The Present

There are at least two artists sharing this name.

1)The Present is a Belgian avant-progressive rock group formed by guitarist Roger Trigaux in 1979.

2)The Present is the new music project of legendary New York musician and producer Rusty Santos (Panda Bear ‘Person Pitch’, Born Ruffians ‘Red Yellow & Blue’, Animal Collective ‘Sung Tongs’). Described by one band who worked with him as a hyper boy genius, Rusty has always fixed his attention on producing music that is experimentally rich whilst remaining accessible. By attempting to create music that arises unconsciously through improvisation, The Present’s debut album ‘World I See’ hauls this ethos over its shoulders as it tramples on musical boundaries and preconceptions, whilst leaving an album that is still capable of relating musically and emotionally to a wide audience.

After many years and variant modes of collaboration, Rusty formed together with Mina and Jesse who bring a plethora of extra dimensions to the sound of The Present. Mina’s background in classical piano and the love of japanese traditional songs meets at intense and imaginative levels with the expressive attitude of the band, whilst the long standing musical partnership between Jesse and Rusty, which began when they were in high school together, provides the cemented sound giving the songs one voice and the band the sound of a single instrument.

Though the instruments on ‘World I See’ aren’t necessarily new(the basic elements are piano, guitar and drums), guided by intuition the band attempt to make timeless music by using the most minimalist methods in innovative new ways. The result of capturing and developing these sounds is the beautifully elegant yet emotionally powerful sound of The Present.

“When I listen to the sounds and the songs the name and the webs of connections and opposites remain. I can hear light and dark high and low happy and sad synthetic and organic and on and on like that forever and that’s a compliment to the production and the technique I would say. Most of all I like how I feel when I listen to the music.”

- Panda Bear

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