Werner, Roy: Imagine My Surprise LP

Previously known as G.S. Sultan, Imagine My Surprise is the first album released under his given name, Roy Werner. The moniker shift marks a methodological transition as well, bringing in collaborators to realize Roy’s hazy and offbeat electronic delirium. The sonic palette is as eclectic as ever; incorporating vibraphone, bells, flute, alto & tenor saxophone amongst his stretched and mutating electronics. There is a flurry of sonic exploration across the album’s two sides, embracing the surreal, the mellow and the peculiar. From Roy— “Based around the concept of a ‘trickster noir’ - an attempt to sonically render a handful of half-remembered dreamscapes—sunburnt tiki haze sequence. Imagine My Surprise is the first recorded work released under my own name and the first to heavily feature contributions from fellow artists working in contemporary electronic music. Months and years worth of iterations on some of these pieces, then in a frenzy of late night sessions they collectively come into focus, mutating into these “freaky little ditties”… Some incredibly choice performers were kind enough to add their touches on here, improvising over early drafts of their respective pieces, recordings eventually pulled to bits, rearranged and played back in duos & trios of themselves—it wasn’t so clear where these things were going until they had landed. Still in orbit of similar worlds as earlier G.S. Sultan work but slightly pared, braided more tightly around rhythmic center points, the putty’s form more clearly molded in the hand. At the fringe of consciousness, spin around to the tap of ecstatic serendipity on your shoulder… how embarrassing!”