"'Lost In Shadows' is American composer/performer Ashley Paul's bewitching Slip debut: an expansive, deeply personal excavation of recent motherhood, told through songs dissolving and re-crystallising at the threshold of free improvisation. At the LP's heart is Paul's mercurial multi-instrumental style, which renders the primal wails, clunks, and twangs of clarinet, saxophone, percussion, and guitar uncannily melodic, alchemised by frank, vulnerable vocals. The deft negotiation of the fragile and the coruscating evidenced on Paul's ‘Line The Clouds’ (2013) and ‘Heat Source’ (2014) has now reached a kind of hesitant sublime. Recorded over 3 weeks at a FUGA residency in Zaragoza, Spain in December 2016, 'Lost In Shadows' documents a cathartic outpouring; the first time Paul had been able to write since the birth of her daughter 11 months earlier. The record is completely influenced by "many hours spent awake at night in a dream like state of half consciousness, darkness and solitude; an overwhelming feeling of loneliness and exhaustion made light by a profound new love", with Paul's solo playing bolstered by additional baritone saxophone, cello, tuba, and percussion. This ensemble set-up, which premiered much of this work at 2017's Counterflows festival, gives the LP a fresh sense of luxuriousness, bounce, and rich possibility.'" — Artwork by Gayle Paul. Mastered by Giuseppe Ielasi.

'Ray' is Ashley Paul's bright, sensual return to Slip: a lifting, delighting suite of yearning winds, loose beats, and cocooning, humid bass coming together and falling apart as songs. The LP airs Paul's new trio, alongside bass clarinettist Yoni Silver and bassist Otto Willberg, who fatten out and shine light on her singularly intimate, multi-instrumental with mystery and grace. 2018's 'Lost In Shadows' wrote into the bewildering ecstasy of recent motherhood with a tingling resolve. On 'Ray' - recorded remotely during lockdown - Paul's deliciously hesitant songcraft is an outpouring and an anchor in freshly tumultuous times. Says Ashley: Over the past six months I've found myself needing music in a new way, a way of coping. I found again albums I had loved in the past, full of melody and humour, to cancel out the barrage of terrible news happening outside. I think this album is a reflection of that need. There is the playfulness of spending my days with our four year old, and the hours spent tending to plants in the garden and examining bugs, and also the pain of missing family and friends. It’s hard for me to fully comprehend the breadth of emotion I've felt recently but maybe this is a small window. The trio idea had been formulating in my head for months, and then lockdown happened. At first I was very disappointed and thought I'd be waiting forever to finally make it a reality, but time passed. I started working on a new album and could only hear it with these guys. We recorded remotely. I sent material in a variety of ways; written, aurally and verbal ideas/queues, sometimes with just a shell of a track and other times nearly completed. I wanted all our voices to be present, and to allow freedom in the parts for interpretation and improvisation. Maybe because we've all worked together in various situations and are friends, I’m not sure, but it came together naturally, magically and quickly. --- Ashley Paul - voice, alto saxophone, clarinet, guitar, percussion Yoni Silver - bass clarinet Otto Willberg - double bass Mastered by Giuseppe Ielasi Painting by Gayle Paul Design by Ashley Paul --- Slip Records, 2020

Lock-down playtime gets fun in Ashley Paul's living room with her daughter Cora, partner Ben and a whole host of keyboards, saxophones and miscellaneous objects. Like Ashley's own music, all three weave melodic earworms seemingly out of nowhere, gently bumping them together with little jolts of atonality and playbox percussion. The domestic ramshackle unravels over 10 tracks, but could have gone for hours. Luckily things are kept short, sweet and beautiful by Cora, who cuts the proceedings with the firm announcement: "finished!" --- Ashley Paul / drums, alto saxophone, clarinet, keyboard, voice, bells Cora Ray / drums, voice, toy saxophone, melodica Ben Pritchard / percussion, voice --- All songs by Ashley based on percussion jamz by Cora, Ben and Ashley, except 'Window Flower' and 'Diamonds and Peaches' - all Ashley.  Mastering and cover design by Oliver Barrett.

It is testament to the arresting intimacy of Ashley Paul's live set that between plucked guitar and a wailing sax there's near silence in the venue. Paul creates and controls an eerily concave space - so inward that with every listen the recording mutates in on itself. Highly emotive and strangely addictive.  Tracklisting: 1. Distance (8.34) 2. I'm in You (4.30) 3. It's the Heat (7.21) 4. Line the Clouds (4.58) --- Ashley Paul / saxophone, guitar, voice --- Recorded by Shaun Crook on Sunday 4th October 2015. Mixed by Ashley Paul. Mastered by Rupert Clervaux. Photo by Dawid Laskowski.