Title: When The Distance Is Blue Artist: Macie Stewart Label: International Anthem Product Type: VINYL LP UPC: 634457198289 Genre: Jazz Release Date: 2025-03-21 Number of Discs: 1
When the Distance is Blue is Macie Stewart's International Anthem debut. The Chicago-based multi-instrumentalist, composer, and improviser describes the collection as "a love letter to the moments we spend in-between"-a letter realized via an intentional return to piano, her first instrument and the origin of her creative expression. Here Stewart creates a striking and cinematic work through collages of prepared piano, field recordings, and string quartet compositions, one that gives shape to a transient universe all it's own while tracing the line of her musical past, full circle. Long-heralded in musician circles for her versatility, Stewart stands as a distinguished, go-to collaborator across genre and style, with a collaborative CV that reads like a dream year-end list-performing strings for Makaya McCraven or Japanese Breakfast; singing harmonies with Tweedy; arranging for Alabaster DePlume, Resavoir, Mannequin Pussy, or SZA; co-leading the jagged art-rock experimentation of Finom, her duo with songwriter Sima Cunningham. This varied-yet-distinct sound has led to a name recognition that goes beyond the devoted liner note enthusiast. When the Distance is Blue finds her gathering those threads and focusing those sensibilities into a contemplative 8-piece song cycle with help from noted collaborators Lia Kohl, Whitney Johnson (Matchesse), and Zach Moore. The result is an album with a musical lexicon which lands somewhere between Alvin Curran's Songs and Views from the Magnetic Garden and Claire Rousay's A Softer Focus.
Tracks: 1.1 I Forget How To Remember My Dreams (ft. Lia Kohl) 1.2 Tsukiji 1.3 Murmuration/Memorization 1.4 Spring Becomes You, Spring Becomes New 1.5 Stairwell (Before and After) 1.6 What Fills You Up Won’t Leave an Empty Cup 1.7 In Between 1.8 Disintegration
