Resavoir - Above The Clouds
Format : LP
Label : L'Univers
Catalog # : LUNI002
Genre : Jazz
Each incarnation of Resavoir, Chicago producer and composer Will Miller’s long-running, shapeshifting jazz project—whether a solo endeavor, a full band, a 17-piece orchestra, or an email chain of remote contributors—plays in the space where the organic and digital meet. Take the spiritual soundscapes of the 2019 self-titled record, for instance, where deep keyboard tones underpin hypnotic vamps or squiggle around reverberant horn solos; consider the more beat-oriented 2023 self-titled LP, whose lush sounds seem beamed in from a not-too-distant, somehow familiar future. Miller added EVI, a wind-controlled synthesizer, to his arsenal for the 2023 LP and carried it through to 2025’s Horizon, a collaboration with Matt Gold. He wove it more directly into the fabric of the more ambient-leaning Themes For Dreams, playing EVI on eight of its 13 tracks. Now, on Above The Clouds, Resavoir is at its most plugged in and switched on, crafting dreamy atmospheres almost entirely with electronic instruments.
During Chicago’s brutal 2026 winter, Resavoir took a new shape: The trio of Miller and two of his longtime collaborators, bassist Lane Beckstrom and drummer Jeremy Cunningham, got together a couple of times a week in Miller’s Little Village studio for loose jams to protect against seasonal doldrums. After so many different configurations, Miller wanted to get Resavoir back to a core unit, relinquishing duties as composer in favor of being more of a bandleader, learning how his ensemble could wring something natural from circuitry.
“I was interested in a palette that is oftentimes associated with the grid of Fruity Loops beats,” Miller explains, “but have it feel really open and conversational.” The work of futuristic sound sculptors like Jon Hassell and Flying Lotus was an initial touchstone. But Above The Clouds also shares a foundation with cloud rap, as Miller cites the genre’s mixture of heavy, booming drums with dreamy synth tones and smeared samples as major influences on this new direction. It’s a natural progression: Since its inception, Resavoir has been a way for Miller to push his developed musical vocabulary into new territories, warping them just enough to be recognizable but wholly new.
Miller swapped his trumpet for the Steiner Crumar EVI; Beckstrom worked with a Digitakt sampler and played baritone guitar; and Cunningham restricted himself to the Roland SPD drum pad. The three would improvise for hours during these sessions, occasionally joined by Kenneth Leftridge, Jr. on woodwinds and Roland Aerophone (another wind synth), and Miller would scan through the recordings for the sections “where the stars finally align, and we're spontaneously composing a song together.” Once he isolated those moments, he brought Leftridge back in, overdubbing several improvised takes as he reacted to the drafts. Miller also sent the songs to guitarist Gregory Uhlmann to build on with the instructions “have fun and jam on these, and don’t be too precious.”
The result is gorgeous, every element circling around each other in a delicate dance. Miller’s EVI curls like smoke in a light breeze, while Cunningham’s drums waft into a groove more than they lock. Beckstrom, Leftridge, and Uhlmann all add billowing textures, expertly blending and dissipating. During one potent jam, Miller turned to his bandmates and said, “Man, we’re making some cloud jazz,” and the phrase stuck, becoming both theme and the name of the imaginary genre the musicians felt they were pursuing. What began as a way to combat the isolation of a cold, dark winter became a defining idea. “When I’m making an album, I’m trying to create the right conditions for discovery to happen,” says Miller. Above The Clouds is about remembering the endlessness beyond, the excitement of not knowing, and the joy of exploration.