Maston

𝙁𝙧𝙖𝙣𝙠 𝙈𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙤𝙣’𝙨 𝙏𝙪𝙡𝙞𝙥𝙨 𝙞𝙨 𝙖 𝙨𝙖𝙢𝙥𝙡𝙚-𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙮 𝙛𝙞𝙡𝙢 𝙨𝙘𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙗𝙚𝙨𝙩 𝟳𝟬𝙨 𝙢𝙤𝙫𝙞𝙚 𝙣𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙢𝙖𝙙𝙚. 𝙊𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙖 𝙨𝙪𝙥𝙚𝙧-𝙡𝙞𝙢𝙞𝙩𝙚𝙙 𝙨𝙚𝙡𝙛-𝙧𝙚𝙡𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙚 𝙤𝙣 𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙋𝙝𝙤𝙣𝙤𝙨𝙘𝙤𝙥𝙚 𝙡𝙖𝙗𝙚𝙡 𝙞𝙣 𝙡𝙖𝙩𝙚 𝟮𝟬𝟭𝟳, 𝙏𝙪𝙡𝙞𝙥𝙨 𝙝𝙖𝙨 𝙖𝙡𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙𝙮 𝙗𝙚𝙘𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙞𝙣𝙘𝙧𝙚𝙙𝙞𝙗𝙡𝙮 𝙨𝙤𝙪𝙜𝙝𝙩-𝙖𝙛𝙩𝙚𝙧.

Be With were introduced to Maston by mutual friends Aquarium Drunkard and it didn’t take long before we decided this modern classic deserved a reissue.
Inspired by the deep-grooving soundtracks of Italian cinema - think Morricone, Umiliani and Alessandroni - Maston conceived the entire Tulips project as a continuation of these revered works. Frank designed the artwork and made two 16mm films to accompany the music: “It wasn’t just the LP… it was kind of a whole vibe I was trying to create. Not really trying to emulate the things that influenced me but more trying to make something that could sit alongside those records on a shelf. I’m still very proud of the project.”

There’s a distinct library music feel too, with wiry organ, spacey keyboards and loping 60s guitar hinting at KPM and DeWolfe. Like the best library music, Tulips creates a cinematic universe through sound alone, evoking moving images in the listener’s technicolour imagination. It turns out that was accidentally on purpose: “I was discovering a lot of library music for the first time… listening to a composer’s entire catalog or finding all this obscure stuff. I wasn’t entirely conscious of the influence until I started making this music and realized I was channeling the vibe. That’s when I began focusing more on weaving melodic themes throughout the record to make it function more like a soundtrack”.