Conscious Creators 002: Boreta & Matthew Davis’ ambient alias earns ‘Best New Age Album’ nod at 2021 Grammys
The world of electronic dance music is vast and diverse. From the commercial realm to the underground, electronic music is always moving at hyperspeed. But how can fans sift through all the noise to seek out the more substantive, meaningful, consciously-attuned musicians? Introducing: Conscious Creators, a focused writing series dedicated to highlighting artists who devote themselves to CE’s mission. These are the industry tastemakers committed to bypassing the surface-level gimmicks in favor of something more substantial. Their art encourages alignment with the self, affirmational living, shadow and light work, self-healing and self-love, living authentically, practicing intention. These are the creatives dedicated to leading their audience into a conscious awakening.
Beyond its two designated Grammy categories—Best Dance Recording and Best Dance Album—the electronic dance music genre has long traversed the Recording Academy’s attempts to pigeonhole its artists. From Skrillex‘s 2012 nomination for Best Music Video, to Daft Punk‘s Random Access Memories (2014) taking home Best Album of the Year, and Kaytranada‘s Best New Artist nod at the upcoming Grammy Awards, the “EDM” umbrella continues to extend its reach across the broader commercial music spectrum. Now the ambient duo, Superposition, continues along that same tradition with their recent Grammy nod.
At the 62nd annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles, Superposition’s Form//Less has been nominated for Best New Age Album. The nod was announced yesterday, Tuesday, November 24, by Grammy Award winner Imogen Heap. Granted, many may be wondering: who exactly is Superposition? Superposition is the meditative side-project of Justin Boreta (1/3 of The Glitch Mob) and programmer/musician Matthew Davis, who also does audio-visual (AV) work for Drake and performs in Los Angeles’ the Philharmonic.
On a deeper level, though, Superposition is both “an immersion into the inner universe” and “a meditative antidote to a world of digital overwhelm,” according to their website. In birthing their psychedelic, ambient-focused musical project, Boreta and Davis wanted to produce music with the power to guide their listeners past the busy thoughts of the mind and into the calming relaxation of the body. In this sense, Superposition literally translates to the area “[f]ound within the open space of consciousness.”
However, Superposition is so much more than a musical duo. As a record label, Superposition. world was formed from Boreta and Davis’s “shared search for serenity.” The newly-founded imprint sets out to be a home for music producers who want to venture into ambient music as a “no boundaries artistic outlet.”
Superposition.world’s first release was 2019’s A00/No Mind, an eight-track project that came as the pair’s debut album. Then came a four-track EP, Listen/Dream, with two original tracks (and two instrumental B-sides) featuring the philosophical musings of Alan Watts. Before long, another dual-single, entitled “Awareness,” came along with Ram Dass guiding the meditations.
“Awareness itself is timeless. It has within it hope and hopelessness. It has within it the beginning, the middle, the end. All phenomena are within awareness. Not your awareness. Not my awareness. But just awareness.”
Ram Dass
But the label’s most influential project to date is Superposition’s second cohesive project, Form//Less. With five extended cuts, Form//Less is an all-instrumental journey into the subconscious—one whose sole purpose is purely for meditative relaxation. However, by its close, the nearly-thirty-minute project could also be seen as a film score. Whether the project is a full-length album or extended player is still up for grabs, but its purpose is clear. That is, to inspire the listener into letting go. To captivate them through solfeggios tones, soft piano chords, expansive tones, and calming, Tibetan-inspired sonics.
After one experiences the project from beginning to end, conscious listeners can tell you that Form//Less so much more than an album. It’s a wholly immersive embodiment of the senses. Take a listen for yourself, and be sure to tune into the 2021 Grammys on January 21, 2021.
Superposition – Form//Less
Conscious Creators – SoundCloud Playlist
Conscious Creators – Spotify Playlist
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Information seeker. Dog lover. PhD drop out. College professor by day, EDM photographer by night.