Name: Fragments
Brand: Bonobo

Bonus disc

Bonus disc: No

Catalogue number

LP-ZEN-279

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Colour

Black

Colour details

Discogs ID

Format multiplier

Download code

Download code: Yes

Rough Trade Exclusive

Rough Trade Exclusive: No

Extended format

Extended format: No

Format detail

Format Music US

Limited edition

Release date

2022-01-14

Signed copies

Signed copies: No

Supplier US

Redeye

Tax rate US

Sales:8.875

UPC / Barcode

5054429152937

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Total Cap

2 / Extended format: No / LP / Rough Trade Exclusive: No / Signed copies: No / black

LP-ZEN-279LE

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Red Marbled Vinyl

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Extended format: Yes

Indie Exclusive.

{"blocks": [{"data": {"text": "Indie Exclusive."}, "type": "paragraph"}]}

5054429152944

{"blocks": [{"data": {"text": "5054429152944"}, "type": "paragraph"}]}

2 / Extended format: Yes / LP / Rough Trade Exclusive: No / Signed copies: No / red

CD-ZEN-279

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Download code: No

Includes fold out poster booklet.

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5054429152975

{"blocks": [{"data": {"text": "5054429152975"}, "type": "paragraph"}]}

1 / CD / Extended format: No / Rough Trade Exclusive: No / Signed copies: No

LP-ZEN-279X

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Clear

Crystal Clear Vinyl

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Deluxe edition w/ lenticular sleeve & 4 art prints.

5054429152951

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2 / Extended format: Yes / LP / Rough Trade Exclusive: No / Signed copies: No / clear

Artist

Bonobo

Genre US

Electronic

Label US

Ninja Tune

Simon Green, known by his stage name Bonobo, is a British musician, producer and DJ based in Los Angeles. He debuted with a trip-hop aesthetic and has since explored more upbeat approaches while experimenting with jazz and world music. His electronic sound incorporates the use of organic instrumentation and is recreated by a full band during his live performances.
In 2020, Bonobo founded his own label called OUTLIER.

Vinyl variants, bonus material and signed editions exclusively available from Rough Trade.

Back In Stock

Fragments is the most emotionally intense record that he - aka Simon Green - has ever had to make. It’s no surprise that it’s also his masterpiece. The album features Jamila Woods, Joji, Kadhja Bonet, Jordan Rakei, O’Flynn and Miguel Atwood-Ferguson. Born first out of fragments of ideas and experimentation, the album ultimately was fused together in a burst of creativity fuelled by both collaboration and Green’s escape into the wild.

Fragments is a series of 12 sonic affirmations, featuring some of the hardest and most hip-shaking grooves that Green has ever created. The ballads are perfectly placed throughout; they capture a world in flux and glow with hope. Coaxing the ideas out initially took some hard work. The constantly-touring Green creates best while on the move; the global shutdown forced him to stand still.

Musical themes began to arise through Green’s exploration of modular synthesis, recordings he had made of harpist Lara Somogyi, his work with arranger and string player Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, his own playing of the Fender Rhodes and more, as the album was created, recorded and mixed by Green over the past two years. The album also came into focus as he sought refuge on solo adventures into nature, away from the shutdowns and wild fires and into the blazing California desert. 

“Tides,” featuring Chicagoan singer and poet Jamila Woods, acted as a catalyst, and the album began to click into place around it. “I knew I had a centerpiece, I knew how it was all going to sound,” he says. Working with arranger and string player Miguel Atwood-Ferguson, musical themes began to emerge. Recording orchestral musicians in actual studios helped bring the songs “out of the box” even more. 

A rhythmic framework started to come together too: the structures of UK bass music and rave began to seep into beats that would become tracks like “Otomo” (eventually co-produced by O’Flynn and featuring a sample of the Bulgarian choir 100 Kaba-Gaidi), and “Sapien.” The ”old school, Detroity, Moodymann and Theo Parrish inspired” “Shadows” was recorded with friend Jordan Rakei. “Rosewood,” “Closer” and “Counterpoint” each start with an ecstatic snap to them, but snake down surprisingly different paths. Somogyi's harp and Atwood-Ferguson's strings mingle together on the beatless “Elysian.” Two ballads flesh out the second half of the record: “Day by Day” featuring Kadhja Bonet and “From You” featuring Joji. 

It's about the dancefloor in many ways, about how “I remembered all over again how much I loved crowds and movement and people connecting with each other,” Green reflects. But the positivity isn’t just in the uptempo rhythms: even the most introspective and melancholic pieces have joy in them.

Fragments

Music US

Buy Bonobo - Fragments (Vinyl, CD) now from Rough Trade - independent purveyors of great music, since 1976.