Strange Cargo is the second full-length album by independent artist Michael Arthur Holloway, following up his 2016 noir-jazz (aka dark-jazz, doom-jazz ) debut, Guilt Noir.
On this sprawling sophomore album, Holloway hones his signature noir-jazz sound against the windswept environs of Astoria, Oregon, where the Columbia river meets the Pacific Ocean.
Strange Cargo is an atmosphere-drenched, instrumental narrative exploring Astoria and its surrounding landmarks, as told through dark-jazz: ubiquitous Rhodes electric piano, muted-trumpet and tenor saxophone leads, speakeasy piano and upright bass-- along with the wind, surf and rain of the Pacific Northwest.
Have an after-hours drink or three on Bond Street; take a stroll by moonlight through Uniontown; cross the river and seance with shipwreck spirits at Peacock Spit; meditate on life's long arrivals and quiet departures at Cape Disappointment, where Lewis & Clark's expedition reached the Pacific and turned around to head home.
This is urban noir-jazz taken to the coast-- a perfect marriage of noir melancholia and the solemn grandeur of the Pacific Ocean.
1. Nautilus
2. Strange Cargo
3. Abandoned Boardwalk
4. The Coral Club
5. Dismal Nitch
6. Uniontown
7. Bond Street Blues
8. Closed For Winter
9. Peacock Spit
10. Stella Maris
11. Iredale Ghosts
12. Grey Winter Blues
13. Cape Disappointment
14. The Fort George Fire
Composed & Produced by Michael Arthur Holloway
Cover Art by John C. Worsley
Mastered by Erich Oehler @ Submersible Studios
