Sometimes the sheer intimacy of a piece of art connects with you even if you might not know what it means to the artist or even to yourself. This is the case with the track "Ceramics" by Instructions For Song, the musical project of Daniel Beagin and Jack Goodman, based out of Oxford, UK. The track like a raw, textured sonic diorama moves atop organic pieces of sound that might seep into your brain maybe on a subconscious level, pushing memoric buttons. And "Ceramics" is all about feeling the scratches, the pretty ring of plucked guitar strings, the highly intimate vocals that are centered as if you are facing IFS and they are only inches away.
I love how the chord shapes go in surprising places, the way the bass pushes to the front from time to time, the static like radio transmissions that also lend an organic sense like leaves rustling or insects crawling and the more grand, washed out backing vocal sound against the intimate lead vox.
From IFS:
[This song is 3 years in the making. Nobody ever tells you how hard making music truly is. Ceramics could have been many things, we are happy how it turned out. It could have been Bossa Nova, stripped back folk or anthemic rock - all demos we have. Committing to IFS day once a year is actually really comforting, deadlines can be useful and generally help with experimentation. Namely on Ceramics, that blown out tape noise. Not new for us, but such a pleasant texture. I like to imagine Frank Ocean secretly cranking the gain up on a neve console while tracking. Both me and Dan are still writing for many other projects but IFS is always a bit of fun, we hope you like it x]
-Robb Donker Curtius
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THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM
https://open.spotify.com/artist/7pNM71esUNvoISjDTMgeZC
https://www.tiktok.com/@instructionsforsong
https://www.instagram.com/instructionsforsong/
https://music.apple.com/gb/artist/instructions-for-song/1581837499
Instructions For Song is a project from Daniel Beagin and Jack Goodman, based out of Oxford, UK.
IFS released their first single ‘Blue’ in September 2021. Their first live show came on the 2nd of December 2021 at The Globe, Notting Hill for FACES. Performing a catalogue of unreleased of demos including Ceramics and a ‘live’ version of Blue. Performing alongside were label mates Komorebi.
In 2022, both Jack and Dan began working on other projects and IFS took a backseat. They released Her, by any means necessary the following year, leaning into slowcore and further unconventional production.
2023 came along and Ceramics was released on the now coined ‘IFS day’ - the 17th of September.
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