When the Distance is Blue is Macie Stewart’s International Anthem debut. The Chicago-based multi-instrumentalist, composer, and improviser describes the collection as “a love letter to the moments we spend in-between”—a letter realized via an intentional return to piano, her first instrument and the origin of her creative expression. Here Stewart creates a striking and cinematic work through collages of prepared piano, field recordings, and string quartet compositions, one that gives shape to a transient universe all its own while tracing the line of her musical past, full circle.

Long-heralded in musician circles for her versatility, Stewart stands as a distinguished, go-to collaborator across genre and style, with a collaborative CV that reads like a dream year-end list—performing strings for Makaya McCraven or Japanese Breakfast; singing harmonies with Tweedy; arranging for Alabaster DePlume, Resavoir, Mannequin Pussy, or SZA; co-leading the jagged art-rock experimentation of Finom, her duo with songwriter Sima Cunningham. This varied-yet-distinct sound has led to a name recognition that goes beyond the devoted liner note enthusiast.

When the Distance is Blue finds her gathering those threads and focusing those sensibilities into a contemplative 8-piece song cycle with help from noted collaborators Lia Kohl, Whitney Johnson (Matchesse), and Zach Moore, as well as International Anthem engineer Dave Vettraino. The result is an album with a musical lexicon which lands somewhere between Alvin Curran’s Songs and Views from the Magnetic Garden and Claire Rousay’s A Softer Focus.