parts Seven at the Lime Spider (a great rock and roll club in Akron, Ohio, now shuttered) before the Kissing Distance recording sessions and thinking that these guys sound like a music box playing desert music. The space and the exacting nature of all the players fit around each other almost inevitably. This was music for great landscapes.”
Those landscapes can be seen in the music video for “Instrumental 2”, which is also out today to help you visualize what was going through the heads of Six Parts Seven and Goodmorning Valentine when recording the new single. Listen and watch “Instrumental 2” below and look out for Kissing Distance on February 16.
