Nephology by Jabun
Jabun – Nephology
Continuing my ambient and experimental journey as Jabun, to close 2024 I release my 6th album/EP – Nephology.
Well... I got distracted again! After I released my 5th and shortest collective Jabun project June22 in March 2023, I was super sure that it’d be my ska-punk project Better Than The Book which would be getting the next album release. Time sure does fly though, and alongside the hard work on that BTTB album I got back to some ambient explorations in some free evenings. An experiment with the first track from my 15-4-20 album turned into an over 2 hour long ultra ambient remix like nothing I’ve ever done before, and after revisiting the results at a later date, I figured I’d do similar remixes for the other 2 tracks from 15-4-20 as well and a new album project (and by far the longest one to date) was formed! For those eager to hear the new Better Than The Book album though, don’t you worry. Audio is actually now 100% complete for my ska-punk project’s next release, but it just so happened that the admin for this Jabun project filled a much smaller to-do list so it’s coming first! Thanks for your patience!
Nephology is a 6+ hour collection of 3 long-form ultra ambient remixes of my 2nd album 15-4-20 inspired by cloud gazing. Each track is a 2+ hour long soundscape showcasing a different atmosphere and mood, and the album as a concept aims to be an auditory and musical expression of cloud watching. All tracks were remixed using Paul’s Extreme Sound Stretch, Ableton Live 8 and Valhalla Supermassive and were mastered in Ableton Live 8.
Nephology isn’t an album to listen to note for note so to speak, more a collection of 3 sonic paintings to have in the background, glance through at your leisure, and just enjoy the vibes for as short or long a time as you want, much like how you’d experience watching clouds in the sky. These 3 tracks and over 6 hours of ambient remix material are all non-looping and never exactly repeating much like how the 15-4-20 album was (and how cloud gazing is) and through the gently evolving sounds I hope you enjoy the sound design, shifting textures, and unexpected moments and have fun with it.
Cumulus shares deep, dense and warm slowly drifting ambiences gradually morphing as time goes by. Meanwhile, Stratus shares a similar vibe to its precursor but with lighter and more dynamically evolving textures. Finally, Cirrus shifts the tone entirely to a colder, mysterious and more out of this world soundscape where you can almost hear the wind and ice crystals swirling into those distinct wispy formations as they pass by. Whether you sit down to listen intently, have them on in the background while doing something else, or simply immerse yourself in the sounds for as long as you’d like to, I hope you enjoy these ambient sonic experiments from 2024 and the overall concept I wanted to share with this album.
Much like the 15-4-20 album, Nephology’s album cover photo is of the sky, in fact the same sky as before, but this time looking up from the ground instead of out of the window. The note paper motif is very typical for me (see Better Than The Book) but hadn’t previously been used in any of the Jabun album covers. I thought it fit well with the literal meaning of Nephology which is the study or contemplation of clouds. Interestingly, the lines of the paper were drawn digitally, but the punched holes were actually photos of paper holes because drawing them in didn’t look quite real? Strange how that goes! I also created visualisers for this album which are slowed down footage looking out of that same window as 15-4-20 at the passing and evolving clouds. I’m really going to miss the view from that studio of 2019-2024 and I wonder what will bring me inspiration and where it’ll take my music in the next few years to come!
Credits
All tracks written, performed, remixed and produced by Nick Standing [Jabun]
Recorded, mixed and mastered at JabunAudio by Nick Standing [Jabun]
Album artwork, images and photography by Nick Standing [Jabun]
No generative A.I. tools were used in the creation of this album.
As with every project both big and small, there’s a whole bunch of people I’d like to extend a huge thanks to for helping make this album possible.
First of all, a monumental thanks as always to my wonderful wife and everything buddy Eva! Love you! Thank you so much for all your love and support, for this album and everything else, for lending me your phone to take good pictures for the album artwork, and for putting up with all the random sounds and music (and equipment) coming from the studio room! “Without you, what would I do?”
Next a big thanks to my friends and family for all their support too! Special mention to my twin Eamon for keeping me inspired and well equipped in the studio as always and to my parents again for the gift of the Korg SQ-1 sequencer many years ago which was monumental in creating the original 15-4-20 album which this album remixes. Thank you all (and my friends and grandma too) for all the chats and conversation and fun times when we’re together! I love you all so much!
Another big thanks goes to the Better Than The Book live band and usual online folks, Andy, Sam, David, Anthony, Vlad and Eamon again for lending their thoughts on the artwork, as well as their general encouragement and support, and keeping me connected via various messengers! Cheers as always peeps!
A huge thanks goes to all my subscribers on Patreon past and present who keep my music going each month with special mention to the current $10+ patrons: Nathan Puray, and Michael White! Thank you all so much for your help and support in making my musical dreams a reality! You folks are amazing!
And finally, thanks to everyone who’s listened to Jabun, whether you first heard my music today or have been listening since Bergamot, everyone who’s picked up an album or track on Bandcamp or iTunes, streamed on Spotify, left a comment on YouTube or Newgrounds, featured my music in a video or game or showcased it on your show / website, or inspired me with your own music. It means the world to me that I’m still able to continue making music and that people are enjoying it even when I’m drifting off in my own world. From the depths of my heart, thank you all so much, and I hope this collection of dreamy soundscapes brings you many hours of listening pleasure for years to come.
With over 70 minutes of demos STILL leftover from the intense writing sessions of 2019, 2020 and beyond, Jabun will be returning for another full-length studio album and more after a ska punk detour to release Better Than The Book’s upcoming 3rd full-length album “Side Character In My Own Life”. Visit Better Than The Book on Bandcamp for a taste of the ska punk vibes to come:
betterthanthebook.bandcamp.com
Jabun is Nick Standing and anything he can find in the moment to create his beloved electronic / ambient / experimental music project. Keep up with his other musical endeavours and adventures on Patreon, YouTube, the JabunAudio and JabunMusic websites, Facebook and X (formerly Twitter).
www.patreon.com/NickStanding
www.youtube.com/@jabunaudio
www.jabunaudio.com
jabunmusic.weebly.com
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x.com/jabunaudio
Copyright Jabun 2024
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Jabun: Electronic / Ambient / Experimental / Chill vibes for your daydreams. Jabun is a project and persona of UK based multi-instrumentalist and music producer Nick Standing. When he's not working on Jabun, you can find Nick making high energy ska-punk / pop-punk as Better Than The Book or tending to his audio production business JabunAudio.
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