PREMIERE: Something That Looks Like Stars by Taylor Deupree

Artist is a term we often casually throw around when featuring the creators of new music, but if there is anyone who embodies the fullness of the term, it is Taylor Deupree. Working across multiple disciplines, Deupree has amassed an impressive body of work not only as a composer & musician, but as a producer, studio engineer, and founder & runner of the revered 12k label, not to mention his work as a photographer which has appeared in numerous books and design anthologies. In addition to his solo work, which has quietly carved out a distinctive and influential niche in the realm of electroacoustic ambient music, Deupree has also been an enthusiastic collaborator with an international array of other luminaries of the genre including Ryuichi Sakamoto, Stephen Vitiello, Marcus Fischer, Arovane, Federico Durand, and Christopher Willits to name but a handful.

And while one might rightly define Deupree’s work by its “attention to stillness” and “inherent quietude”, there is no denying the presence of a drive that is clearly fueling his creative engine and pushing him to evolve and explore new directions and opportunities including with labels other than his own. This includes his recent signing with Nettwerk Music Group where Deupree has begun to release some really lovely new material.

Following the single “Eev” which showed up last month, this week will see the release of “Something That Looks Like Stars“, a succinct and beautifully crafted meditation on the uncertainty of life and ambiguity of perception.

I almost always have visuals in my head when creating music and “Something That Looks Like Stars” was no different; it came to me after it was well underway, though. As much as I don’t like saying what my music “is about” – because without words that’s far too nebulous of a hope – I was thinking about things that looked one way, perhaps green and rosy, that actually weren’t. They looked like stars, but really weren’t. It’s not supposed to be a message of losing hope, but more one of the fact that life is one big grey area, one big question mark.

Something That looks Like Stars will be released on June 23, 2023, by Nettwerk Music Group. The digital single includes the track featured here and a longer “Sleep Version” on the B-side.

Links: Bandcamp | Pre-Save Links | Nettwerk artist profile | Taylor Deupree


photo by Linda Kuo