Name: A Calm That Shifts
Brand: Stephen Becker

Tax rate EU

Default:19

Supplier EU

Redeye

Total Cap

Format detail

Colour details

Discogs ID

Limited edition

Colour

Format Music EU

Extended format

Extended format: No

Rough Trade Exclusive

Rough Trade Exclusive: No

Signed copies

Signed copies: No

Download code

Download code: No

Bonus disc

Bonus disc: No

Release date

2022-10-14

Format multiplier

Catalogue number

LPNNA144

UPC / Barcode

309272738919

Artist

Stephen Becker

Label EU

Nna Tapes

Genre EU

Rock-Pop

NNA Tapes is a cassette and record label established in 2008 in Burlington, Vermont USA. Founded, operated, and curated by Toby Aronson and Matthew Mayer, NNA is dedicated to releasing the highest quality contemporary music on cassette, CD, vinyl, and digital formats.

With a passion for supporting emerging artists and pushing the boundaries of musical expression, NNA Tapes has become a prominent force in the independent music scene. Their diverse roster showcases a wide range of genres including experimental electronic music, avant-garde compositions, ambient soundscapes, and more.

Known for their meticulous attention to detail and commitment to sonic excellence, NNA Tapes takes pride in delivering exceptional physical releases that capture the essence of each artist's vision. Whether it's the warm nostalgia of a cassette tape or the crisp fidelity of vinyl records, they ensure that every format offers an immersive listening experience.

NNA Tapes

Newest Listed Items

It’s easy to become absorbed by the raw musicianship on display throughout A Calm That Shifts, Brooklyn singer-songwriter Stephen Becker’s debut full-length LP. Its psychedelic pop songs lean into hairpin turns in song structure, style, and emotional affect. Becker’s proficiency as a musician is breathtaking—he plays almost every instrument on the record—evidencing a formidable jazz pedigree and an appreciation for the technical prowess of progressive 2000s indie-rock units like Dirty Projectors, St. Vincent, and Grizzly Bear. Recorded over the course of three years with his childhood friend and producer Adam Hirsch, the record touches on, among so much else, the breakdown of communication between family members, the NYC-specific illusion of a better life lived upstate, a documentary about Elvis’ later years, and Werner Herzog’s essays on film theory. But perhaps its central preoccupation—most clearly explored on “Unspoken”—were childhood memories of being told to speak up by teachers and other adults, and how the concept of quietness factors into the way he lives his life as a near-thirty-year-old. There is a subtle affinity between Becker’s musical language and libretto on A Calm That Shifts that make the record feel like more than the sum of its parts, and a disarmingly earnest statement. The push and pull between extroversion and reticence in the music evokes Becker’s working model for a life well-lived: the attempt to preserve inner peace and represent one’s self honestly while fending off the myriad factors in the modern world which threaten to disrupt that balance.

A Calm That Shifts

Music EU