• News

• All

Jun 21, 2024 By Caleb Campbell

Manatee Commune is the long-running project of Seattle-based multi-instrumentalist Grant Eadie. Eadie debuted under the moniker in 2014 with his album Brush, pulling from ambient soundscapes, electronic dance beats, and field recordings, all married with a classical undercurrent. Since then, he released a self-titled album in 2016 and a more pop-centric 2019 album, PDA.

After taking a hiatus from music to focus on higher education and family, Eadie is back this year with a new record, Simultaneity, which continues his progression into more abstract and ambient directions. The record sees Eadie focusing on form and texture rather than lyrics, all while retaining a grounding in lush house production. The full record is out next month on July 19th via Bastard Jazz. Eadie has already shared the album’s lead single, “Faulted,” and today he’s back with another new track, “Mosaic,” premiering with Under the Radar.

“Mosaic” is a dazzling and ambitious piece of indietronica, centering on arpeggiated keys and hypnotic oscillating synths. With each moment new synth textures enter and bloom, swelling and then pulling back in waves of lush melody. Later the track transitions into a more propulsive and danceable form, ascending into floating bursts of airy euphoria only to get pulled back down to earth with dancefloor-ready synth hooks. Some moments recall the iridescent psychedelia of Jon Hopkins, while others feel closer to the vibrant house beats of Caribou. Yet, Eadie fuses the track’s disparate textures seamlessly. Much like the titular mosaic, he turns fractured shapes into a united whole.

Eadie says of the track, “I’ve always been compelled to start a new song with some form of arpeggiation, taking a chord structure and dissecting into individual notes. The emotional complexity of a chord really comes through when it’s been taken apart. In Mosaic, I started with a felt piano and an arpeggio that had a calmness I was drawn to, and in the wash of color a little melody revealed itself. That melody is explored pretty consistently through this song, taking on new textures and contexts as the tension builds and subsides. I still find myself coming back to the project file for this track and uncovering more interesting textures which I hope to explore more in my live set for this album.”

Check out the track below. Simultaneity is out everywhere on July 19th via Bastard Jazz.