SPARKLE DIVISION

Sparkle Division is a collaboration between ambient composer William Basinski and his studio assistant, Preston Wendel. A far cry from the somber, elegiac meditations Basinski is best known for, the duo's 2020 debut, To Feel Embraced, is a playful, spirited mélange of numerous genres including jazz, disco, lounge, and hip-hop, with 2023's Foxy adding drum'n'bass into the mix. Basinski moved to Los Angeles during the 2000s after residing and working in New York City for decades. He hired engineer Preston Wendel, who is also a composer, and the two began collaborating. Basinski dusted off his saxophone, and the pair started crafting joyous pieces, mixing fractured beats, seedy sax, swelling strings, and floating textures. Free jazz legend Henry Grimes played upright bass and violin on one track, and others featured vocalists Leonora Russo and Xeli Grana. To Feel Embraced was mainly recorded in 2016, but the duo were hesitant about releasing such a lighthearted record during an era of such political and environmental crisis. Several years later, however, they decided that there was no better time than the present, and the album was issued by Temporary Residence in 2020. Sparkle Division were joined by veteran engineer/producer Gary Thomas Wright for 2023's Foxy, a more breakbeat-filled set with a '60s Hollywood fantasy storyline. ~ Paul Simpson, Rovi