On the list of recurrent Rust favorites, Rumpistol has kept us enamored with his compositions for the entirety of our label’s active years. A musician and producer of remarkable vision and professionalism, each successive Rumpistol release has gradually unveiled more and more of the story hidden in sound, playing out more like a musical drama than just a catalog. Consequently, Nebula is much more than just an album: 

The LP is inspired along two mingled fronts, being both a testament and a love letter to the waning awe that the Space Race (and its implications) imbued amongst the many peoples of the world, while also being designed with an implicit focus on the results on stage. Nebula’s arrangements work in tandem with these ideas, combining jazz, classical motifs, and modern electronic music, utilizing an array of both vintage and contemporary tones, synthesis, and compositional approaches to channel the all-encompassing wonder of the cosmos. Its pacing is entirely unlike the more dance-oriented offerings in the Rumpistol discography, replacing frenetic energy with the draw of tempered, introspective listening. Explicitly recorded and designed alongside a cast of instrumentalists and visual designers, the record is the next logical step in Rumpistol’s recent grounding in his consistent live ensemble, breaking out of the traditional molds that tend to keep producers narrowed to a single lane. Naturally, for The Rust’s upcoming 95th release, we can think of no more perfect a match than the Nebula LP.

The first single we’d like to share from the album is titled Stargazer—an effusive ode to a more pensive listening experience, the track is light as a feather, though not for lack of body. Legato flutes, meandering arpeggios, and hypnotic drum shuffles populate the runtime of the track in a slow dovetail, gradually giving way to a percussive, production-heavy back half. So much breathing room is achieved within a space that feels distinctly layered to its fullest. It highlights not just the impressive engineering that allows Rumpistol’s work to shine; it puts on display the mature, measured control he has as a composer and arranger, marrying sonic fullness to rich dynamic range in a way that refreshes the palette in real time. With much more in the cannon prior to the full release of Nebula, ‘Stargazer’ is just the first step on the road to Rumpistol’s latest nested narrative.

Music composed and produced by Rumpistol / Jens Berents Christiansen.
String arrangements by Maria Jagd.
Mixed by August Wanngren & Jens Berents Christiansen at Virkeligheden
Mastered by Antony Ryan at Red Red Paw.

Artwork and design by Nicolas Freng.
Deep space and portrait photography by Jakob Arthur Andersen.

Please keep in mind:

• All marble patterns are unique and will all look different.It is impossible to predict or fully control the results when colors are combined due to the nature of the techniques used.

• Lucky Rainbow and Nebulae images are a rough estimation of colors only.

• The “Lucky Rainbow” name does not indicate that they will appear to be rainbow, only that the marbled colors will range across the color spectrum - each one will look unique from the next with a different combination of colors.

• The “Nebulae” variant is an experiment, and we will not know exactly how they will come out until they have been pressed.