Julian Lubin - Patience & Love / Clarity (7" Vinyl) [Pre Order]

7" Cut records by Downbeat Mastering of "Julian Lubin - Patience & Love / Clarity"
Run of 30
Ships out on or around October 25, 2024

Release notes:
When we inaugurated Mānuka Recordings, part of our mission was to support and collaborate with musicians in our immediate community, push their boundaries, and search for the magic within spontaneity and imperfection. For our fourth release, we’re reaffirming these commitments with Patience & Love / Clarity by the spoken word poet, rapper and improvised vocalist Julian Lubin.

Featuring guest vocals from Samara Alofa and a saxophone solo by Francesca Parussini, Patience & Love is a sunkissed slice of freeform hip-hop soul. Written and produced on the spot by Julian and Mānuka Recordings co-founder Kenny Sterling at his former Morningside studio space, the song was inspired by the possibilities of applying a modern soul recording process to a rap track. “I was thinking about things like when El Michels Affair worked with Black Thought,” Kenny said.

Created a year earlier, Clarity circles around a similar set of sonic ideas as Julian pours his heart out over jazz-inflected soul drums, a warm bassline, cinematic chords and backing vocals from Kenny. “It’s about navigating trauma and its ongoing effects,” explained Julian. “I reflected on my actions in these moments while finding catharsis through introspection.”

Hailing from So-called Australia, Julian Lubin first emerged alongside the Noble Nativez and Gremlns artist collectives in Southeast Naarm during the 2010s. “Southeast was rich with community likeminded individuals, all pushing the same buzz,” he said. After relocating to Tāmaki Makaurau in 2019, Julian worked as a chef at the longstanding Verona cafe and bar on Karangahape Road, where he befriended Kenny and Dylan Biscuit before Mānuka Recordings. Life moved at a lower tempo, but Julian found his groove within Tāmaki Makaurau’s improvised music and abstract hip-hop scenes through collaborating with Noa Recordings' Virtual Shadow Ensemble project and Mokomokai producer Dusty Melody.

Rather than jumping straight into the studio, Julian, Kenny, and Dylan spent several years getting to know each other first. “This record is a continuation of what we set out to do - make music with our friends and explore different sounds,” Dylan says. “There’s no moments of figuring each other out if you already know each other,” Kenny adds.

Following on from Bring It Back / Without You by Romi Wrights, Tell Me / What You Need by Eo and Key To All My Love / Judas by Summer Vee, Patience & Love / Clarity by Julian Luban is Mānuka Recordings’ fourth EP. Due for release on October 18th, in a limited edition 7' Vinyl and digitally, the record will be followed by a short video that documents a lazy Sunday in Julian’s life.