NORTH & WEST

North & West is a collaborative musical experiment formed in New York City in 2010 by two longtime friends and musical partners, Jon Huss and Frank Palmeri.

With the intention of having a project that could develop naturally, they vowed to create music that could grow at its own pace. They began by exchanging basic ideas stemming from different musical experiences of the moment. With a little patience and inspiration, many of these ideas blossomed into full songs. As multi-instrumentalists, Jon and Frank were often able to compose without additional personnel; a luxury which lent itself well to the project's slow development.

With many tracks, they merged simple concepts of folk music with more unusual textures and time signatures. They molded additional parts to basic song forms and challenged each other to honor whatever direction the music took. Most of the time, they composed lyrics and rapidly pieced together initial arrangements with the intention of recording rough mixes that same evening. The premise was to try and catch the excitement and energy that only exists when the song is brand new.

One of the more interesting examples of their process can be seen in the development of the song entitled 'The Electric', which began as an extended 2 chord jam with repeated guitar riff. For some time, there were no changes or lyrics... But one day, while listening back to the jam, Huss and Palmeri discovered a link between the music's repetition and feelings of both happiness, and melancholia. This "joypain" inspired the duo's lyrics and additional music, which attempt to convey themes of pining and nostalgia, as well as the bliss of letting go; of which have more or less became nuanced concepts for North & West's upcoming album: When All of Us Were Fine, due to be released in 2013.

The extended process of the project's evolution continues to evolve with great promise. The two artists have remained faithful to their initial intention. Weaving its way through eventful years in their lives, the music has been their tribute to the symbiotic relationship of reality and fantasy.

North & West is where the music took them as they tried not to let their brains get in the way.

All instruments are played by Jon and Frank unless otherwise noted.