Well this is a lovely thing. Sulah Jordan is a musician and gardener working in the San Francisco Bay area. Lady Bug is her debut EP--four sweet cuts steeped deeply in the fragrance of nature, performed by Sulah and a fabulous group of musicians in and around Oakland, California. Originally self-released on Bandcamp a few years back, it had a limited vinyl run last year. Spend a bit of time with it and we think you'll agree there needed to be a few more. It's the kind of thing you could listen to all day, wishing the tracks could go on just a bit, but at the same time it's so carefully constructed there isn't a note out of place.

"Jasmine" commences in an overture of outdoor cacophony followed by bongos, deep bass, and acoustic guitar coalescing into mellow groove. Flute and filtered vocals. "Large Leaves from Old Trees" finds chilled guitars buttressing a deep-voiced mantra so chilled I'm not sure what is being said and it doesn't matter. Breathy vocals, gurgling Rhodes, and bittersweet sax swirl over a syncopated drum tattoo on "Musée Mélancolique". While nature and its spirit have imbued the previous tracks, "Goodnight Buggy" is a full-immersion bit of field recording. Crashing breakers and what could be a beach fire or some vinyl hiss, the faint memory of grooves past floating along. The nighttime insect chorus, chimes. Flowing water. And frogs. I love the frogs.

While it may not be top form to toot your own horn, Sulah's record is so special and it also happens to be the first release on a new label we're starting. Spring is a nice time to be doing something new. Test Pressing Arts is going to be a home for more esoteric music--downtempo and mellow vibes, whatever suits. There is quite a bit of exciting stuff in the pipeline. Watch this space. X

Lady Bug is out now and can be found digitally on Bandcamp HERE

Follow Sulah on Insta HERE

Physical copies should be making the rounds shortly, check your local record store.