why we love this

Pedestrian lights, like clockwork, orchestrate flocks of warm bodies under pulsating tungsten streetlights that happen to reflect unto clouds. Shabason and Gunning articulate their own aural psychogeography detailing an urban sprawl.

about the record

Ample Habitat, the sophomore release from Joseph Shabason and Ben Gunning, is a cosmopolitan affair, mapping fragmented cityscapes with bent electronics and late-night FM jazz transmissions.

After recording their debut in a remote cottage in Northern Ontario, the duo relocated their jams to Shabason’s Toronto studio, where they gained unlimited access to a virtual cornucopia of analog and digital gear and had the time to really push those instruments to the brink. In the crisp, autumnal sessions, the duo consciously set out to make "Ample Habitat" with a fresh slate; not a single melody or patch was smuggled in on a USB stick. Fueled with off-brand club soda, the ethos was to infuse the sessions and the music itself with a sense of discovery.

Another perk of the new locale was being closer to friends and neighbors. Toronto music-scene luminaries Kieran Adams, Bram Gielen, and Thom Gill dropped in, rounding out a full jam band for the convivial B-side surprise "Is Jubilee." Although the album calls on a wild menagerie of digital voices, the heart is warm and human, favoring performance and play over presets and quantization.