"It all happened so quickly, an enchanting whirl. Dreamlike, they had fallen into and out of it. Only when the recordings arrived in the mail a few weeks later did that dreamy state sharpen into a memory and a moment that you can now revisit, over and over again."
The enchanting beauty obscura of "Our Detour" by Shabson, Krgovich, Tenniscoats, artists / musicians Joseph Shabason, Nicholas Krgovich and Tenniscoats, hits me in many ways. The piece varies, first patterned then syncopated in on / off beat rhythms. There are sections as quiet as slow rainfall but other sections that feel as busy as downtown traffic, all the while everything feeling pretty and at times, emotionally reticent even meditative. On top of all these tensions, the gentle sensations of a duet (of sorts) with one voice in Japanese and the other in English give "Our Detour" not only mystery but sonic paint for each of us to paint with, in so many ways, creating all sorts of emotional medium.
Reading liner notes, I am surprised and thrilled to find out that "Our Detour" was created in a predominantly improvisational way and is a looking back, a reflection of a whole lot of such recordings that resulted in the upcoming album "Wao" dropping on August 29th, 2025 via Western Vinyl.
LINER NOTES (excerpted / bracketed):
[In April 2024, Joseph Shabason and Nicholas Krgovich set off on a two-week tour of Japan, their first time performing in the country as Shabason & Krgovich. In an act of well-coordinated serendipity, Koji Saito of 7e.p. records enlisted Saya and Ueno of Tenniscoats, the revered Japanese duo, to tour with and perform backing band duties throughout their stops in Matsumoto, Nagoya, Kobe, Kyoto, and Tokyo.]
[The four could only rehearse twice, but it was all they needed. Their connection was immediate and felt in the music; their shows fluid, elastic, and just the right amount of unpredictable. Saito had anticipated this simpatico and arranged for recording engineers to meet them in Kobe, where they had a two-day stay at the famed Guggenheim House, a 117-year-old colonial-style residence that had been converted into an artist residency.]
I have a feeling "Our Detour" is one of those songs that I will come back to often throughout this year and my life and I look forward to dipping into "Wao".
-Robb Donker Curtius
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM
https://nicholaskrgovich.bandcamp.com/
https://www.instagram.com/tenniscoats_majikick/
https://westernvinyl.com/
In April 2024, Joseph Shabason and Nicholas Krgovich set off on a two-week tour of Japan, their first time performing in the country as Shabason & Krgovich. In an act of well-coordinated serendipity, Koji Saito of 7e.p. records enlisted Saya and Ueno of Tenniscoats, the revered Japanese duo, to tour with and perform backing band duties throughout their stops in Matsumoto, Nagoya, Kobe, Kyoto, and Tokyo.
The four could only rehearse twice, but it was all they needed. Their connection was immediate and felt in the music; their shows fluid, elastic, and just the right amount of unpredictable. Saito had anticipated this simpatico and arranged for recording engineers to meet them in Kobe, where they had a two-day stay at the famed Guggenheim House, a 117-year-old colonial-style residence that had been converted into an artist residency.
Flash forward to today and the Shabason, Krgovich, Tenniscoats collaboration is announcing the album Wao, out August 29th via Western Vinyl. It captures the fruit from the labors of the unique collaboration in all its various hues, and you can listen to the lead single from the partnership "Our Detour" out Tuesday 7/1.
The backstory on the project is a fascinating one. With no songs prepared, they began to play with melodies, improvising and pulling pieces from that spontaneity into wholes. Saya and Krgovich soon realized the closeness in their approach to lyric writing. From sharing Japanese nicknames for clouds while looking at the sky above a rest stop (fishscale cloud, dragon cloud, sardine cloud, sleep cloud, sheep cloud), searching for matching socks in a bin at a clothing store, to an ode to Tan Tan, a beloved panda who had recently died of old age at the Kobe Oji Zoo — they both seek out and sing to the magic in the everyday.
That’s what this experience came to feel like: magic, every day. As the group worked, they watched the Pacific Ocean advance and recede from the windows of the Guggenheim House. Over those two days, they’d compose and record eight songs, listed in order of creation, which would ultimately become the album Wao.
It all happened so quickly, an enchanting whirl. Dreamlike, they had fallen into and out of it. Only when the recordings arrived in the mail a few weeks later did that dreamy state sharpen into a memory and a moment that you can now revisit, over and over again.
Joseph Shabason / Nicholas Krgovich / Tenniscoats, electronica, indie electronica, abstract, ID music, improvisational, alt pop, indie, soundtrack music, filmic, "Our Detour", upcoming album "Wao",
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