Windy & Carl Meet Optigan Conservatory

Description

"Windy & Carl Meet Optigan Conservatory" is a deliberately misleading title for the first collaborative work of four friends who met nearly thirty years ago. All active in the independent music scene of Michigan since the early 90s, Windy & Carl are renowned for their foundational contributions to "drift" and guitar-based ambient sounds, with tracks characterized by a deep connection to the natural world and an emotional vulnerability that is difficult to pinpoint yet impossible to ignore. Optigan Conservatory is another duo, composed of Frank Rotondo (leader of the free music ensemble Laughing Gas, based in the Detroit area) and Fred Thomas (a songwriter and producer most often associated with his band Saturday Looks Good To Me), who have been creating minimalist and timeless electroacoustic sounds since 2016. The album came together almost effortlessly in a very short time, but the idea had been maturing for many years. It features echoes of Windy & Carl's earliest albums, as well as reflections of that same opacity that was a common thread in the early titles of the Kranky catalog.