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Background
Not Amazing is the first album I released as a bandleader. It grapples with the constant challenge of either being perceived as a helpless charity case or as a superhuman by the able-bodied public. The album opens with recordings of the absurd things I hear on a daily basis as a blind adult. On the title track, Sage Ross conveys my lyrics regarding the related phenomenon of how frustrating it is to be praised as amazing by people who are shocked by my completion of common tasks. None of these frustrations are unique to me. Being both pitied and fetishized by able-bodied peers are constants in the disability experience. Over the course of this record, I respond to these experiences with a combination of live instrumental tracks and electronic productions.
Info and personnel
Released January 24, 2017
Tommy Carroll: composition, arrangement, lyrics, drums, and synthesizers
Marion Hill: keyboards, English horn, and album art
Alex Warshawsky: electric and upright bass
Daniel Berkey: saxophone
Sage Ross: vocals (track 2)
Justine Ogbevire: vocals (track 3), composition (track 6)
Me’Chelle Renee: vocals and lyrics (track 4)
E. Oks: vocals and lyrics (track 7)
Recorded by Sam Fell at Gravity Studios
Mixed by Blake Johnson at Longcat Studios
Mastered by John Scrip at Massive Mastering, LLc.
Sound design on track one by Jim Tullio at Butcherboy Studios