Awakening (In Memory of Colin Tench)

“Awakening (in memory of Colin Tench)” is Andres Guazzelli‘s latest EP in memory of his late friend and musical companion Colin Tench.

Colin Tench passed away of natural causes on December 27, 2017, only days after the release of his album ‘Minor Masterpiece‘, leaving his mark on all of his close friends and leaving behind an extensive musical legacy.

“Awakening (in memory of Colin Tench)” dwells upon the feelings of grief, nostalgia and finally acceptance after the loss of a loved one. The album is the culmination of a three-years-long journey of self-discovery and self-acceptance for Andres, in his life role as a musician, composer and a human being.

Along with the usual Guazzelli collaborators, ‘Awakening‘ features Mr. Tench himself on acoustic and electric guitars. Unused guitar takes from ‘Wish You Could Hear‘ and ‘Wötan: The Untold Story‘ were used for the creation and new musical pieces.

‘August (A Cold Winter Morning)” is the first track of the trilogy. The single edit was released on February 3rd 2018 and it was reworked to appear in this album.

A haunting and poignant piece of music, “August” is a musical journey through the five stages of grief. The five stages, denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance are a part of the framework that makes up our learning to live with the one we lost.

Album credits:

●  Andres Guazzelli: piano, Hammond organ, keyboards, synthesizers, programming and strings arrangements.
●  Nacho Sosa: bass and electric guitars.
●  Nahuel Arrúa: electric guitars.
●  SherMan D’Aloia: fretless bass.
●  Jack Dimensions: programming
●  Colin Tench (in memory): electric and acoustic guitars.

Additional guitars courtesy of itsrighter and zkup.

Recorded at REDRUM, Estudios Aléa, Estudios Platonicos (Mar del Plata, Argentina), Habitación Espacial USA, (Carolina, Puerto Rico) and Stoned Bun Studios (Avesta, Sweden).
Mixed and mastered by Andres Guazzelli at REDRUM.
Mixing Assistant: Ezequiel Vanella.

Produced by Andres Guazzelli.

In a statement from Andres Guazzelli, February 3rd, 2018 :

“Since 2011, Colin and I had worked on three albums together, Wish You Could Hear, Return to Mingulay and Corvus Stone II, so I asked him to join in the multitudinary ensemble that was “Wötan: the Untold Story“. He recorded guitars for 7 tracks of that album, making it our fourth collaboration together.  The Overture was released on september 2015, but Colin was not on it.

In 2017, I asked him to be the main guitar player for my lastest album “World Citizen,” which he agreed to as soon as he had finished “minor Masterpiece“. I decided its first single would be “August” and to be released on January 2018.

In the last minute, after hearing of his passing, I wanted to cancel the release altogether, but after much deliberation we decided there would be no better way to honour him than to release it in his memory. Colin was the person who basically kickstarted my career, and “August” would be the first time in seven years his guitar playing wasn’t on an album of mine.

I stripped “August” down to its core, removing  every single guitar and re-worked it to be more intimate and nostalgic. “August” was meant to be a farewell. A warm goodbye in a cold winter morning in Argentina (August being the coldest month in the southern hemisphere). A journey through the different stages of grief. I wrote a farewell before knowing who I was saying goodbye to.

Now I know. Godspeed, my good friend.“