Lifted’s latest album arrives on Peak Oil! Andrew and Matt share their inspirations, including a track from Grover...

Baltimore-Washington legends Matt Papich and Andrew Field-Pickering (Max D, Dolo Percussion) are back with their latest collection of textural instrumental-electronic studio wizardry. This time, the duo find a home on Brian Foote and Brion Brionson’s continuously rising LA-based Peak Oil imprint, which put out those amazing Topdown Dialectic and Purelink albums (amongst many others). Formulating around a 2021 session at Baltimore’s Tempo House recording studio, Trellis continues the project’s collaborative spirit, once again calling upon a core group of instrumentalists / electronic artists including Papich’s Ecstatic Sunshine mate Dustin Wong, drummer Jeremy Hyman, Jordan GCZ, Tim Kinsella, Motion Graphics, Jacob Long (Earthen Sea), and Benny Boeldt aka Mezey.

Trellis is the group’s most instrumental work-to-date, beaming with angular guitar, scattered drums, and lush pads, all set within the silence-inviting open spaces that Manfred Eicher’s seminal jazz label ECM has become known for. “Specials,” in particular, emits a sort of fuzzy glow through field recordings, scratchy finger-picked guitar, and a bouncy synth bassline that we could listen for hours. Shades of post-rock, sound collage, ambient dub, and instrumental hip-hop also factor into the mix here for a set of contemporary afters or daytime head-trip music that fans of Tortoise/Jeff Parker, Gastr del Sol, and Bark Psychosis will absolutely love.

Revisit our in conversation interview with Lifted: https://insheepsclothinghifi.com/future-times-lifted/

In celebration of Trellis, Andrew Field-Pickering and Matt Papich shared five tracks that have influenced or shaped Lifted’s sound in one way or another. Also, be on the lookout for some live Lifted shows coming in 2025!

Grover – Fuzzy & Blue (1983)

I’m gonna be that guy for a second and really wear the dad pants, but this song is amazing. Grover is lowkey a music king. It’s pretty rare that a double meaning in a song lends it an air of positivity, as opposed to a saucy or sinister feel. My dudes are just fuzzy and blue. From top of head to bottom of shoe. This type of music making is so underrated, imo. – AFP

Eddie Harris – Boogie Woogie Bossa Nova (1981)

When I was younger I never considered tracks like these the “deep” or “whoa” cuts, but as I get older this def hits me in a major way. Eddie Harris is always amazing, and even though this is a genre exercise type song, it’s just so simply done and awesome. It has that total rare air. It just feels so good. We go for this on certain songs for Lifted but never quite reached this lived-in funk level. Such cool music. – AFP

Michele Rabbia, Gianluca Putrella, Eivind Aarset – Flood (2019)

This is one of those songs that is a pretty true reference point the kinds of songs Lifted makes; sprawled out, textured, and a little uncertain. Michele Rabbia is a percussionist, and I love the sizzle and snap of the incidental percussive hits tracking against Petrella’s delayed horns and the warm pad-like sounds from Aarset. It’s cool but not clinical sounding to me, and the delay on the percussion nods to the kind of IDM and dub techno Lifted has always been drawn to – records by SND, Vladislav, or Pole. – MP

RZA – Flying Birds (1999)

So much of what Lifted does is building around and from samples and I know we both love the particular realness of RZA’s soundtrack work for Jim Jarmusch’s Ghost Dog. Flying Birds just gets it so right – letting the pitch shifting artifacts and degradation come through so clearly paired with such a classy, blasted boom bop. Some of the other instrumentals from the soundtrack also really resonate – Ghost Dog Theme, and Dead Birds are also some of my favorites. – MP

The KLF – Baltimore to Fair Play (1990)

I always knew this record as Chill Out, the hard to find/expensive but absolutely essential work by The KLF. I was so surprised when this reissue (or revision) came out with a new title for this track as “Baltimore to Fair Play”. The whole record is masterful, but this track always stands out. Chill Out was generally called an ambient record, but for me, it’s always been more like collage music. With Lifted now performing live,  our sonic territory is opening up even more and I’ve been coming back to this record as one that melts things together in a way that feels both life-like and filmic at the same time.  – MP