FOLIO is a new greyfade music release format — a 6.5 x 8" linen hardcover book with an included high-resolution album download — that sets out to answer the question: why release music in physical form today?
equal parts album release, critical text, making-of narrative, study score, and collectible art object, FOLIO represents what we believe to be the best of the physical and digital worlds.
Gorgeously presented items and hugely generous in a way that is atypical in experimental music. Greyfade deserves many the plaudit for these works that point to a culture and a community of breathing, bleeding humans that produces a record. FREQ
The clothbound cover projects substance, the graphic design is clean, and the opportunity to fill a book permits the music’s makers to explain their processes at much greater length than the average Blue Note LP. THE WIRE
An item of beauty, and a creative response to the collector’s urge that animates so many lovers of recorded sound. CHAMBER MUSIC MAGAZINE
An amazing book… really just above and beyond. There’s a meticulousness and care and concern that goes on here that is pretty remarkable and inspiring. JAMIE LIDELL
A powerful argument against the immediacy of our current culture. MEANS MAGAZINE
FOLIO editions, 2024:
FOLIO is a new greyfade music release format that sets out to answer the question: why release music in physical form today?
Since its founding in 2019, greyfade has taken as its basic premise the idea of the musical album as a complete conceptual universe unto itself, integrating sound, compositional architecture, visual design, and text into a single object worthy of sustained engagement. To bring these threads together in a single physical form, the label’s next phase of development will explore a “new” medium: the book.
This cycle of music releases will be presented in an innovative new format: a 6.5 x 8” hardcover book with an included high-resolution music download. Equal parts album release, critical text, making-of narrative, study score, and collectible art object, the FOLIO format brings together what we believe to be the best of the physical and digital worlds.
Developed in collaboration with Penguin Random House art director and book designer Jason Booher, these intricately designed and carefully manufactured linen wrap hardcover editions feature essays, extended artist statements, reflections on process and technology, data visualizations, music theory, photography, and musical scores – offering an unprecedented level of detail and insight into the music’s conception and creation. The included high-resolution music download is sourced directly from the studio masters, providing listeners with a digital listening experience of the highest quality and ownership of the music for years to come.
The FOLIO format represents a renewal of greyfade’s commitment to the continued relevance of both thoughtfully designed physical objects and high-resolution digital music, bringing greater context and depth to the label’s most ambitious musical projects.
