Vega Trails

In the organizer's words:

Inspired by the foothills of the Sierra de Guadarrama northwest of Madrid, which have been his home since August 2022, Milo Fitzpatrick presents Sierra Tracks, the new album from his opulent and cinematic chamber jazz project Vega Trails. Following the release of his beautiful debut album Tremors in the Staticin 2022 -recorded as a duo with saxophonist Jordan Smart (Mammal Hands and Sunda Arc) - his new album was created right there in his new home in central Spain. Milo expands the soundscapes and now includes piano, vibraphone and strings in the mix.

"The landscape here has definitely had an influence on my musical work," explains Milo. "I would describe the terrain as 'hilly to mountainous,' and you get really beautiful plays of color. When the sky is blue, dusk is so cool - all the light turns purple-pink. It's a great time to go for a walk and get inspired. When I write these tracks, I often go somewhere - sometimes physically, sometimes it's dream places."

But while Sierra Tracks features an expanded lineup that includes pianist Taz Modi (a colleague of Milo's in the Portico Quartet's live band), who "provides rhythmic movement behind us so the bass and sax don't have as much to do," and vibraphone specialist Harriet Riley, multi-editor Jordan Smart remains an important voice in Vega Trails. "Jordan has a really direct and exciting way of connecting with his instrument and the audience," says Milo. "He's into jazz, but also folk from many traditions, and he can play different wind instruments - soprano and tenor saxophone, bass clarinet, dadouk and the ney flute from Turkey and Armenia. Since I know his phrasing, I took a lot of inspiration from him when writing."

Milo also returned to the cello, an instrument he hadn't played since school, which adds an extra dimension to his unique sound. But it was a conversation with Hania Rania, a label mate at Gondwana Records, that helped bring orchestral arrangements into focus on Sierra Tracksvoll."I had been thinking about using strings for a long time, but not just a string quartet - lots of strings! Hania was recording a film score in Warsaw, and when she offered to share the session with Milo, "I realized the palette could be quite big."

Another formative influence on Milo's vision for the album was David Toop's seminal book Oceans of Sound, and he saw each track as its own sonic story. "I wanted to create sounds that felt like I was out here in the mountains and forests, reflecting the incredible grandeur of this place. You have these huge vistas and skylines that are hard to find words for." The strange sounds that open the album at the beginning of Largo are an approximation by Milo on cello of a harmonic series often heard in the Sierra region: when the local knife sharpeners travel to neighboring villages to ply their trade, they play a similar riff on panpipes to announce their arrival. "You get all these announcements from people collecting scrap iron and steel or delivering fruit and bread, and I thought something like that would be a good start for the record." With that colorful reference as an overture, Sierra Tracks is a love letter to the rocky landscape where its creator now resides. It's also, as he says, about his journey through the years of the pandemic that have been so trying for all of us.

"I had been thinking about time and how history repeats itself, but also about how you can get caught up in thoughts, especially about difficult personal issues, and how they become cyclical in our minds. But I also wanted to talk about how walking or running can help break free from these cycles and bring clarity and order to muddled emotional thought patterns. It's like discovering a new path off the beaten track, and how that can change your perspective and help you find a kind of peace and acceptance." Throughout the album, there are motifs and melodies that repeat from one track to the next, which naturally resemble cyclical thoughts and memories. "For me," Milo concludes, "this record is an exploration of the relationship between the complex, convoluted world of one's mental processes and the way that moving through the tangible world, particularly through nature, can help one find definition and clarity." And so Sierra Tracks is truly a kind of medicine for body, mind and soul.

After his concert with ensemble on April 19 as part of Gondwana Records Presents in the Great Hall of the Elbphilharmonie, Vega Trails will return to Halle 424 on October 11 for a longer set to present their two previous works live.