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MICHAEL WHALEN "Our April Tigers" (Six Degrees)
Add Date: 4/19/2022
Release Date: 4/22/2022
Formats: Electronic, Chill, World
Focus Tracks: Focus Tracks: “Over Water”, “Morning Bell”, “Hope Haunts”
RIYL: Tangerine Dream, Vangelis, Hans Zimmer, Mark Isham
Emmy® Winner Michael Whalen creates a “super group”
Emmy® Award Winning composed and internationally renowned recording artist Michael Whalen had an idea about creating a group of composers and players to collaborate on a new instrumental recording that would defy style or genre. He wanted to pick people who had careers in soundtrack global ambient alternative and beyond: Bassist Michael Manring, guitarist Michael Brook, trumpeter Jeff Oster, percussionist/remixer Karsh Kale with Whalen starting the tracks collaborated on seven songs with the musicians doing their own engineering in their own studios in New York City, India, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.
“I have been completely blown away by the choices these amazing musicians made in the creation of these songs. They all thought compositionally. You can hear it in the music” says Michael Whalen. Whalen started the seven songs on the album by creating basic frameworks and melodic snippets that he sent to Michael Brook. Once Brook sent his parts back Whalen formatted the material and sent it to Karsh in India. Karsh sent his tracks back to Whalen and his parts were formatted before going to Michael Manring. After the bass was complete, the formatted tracks went to New Hampshire where trumpeter Jeff Oster recorded his parts with Grammy® nominated artist and engineer Tom Eaton. Whalen mixed the final tracks and made decisions about what to keep and what to not use.
“I know that passing around tracks might seem strange” says Whalen. “But these artists are so busy, so far away from each other and we still are living in a post-pandemic world where being safe and transparent is both judicious and smart.”
“I have done several recordings on my own lately. Doing a project collaborating on writing, arranging and performance with some of the BEST musicians on the planet has been such a wonderful experience and opportunity for musical growth” says Whalen. Bassist Michael Manring added: “the opportunity to contribute to this project was great. I am very happy how it came out.”
“Our April Tigers” is a musical milestone for Whalen of projects created over three decades of Michael’s wide-ranging musical experiences which have been heard by literally billions of people around the world on a variety of media. From hundreds of television shows and themes, dozens of films, thousands of international advertisements, video games, 42 solo albums as an artist and hundreds as a producer and sideman to collaborating with friend Fiona Apple on an anti-Trump protest piece (“Little Hands”) for the 2017 Women’s March in Washington, DC, listeners, fans around the world and critics alike have marveled at Michael Whalen’s unique blend of iconic melodies, innovative sound creation and bold creative choices which have distinguished him as a music artist who excels in any format or genre but saves his best and most personal music for albums like “Our April Tigers”. Whalen knows that creating music with soul, exquisite performances, and musical depth in an environment where Artificial Intelligence is making a big impact on the world is exactly what listeners want and need. “Our April Tigers” is collaboration at the highest level.