Seasons by Dexter Story
*Remixed and remastered* in 2020 by renowned engineer Andy Kravitz, Soundway presents Dexter Story's debut solo album Seasons, co-produced by Carlos Niño.
L.A. mainstay Dexter Story first released Seasons in 2013 - featuring guests from Los Angeles’ close-knit jazz and soul community, including Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, Mark de Clive-Lowe, Dwight Trible, and a then relatively-unknown Kamasi Washington.
For his debut album, Dexter Story looked to artists such as Bill Withers, Steely Dan, Donovan, and Earth Wind and Fire, for inspiration in creating a record that’s cosmically-minded, but wrapped in the folky, blue-eyed soul that Carlos Niño is known to regularly play.
The message that Dexter had in mind when writing these songs was one of optimism and empowerment, to create a classic record that would reward repeat listens, and grow with the listener, that could be enjoyed through several decades. Carlos made it his mission to ensure all the musical parts facilitated that message, and the result is an album steeped in powerful melodies and chord changes, stacked harmonies and deep feeling.
Album opener ‘Underway (Love Is)’ has echoes of Bobby Caldwell and ‘Sun Goddess’-era Ramsey Lewis, as steel pan and kalimbas combine with soaring strings and synths over a shuffling wood block groove to set the tone for the positive vibes to come.
The album is also interspersed with plenty of instrumentals. On ‘Blood Drip’, Dexter nods to his love of hip hop, and even the influence of The Cavern’s favourite sons get a nod on the penultimate track ‘Spring’, with its alternate rising and falling progressions.
That’s at the heart of ‘Seasons’, the rise and fall of the annual journey, the themes of death, rebirth and renewal. Some songs recall the warming, fiery crescendo to summer, while others hint at the cooling down to winter. ‘Seasons’ is about life and the planetary cycle, and in that sense it’s an album everyone can relate to.
In Dexter's own words:
"Seasons express the ever-changing aspect of the universe, the omnipresent ebb and flow of all life, the divine duality of our existence. They embody the beginning and end, destruction and renewal, birth and death, the folding inward and unfolding outward. Fire, water, matter, space. Cycles, continuum, infinity, eternal love... Our ancestors lived by the seasons. We live by the seasons. Our children will live by the seasons." - Dexter Story
Tracklist
Credits
Remixed and remastered in 2020 by Andy Kravitz
Artwork by Machine (Mark Klaverstijn & Paul du Bois-Reymond)
License
All rights reserved.
East Africa-inspired music on Soundway Records by multi-instrumentalist, producer, composer, arranger and ethnomusicologist Dexter Story. Stay updated about Story's releases, events and news at wondem (dot) com or book him at wondemmusic (@) gmail (dot) com.