Detroit duo releases vulnerable new album, ‘Conjure’

BALANCE musicians Marcus Elliot and Michael Malis join CultureShift to perform new songs from the album live in WDET’s studios.

Michael Malis and Marcus Elliot smile in front of the WDET logo

Michael Malis (left) and Marcus Elliot smile at WDET's studios on Nov. 4, 2022.

On Saturday, Dec. 10, a duo of great local musicians will celebrate their new album with a release party at Trinosophes in Eastern Market.

The duo is called BALANCE and it’s made up of saxophonist Marcus Elliot and pianist Michael Malis. Their newly released album is called Conjure, and it’s a mix of original compositions and musical improvisations, originally recorded in January 2020.

 

 

The duo stopped by CultureShift in November to talk about their musical journey, share the intimate inspirations for the album and perform a few songs live in-studio.

“What we are hoping to create is something that’s timeless, something that goes beyond time, something that goes into that realm of, ‘It sounds good now, it would have sounded good yesterday, hopefully it’ll sound good in the future too.’” — Michael Malis, BALANCE pianist

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Author

  • Ryan Patrick Hooper
    Ryan Patrick Hooper is the award-winning host and producer of CultureShift on 101.9 WDET-FM Detroit’s NPR station. Hooper has covered stories for the New York Times, NPR, Detroit Free Press, Hour Detroit, SPIN and Paste magazine.