Ex-Smashing Pumpkins guitarist Jeff Schroeder announces “meditative” debut solo album, ‘Metanoia’
Former Smashing Pumpkins guitarist Jeff Schroeder has announced his “meditative” debut solo album ‘Metanoia’.
A post shared on both Schroeder and the independent record label Clerestory AV’s Instagram accounts shared that ‘Metanoia’ will “features 72 minutes of meditative guitar work in the spirit of ambient pioneers Fripp & Eno.”
The album is set for release on August 23 via Clerestory AV and will be available on a limited gatefold double LP (only 300 copies available) and cassette (only 100 copies available). You can pre-order the album here.
The musician departed the Smashing Pumpkins in late 2023 after a 16-year stint with Billy Corgan and co.
According to a press release, the four tracks on ‘Metanoia’ were recorded in late 2021 when Schroeder was performing solo, improvised guitar instrumentals as part of an outdoor art installation at Toronto’s Fort York.
The performances saw him play in front of a massive LED wall of shifting gradients and colour while his guitar improvisations filled a public space, in dialogue with art and scenery, as part of a series of works titled “The Awakenings Project.”
The songs were recorded on the final day of performances and then packed away in storage as Schroeder returned to performing and recording with Smashing Pumpkins.
Now, almost two years later, following his departure from the Smashing Pumpkins, he began asking himself questions such as: “Do I still want to be a musician? Do I still enjoy playing the guitar? Do I have the desire to put in the work to improve as a musician?”
“It does feel quite vulnerable at times because there are those that expect you to have a master plan, and making any mistakes makes you look foolish or misguided,” Schroeder said. “I don’t think it’s all inner critic discourse. Some of these voices are real, and that is a dimension of this part of my life that I am learning to negotiate because it certainly has an impact on the artistic process.”
Speaking about ‘Metanoia’ in a press release, Schroeder shared: “Sound as itself, without the imposition of human categories of interpretation, can provide a space of alterity or otherness than the ones we tend to live as we go about our daily lives.
“When we think about how in our current culture even the most private aspects of our existence have become available as data to be traded and sold, creating these spaces outside of that framework—even if temporary—is important to me.”
In other news, the Smashing Pumpkins recently shared details of a surprise album called ‘Aghori Mhori Mei’, which is set to arrive next month.
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Anagricel Duran
NME
