Pursuit by Xander Naylor

Black, blue, red, brown, orange, yellow. What do all of these colors have in common?

Turns out they’re all section codenames in Xander Naylor’s latest single, Pursuit. “I brought in the notation for Pursuit but the band wasn’t having it. The song was crying for more dynamism. In five minutes, we created a color-coding system. When we went into the studio, I called out the entire song by yelling colors into a mic. I improvised the form on the spot.”

Can we sustain a new, revolutionary outlook in consciousness in the face of a modern culture of consumerism, instant gratification, and self-centeredness? Naylor describes the style of his latest batch of recordings, of which Pursuit is the first release, as “calculated chaos.” Exploration, extrapolation, expression in music, art and culture, continuing into sub-layers of languages, thought and of communication, consciousness.

Poise meets flow. Diversity distilled into unity.

Pursuit is a distillation. Appearing out of a void in creativity, it materialized to reveal itself as story of the inner voice. There is a cry for continuing navigation towards self-realization with ease, acceptance, and dedication.
What is the place of spirituality next to the screen in my palm?

Pursuit is about discovery - new expressions for inner power and new habits of expression. Neural pathways. Compositionally, this piece employs subtly permutating rhythmic patterns, and digital layers create glitchy, shifting perspectives; a viewing of human emotion through a digitized lens. Naylor: “When the bad gets together to rehearse, we typically learn the forms, then live we deconstruct them in real-time. We often spontaneously remove sections entirely. We read minds.”

Shifting perspectives is not a new endeavor for Naylor. For over ten years, he has been consistently releasing new music and establishing himself on the experimental side of the New York music scene. Most recently, he has honed his extensive studies of North Indian Hindustani classical music, fusing this element with his more experimental rock- and jazz-centered work, creating new paths for melodic and rhythmic exploration. New spiritualities and new mentalities, sensibilities, adding to the flow.

Naylor welcomes opportunities to wax on the morphing and widening approach: “On the most personal level, I am constantly honing my guitar techniques to convey my musical ideas with maximal focus, continually modifying them with the aim of creating the cleanest embodiment of my mental and physical states and their interconnectedness through music.”

This February, Naylor returns to India for an extended, month-long tour, forming an overseas lineup of his band Sound Machine with Vinay Kaushal (bass) and Shreyas Iyengar (drums). Naylor will be performing in Pune, Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata, Bangalore, and Shillong.

Xander Naylor is an American guitarist and composer who has become known for a style unparalleled in his generation.
What Rolling Stone describes as “that signature Naylor sound.” Appearances include Montreal Jazz Festival, Umbria Jazz Festival, Central Park Summerstage, Lincoln Center, Perelman PAC. He tours with his bands as well as with Mwenso and the Shakes and The Sound of (Black) Music.

xandernaylor.com