Archipelago from Gradient by Machado Mijiga

Archipelago is the evolution of a chord progression I loved to play on piano throughout college but could never incorporate into an actual piece. It always felt like a short jam, but not a long-form piece.

I gave the progression to my friend Rob Araujo years ago to include on a project of his, but it never materialized into anything until early 2020 when I asked him to re-mix the progression as the bonus track for my album "Journal" and chop up my live drums however he'd like to make the piece.

Hearing this new interpretation of my piece, I was able to go back and finish the original sketch with some newfound perspectives on how to develop it, and I wrote this rather tricky melody for piano and vibraphone that plays off of one of Dylan Hayes' compositions "Neo,", mostly as a joke to Dylan since I knew he was going to be the one to record on it. Go listen to Dylan's song "Neo" and you'll hear that the very last line of his melody is the very first line of mine.

I have worked with Matt Sazima, another multi-instrumentalist, on several instruments, but I find it funny that I have hired a man known primarily as a pianist to play drums on "Journal" and vibes on "Gradient," but still haven't had him on piano for any of my projects!

Tracklist

11.	Archipelago	6:11

Credits

from Gradient, released March 13, 2022
Matt Sazima, vibraphone
Dylan Hayes, piano
Garrett Baxter, bass
Machado Mijiga, drums

License