Zoh Amba: Eyes Full (blue vinyl)

Why you'll love it

An indie exclusive blue vinyl pressing of Zoh Amba's first album for Matador, where the Tennessee free jazz saxophonist turns to country-tinged songwriting. Thirteen songs, with "Eyes Full", "OCD" and "Smile With Your Eyes".

This edition

Indie exclusive
Blue vinyl
Printed inner sleeve
Thirteen tracks across two sides

About the album

Zoh Amba came up in the avant-garde jazz world, playing saxophone in the woods as a kid in Kingsport, Tennessee, studying with David Murray and making a debut record with John Zorn producing. Critics kept comparing them to Albert Ayler. Then came Eyes Full, a left turn so sharp it almost counts as a U-turn: a country-influenced singer-songwriter album for Matador.

Most of it was recorded at Drop Of Sun in Asheville, with "Blueberry Thorn" and "Emahoy" from a Brooklyn studio, and the songs keep the intensity of the free jazz records while trading the horn for a guitar and a voice. "Southern Soil", "Weed Eating" and "PG Tips" find beauty in very ordinary things. Few people jump from Ayler to Appalachia in a single album; it's even rarer to land it.