Minna Choi and I in the Fantasy Studios A room, photo by Autumn de Wilde

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Earlier this week, NPR’s All Songs Considered premiered the White Wilderness opener, “Sea Salt” and noticed something slightly different.

That expansion is Minna Choi and the Magik*Magik Orchestra. For the first time in his career, Vanderslice has chosen not to partake in the hours of agonizing studio wizadry he is so acustomed to. Here are nine new and wildly impressive JV songs captured live over just three days in a unique collaboration with the Orchestra, a collective of classically trained musicians in the Bay Area led by Choi as artistic director.

Listen to the All Songs Considered podcast here.

Listen to “Sea Salt” here.

White Wilderness is out January 25 in the US.
 
The Magik*Magik Orchestra have a comprehensive mastery of classic performance and repertoire, but also have a full appreciation of the aesthetics of indie and underground music. Choi arranged and conducted White Wilderness with 19 members of the Magik*Magik playing strings and horns, vibraphone, pedal steel and piano, an assortment of reed instruments, and much to JV’s benefit, the voice of Minna Choi singing backup at key moments throughout the album.
 
Recorded in San Francisco, White Wilderness was produced by John Congleton, whose resume includes albums by St Vincent, The Walkmen, Explosions in the Sky, Bill Callahan and many more.

White Wilderness tracklist:

Sea Salt
Convict Lake
White Wilderness
The Piano Lesson
After It Ends
Overcoat
Alemany Gap
English Vines
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