Tender Extinction (Remastered)

Tender Extinction is a more meditative affair than its predecessor, one where comet tails of synthesiser stretch across a song and fathomless sonic depths simmer and roll like an ocean. James Ginzburg’s brand new remaster will render the hiemal beauty and sumptuous arrangements of tracks such as ‘And Birds Sing All Night’,‘Captured’, and ‘Her Distance’ even more perfectly than before
In 1978 Japan released their debut album Adolescent Sex and kick started a career that would span decades. With Steve Jansen on drums the band enjoyed huge success whilst simultaneously creating a back catalogue of music that still inspires today. Fast forward to 2007 and after many years working and collaborating with artists such as Richard Barbieri, Yukihiro Takahashi, Ryuichi Sakamoto & Bernd Friedmann, Steve released his debut, solo album Slope. Steve Jansen’s second solo album ‘Tender Extinction’ is an evocative blend of songs and instrumentals enlisting some of the singer/songwriters that appeared on Jansen’s previous solo work ‘Slope’, namely Tim Elsenburg (Sweet Billy Pilgrim) (UK) and Thomas Feiner (Anywhen) (Norway), as well as featuring new collaborations with Perry Blake (Ireland), Melentini (Greece), Nicola Hitchcock (UK) and including some vocal performances by Jansen himself
Atmospheric sound design creates a bed of complex, often atonal qualities, with delicate synth and orchestral arrangements drifting throughout to produce a multi-layered, emotive and hauntingly intimate album. Some titles are punctuated with Jansen’s characteristically minimal drum patterns and off-kilter time signatures while others are structured with more classical elements such as piano, cello and orchestral string arrangements. All music and arrangements are by Jansen with guests vocalists providing their own lyrics and vocal melodies on five of the tracks. Steve: “I spent a long time with the material, honing it down to those elements that blend together well in an attempt to allow the dissonance that weaves throughout much of the music to settle into its own space and not overly distract from the more harmonious content