It’s never too late to rekindle a passion for music.
Take it from Jai Agnish.
The indie-electro musician from Montclair, N.J., just released new material for the first time in 13 years. The single, entitled “Free of this Disease,” is a machine-driven electronic tune with melodic synth textures and a lazy drum machine beat. [Click to hear the new single on your preferred streaming service!]
Don’t be fooled by the title. “Free of This Disease” is no anthem for the world’s prolonged exit from the Covid-19 pandemic. Instead, the song is an introspective journey through addiction, reconciliation, and rebirth.
Agnish sings wistfully: “I’m not going to pretend to have all the answers because I’ve been lost just like anyone else. There’s been some pain. I will not deny that. I will be free of this disease.”
Agnish wrote, performed, and recorded “Free of This Disease” and teamed up with an old friend, Daniel Smith (Danielson, Sufjan Stevens), who mixed the song. The fellow Garden State dweller runs Familyre Studio and brought some psychedelia and smoothness to the project.
Agnish previously produced an instrumental version of “Free of This Disease,” which is the soundtrack for The Stolen Hours Podcast.
The cover-art for Agnish’s new single is by John Ringhofer, another friend and a one-time touring buddy of Agnish’s. Ringhofer records under the name Half-handed Cloud (Asthmatic Kitty Records).
“There’s an endearing quality to his voice,” Pop Matters wrote of Agnish. And Pitchfork, in a 7.6 rating of his debut album Automata in 2000, said: “Agnish blends electronics, toys, and folk into a chalice and offers it to you as a gift. Both familiar and unlike anything else, you’d be wise to taste it.”
Agnish is no stranger to drum machines, samplers, and electronic bleeps and bloops. And he’s long been intrigued by the razor’s edge that separates the “electro” and “acoustic” components of his electro-acousticism.
While that earlier approach – to quote the Toronto Star – “employs electronics to greatly expand the performance potential of folk’s typical guy-with-a-guitar format,” Agnish’s new single is bathed purely in electronically derived sounds. There’s no guitar here.
“Free of This Disease” marks Agnish’s foray into the world of DAWs and midi controllers. It’s the first of a series of singles he plans to release monthly. Have no fear. Agnish’s acoustic guitar will soon make an appearance.