Spinoza by Navin Kala

'Spinoza' takes its name and spirit from the Dutch philosopher Baruch Spinoza. His pantheistic vision of the universe became a guiding light for the artist during a challenging personal chapter. Drawn to Spinoza’s clarity and sense of interconnectedness, Kala channels that influence into a deeply introspective work. The album is conceived as a healing process -each track functions like a mantra, unfolding through repetition, subtle distortions, and shifting sonic landscapes that move from stillness and harmony into delicate dissonance.

The album was composed and recorded in Kala’s off-grid home studio in Bahia, in the heart of the Brazilian tropics. 'Spinoza' blurs the border between music and environment. Instead of isolating the studio from the vibrant soundscape around him, Kala welcomes it. The songs breathe with the textures of the garden, including crickets, birds, owls, and frogs, which are integrated naturally into the compositions as if nature itself were a collaborator.

All of the pieces on 'Spinoza' are recorded in mono. This choice was not the result of a conceptual experiment, but of lived experience. Kala lost all hearing in his left ear as a child, and for years he attempted to work in stereo, trying to imagine a sensation he could not perceive. Eventually he abandoned the pretense and embraced the way he actually hears the world. Discovering that Brian Wilson was partially deaf and also recorded in mono offered a moment of recognition and gave him the confidence to trust his own auditory perspective.

True to Kala’s analog philosophy, the album was crafted without digital plug-ins and recorded directly to tape. Handmade instruments and carefully curated gear lend each piece a distinctive tactile quality, rich with imperfections and character. The sonic palette includes the Duduk, cello, NAF flute, an out-of-tune vintage Petrof piano, a handmade noise box and metalophone, Fender Rhodes, the RE201 Space Echo, nylon-string guitar, tape loops, and an array of analog synthesizers.

'Spinoza' offers both an auditory and contemplative experience. It invites listeners into a world where philosophy, nature, and analog craft come together in a luminous and meditative journey.

Brazilian producer/composer, based in Bahia, Brazil.

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