Particle Kid by Particle Kid

(Los Angeles) Hen House Studios has announced the much anticipated self-titled album debut album from Particle Kid. Described by its creator as “a love letter to the cosmos,” PARTICLE KID marks the first full-length release from Particle Kid, the experimental musical identity of Los Angeles-based musician and visual artist J. Micah Nelson. The album is heralded by the inspired new track, “The Ocean”.

PARTICLE KID sees Nelson creating a multi-dimensional musical universe all his own, crafted with immense ambition, inventive production techniques, and strikingly emotive songcraft. Built upon sounds imaged by Nelson since he was 7 years old, the album sounds both familiar and oddly modern, with the spirits of future folk, low rider funk, riff rock, power pop, lysergic Americana, flower punk, and progressive jazz fusion all somehow woven together with deep-rooted melodies, unique improvisational elements, and remarkably intricate arrangements.

Though written almost entirely on acoustic guitar, PARTICLE KID makes an immediate impact with its ocean-of-sound approach, Nelson’s expansive vision inspired in equal part by his passion for big band orchestras, classic psychedelia, the Stax Records house band, and so much more. The album’s seemingly infinite scope underscores the emotional questing and planetary consciousness within Nelson’s idiosyncratic songwriting. Songs like “Forever Friend” and “The Ocean” are mysterious and moving, rippled with avant noises and street corner sax solos, their warm textures and off-kilter tempos emblematic of Nelson’s focused introspection and intensely human worldview.

Particle Kid “has been living and breathing art and music for practically all of his young life,” declared Pitchfork. “His songs speak to his talent.” The son of American musical legend Willie Nelson, the Los Angeles-based visual artist-musician’s remarkable output spans the creative spectrum unlike few others, from his role in innovative folk-punk band Insects vs Robots and idiosyncratic performances on the Andean stringed instrument known as a charango to cymatic visualizations of dancing water molecules and playing guitar alongside his brother Lukas Nelson in Promise of the Real, known for their own cowboy hippie surf rock, and of course their recent collaborations with Neil Young.

Nelson is joined throughout PARTICLE KID by an extraordinary roster of friends, family, and fellow musicians including legendary bassist and friend Paul Bushnell and virtually all members of both Promise of the Real and Insects vs Robots. But at its core is Nelson himself, whose wildly diverse range in instrumentation includes all stringed things, key things, things that clank, snap, thump, and sonic buttons of all shapes and sizes. For PARTICLE KID, this usually included acoustic and electric guitar, piano, drums, percussion, charango, self-sampled field recordings, or in the nature of spontaneous innovation, Nelson often used whatever happened to be next to him in the moment if it sounded right.

PARTICLE KID was recorded at Venice Beach, CA’s Hen House Studios, the innovative recording studio, label, and art space founded by Nelson’s longtime friend, collaborator, musician, and co-producer Harlan Steinberger.

PARTICLE KID creates a multi-dimensional musical universe, crafted with immense ambition, inventive production techniques, and strikingly emotive song craft. Built upon sounds imaged by Nelson since he was 7 years old, the album sounds both familiar and oddly modern, with the spirits of future folk and Americana woven together with deep-rooted melodies and remarkably intricate arrangements.