aquarian blood
We are excited to announce the release of our new record “Counting Backwards Again” out Spring 2024 on Black and Wyatt Records, Head Perfume Records and Beluga Records ••• A truly international affair to close out this chapter of the Blood journey as we enter our 10th year. The third part of the trilogy that began with “A Love That Leads to War” and continues through “Bending the Golden Hour,” this record represents the resolution of this leg of the trip that has unfolded over these three albums. “Counting Backwards Again” reflects even more of the sounds and images of our travels through the ever-desirable “No Service” remoteness that stretches throughout the mountain west where the loudest quiet that can be found exists. the open spaces point back to true north no matter which direction we are facing ••• some of the tunes here are sparse and lean, some feature almost no actual musical instrumentation, a little Wooden Flute Rock for yer afternoon so… + there’s a Peter Tosh/Wailers cover, and some tunes feature friends and collaborators alike. All the Thanks to Keith Cooper and Jesse James Davis for their general badassery and integral contributions and Annalisabeth Craig for the beautiful violin to accompany Sister Darnelle on “Ever and Ever” that closes out the album ••• Huge thanks to the supremely talented Sara Mosely for taking JB’s unintelligible cover design concepts and making them a reality he couldnt even have fully imagined. I sent her a shitty pic of a tshirt lol and she created this perfection. This album also represents a new ending and an even newer beginning thats been brewing for a minute and Sara created images that express that perfectly and we are grateful ❤️ and Love to #1 Daughter Cheetah for the back cover photo ••• i’m gonna get off here now but theres more good news and new tunes to share right around the corner so stay tuned, cheers to the future, and hope to see you out in the zone here soon. - JB and Laurel Horrell
forecast paralyzed
As I’ve mentioned before, I developed a degenerative nerve condition called brachial neuritis in 2019. So my range of motion in my right arm is severely limited due to muscle atrophy from the shoulder down. At first I couldn’t play guitar and i drank a lot and got depressed about it cuz I always loved to shred etc. So I had to re-learn to play guitar holding it between my legs vertically and resting my right arm on my right leg for support cuz no muscles to hold it up. In the process of diagnosing this via MRI, they found a congenital condition I didn’t know I had called spinal stenosis - narrowing of the spaces in the bones of the spine. I asked the neurologist- an older dude who plays tennis and seems to enjoy a martini or 2 but great doc - what does this mean? He said well left untreated it will affect bowel control among other things. I was like “so i’ll start shitting my pants?” and he said “pretty much.” I was all hell naw i’m gonna figure this out holistically, naturally etc before they have to do surgery to grind down my vertebrae to make space for spinal fluid to get thru that lil traffic jam in the pic. So “forecast paralyzed” for me is to create the best possible situation given the hand i’m dealt - its the theme of the album. “i saw the cards lay forecast paralyzed, by my design my own paradise my own paradise”
Sister Darnelle wrote her verse about a period of her life when she was pushed to drop outta high school and marry the father of her expected child at age 17 only to lose the child and find herself looking for stability and direction. What she found was life as a topless dancer using the name Skye with a side hustle delivering contraband municipals (drugs) from Birmingham down along the florida gulf coast before landing in Memphis and finding her way to a better life. I LOVE HER - “I cut an early age, Skye on stage to guys, by my design my own paradise my own paradise”
JB Horrell
reviews
The lysergic layers don't take long to build in the new Aquarian Blood single. The minimal guitar is rapidly joined by medieval flute & bygone marching drums. Just as you're absorbing the time warped fusion, in comes an outsider spousal duet that poetically alludes to Horrell's serious degenerative health issues. Born from dire circumstances, this is a remarkable slice of freak folk & boding well for the album. - The Slow Music Movement | LISTEN TO THE PLAYLIST
Cold JET STEEL
Cold Jet Steel from Counting Backwards again will be released as a single on February 23, 2024 at the Folk Alliance in Kansas City, Missouri. Here is what JB Horrell has to say about Cold Jet Steel - We all see things, hear things, feel things, and experience things that are beyond our control, for better or worse. How we process and respond to those things defines us. We get served lemons, are we gonna complain that they’re a sour fruit or are we gonna make some fucking lemonade? We can’t control events but we can control how we react and move forward. Whether you believe there is progress or only change, one thing is certain - you gotta keep moving, keep going, keep surviving and thriving. This is “Cold Jet Steel.”
reviews
As they describe it, it’s easy for things to “just happen” when you’re constantly recording at home, and that’s the real secret to their layered sound, be it mellow or noisy. “It’s very easy,” says J.B. “It doesn’t take long to set up. There’s not a lot of pressure. We just keep it to where it’s a friendly, hospitable environment. ‘I feel like singing that part again.’ ‘I feel like laying down a guitar and percussion part.’ Sometimes you can think you have it tonight, and then you’ll wake up and think, ‘I might do that a little better.’”
“Or,” Laurel adds, “there are times where we think we don’t have it, and then the next day, you’re like, ‘Wait a minute!’”
J.B. agrees. “Then you high five! ‘That was it!’” - Memphis Flyer | READ MORE