Released: October 8th, 2013

Length: 00:31:26

"Ripe Hymns is the solo debut for Sacramento based experimental producer Michael RJ Saalman, recorded throughout 2011 and 2012 as a way of seguing from prior stints as a guitarist and to encourage his interest in engineering. Appropriately, the album is irresistibly varied. Impulsive, often frenetic, and meticulously produced, it sometimes falls in a recognizable vein of experimental pop but remains uniquely inflected inflected by Saalman's disparate electronic influences; more adventurous experimental composers like Penderecki or Cassiber, as well as the commercial production work of R. Kelly or T. Pain. When the album moves manfully into its moments of greatest clarity, the outlook it reveals is intensely beautiful, perhaps best revealed in standouts 'Cancerous' and title track 'Ripe Hymns.' As much apprehended as beautiful, the album is no less rich thanks to the whimsical beatwork of tracks like 'Act Alarmed' or 'Far Away Continued,' or denser moments of sound collaging throughout, each a joint hinged between more compact emotional narratives. Recorded simultaneously with an upcoming new LP from his Biosexual collaboration, with Jocelyn Noir (aka Alak) and Zac Nelson, Ripe Hymns adds further dimension to a budding community of slipstream pop composers that we hope to continue working with for the duration."