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Vinyl / CD / Digotal Remaster - out 11 December

Loop are proud to present the debut album from New Zealand producer Rhian Sheehan, digitally remastered and available on vinyl for the first time ever. Released 25 years ago, Paradigm Shift was not only Rhian's first release, but the first release from Loop, a label which has since helped guide over 500 releases from Aotearoa to the world.

Upon its original release in 2001, Paradigm Shift saw Sheehan gain fans all over the world with the album's curious blend of noir trip-hop atmospheres, spacey electronica, and acoustic guitar meandering. Released initially in New Zealand, before finding a global audience the following year, the album was nominated for both a New Zealand Music Award and b-Net Music Award. A new audience was found when the track 'Garden Children' was included by Café del Mar for one of their compilations, and later when US R&B artist Kehlani sampled the track 'Waiting' on her Billboard Top 10 2017 album SweetSexySavage.

Paradigm Shift arrived at a formative moment for both electronic music and Loop Recordings Aot(ear)oa. Internationally, artists including Air, Zero 7, Four Tet and Plaid were expanding the possibilities of downtempo and leftfield electronica, while closer to home a new generation of Aotearoa artists including Shapeshifter, Sola Rosa, Salmonella Dub and Pitch Black were developing their own distinctly local approaches to electronic music. Paradigm Shift became Loop's first album release, establishing both Sheehan and the new label within that emerging landscape.

"I made the album throughout my early twenties, mostly tinkering away in the bedroom of my student flat," recalls Sheehan. "I was green and still finding my feet, but I remember feeling deeply connected to what I was creating: experimenting with synthesisers, programming drum patterns, sampling old records, mashing up the samples and recording acoustic guitar through whatever cheap old microphone I could find lying around... It was all very fluid and organic. There was something liberating about it. At the time I never imagined the music would find an audience."

Paradigm Shift is an album which has laid the foundation for an acclaimed career from Sheehan, finding its influence continuing to pop up. Recorded and produced mostly by Sheehan himself in his bedroom, and predominantly done on a free piece of audio software, the album received minimal mastering prior to its initial release. To celebrate its 25th Anniversary, the album has been lovingly remastered by Benny Tones out of his Organik Muzik Workz studio, a Wellington-located musical mecca which has birthed the likes of Electric Wire Hustle, Ladi6, Louis Baker and more.

Loop founder Mikee Tucker, who released the album as the label's very first signing, says the anniversary edition is a quiet tribute rather than a big celebration. "Rather than throwing a big party, this is our subtle way of celebrating 25 years of Loop by going back to where it all began. And there'll be more anniversary editions of seminal Loop albums to come," says Tucker. "I'm incredibly proud of this album. It's one I've always gone back to. There's something haunting about it, but it also lifts me up and takes me straight back to those times. For me, it's a timeless piece of art."

Paradigm Shift is an album appropriately titled, one which was a part of a shifting sound in electronic music coming out of Aotearoa. An album which sounds as relevant and vital today as when it was originally released, its 25th Anniversary Remaster presents it in a new light, giving it a release befitting of both its quality and legacy.

"I hope this remastered edition brings something fresh to those who know it and offers a welcome introduction to those hearing it for the first time," says Sheehan. "And thanks to Loop, 25 years on, it's finally finding its way onto vinyl."