19 March 2024: The Pineapple Thief; Slow Reels; Sonologyst

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This week I am also hosting the Rural Electric (Mostly) Country show from 7-9 pm, this week featuring Kacey Musgraves' new release: Deeper Well.  Spotify playlist here.

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Progressive Art Rock luminaries The Pineapple Thief return with new album ‘It Leads To This’ out February 9^th on Kscope. 

The Pineapple Thief revel in opposing forces. Muscle and fragility. Chaos and precision. Distorted introspection and warm, dreamlike expanse. Conceived in 1999 by Bruce Soord, the progressive quartet underwent a rebirth in 2017 with the arrival of Gavin Harrison (King Crimson, Porcupine Tree) on drums. Completed by bassist Jon Sykes and keyboardist Steve Kitch, they’ve honed a lean yet lush, quietly timeless sound that soars on It Leads To This.

The Pineapple Thief had the following to say regarding the new single: 

“We worked on these new songs for nearly 3 years. It was the most intense time I can remember within The Pineapple Thief. Personally I was being pushed well beyond my known limits, which is great from an artistic perspective but also very very challenging from a personal perspective.  

Bruce continues: 

Conceptually ‘It Leads To This’ continues my desire to observe and (try to) make sense of life and the world around me. It’s all there in the lyrics.

The initial concept for the songs came together very quickly but the final lyrical and musical elements took a huge amount of work to piece together between the four of us, at least to a point where we were all satisfied.  After so long in the business, being ‘satisfied’ is constantly being pushed further, constantly redefined. That’s the thing, we just kept pushing…”

To coincide with their formidable return, the band reveal a beautifully shot, compelling video for the first chapter of ‘It Leads To This’ in the form of ‘The Frost’. The video for the new single shot by Jeremy George brings the vibrant landscape of Iceland to life in the post-apocalyptic world pictured on the cover. 

It all feeds into It Leads To This. Comprising eight fat-free epics – all about five minutes long, mixing rock urgency with delicate atmospherics, pensive keys and captivating melodies – it finds Soord looking back and fearing for the world his children will inherit. His lyrics also drew from literature: accounts of Ancient Rome, John Williams’ classic Stoner and epistolary Augustus. All conveyed through Soord’s fragile yet penetrative tenor, nodding to storytellers like Nick Drake, Thom Yorke and Katatonia’s Jonas Renkse. 

In a way, that’s The Pineapple Thief all over. Idiosyncratic but relatable. Devastating and life-affirming, in the same breath. Not married to a single genre, just melody served by tones and textures. Music that only the four of them could make. 

It Leads To This will be available in a multitude of formats that are as follows:

Limited Edition Deluxe 4 Disc set featuring:
DISC 1: CD Album
DISC 2: Bonus CD ‘Y Aqui Estamos’ – Alternate Versions
DISC 3: Blu-ray – It Leads To This + bonus album “Y Aqui Estamos” (reworkings of album session recordings): Dolby Atmos-DTS-HD MA 5.1-24/48 PCM Stereo mixes created by Bruce Soord
DISC 4: DVD – It Leads to This and Y Aqui Estamos: DTS 5.1-24/48 PCM Stereo
52 page book

Limited edition brick red vinyl LP (exclusive to The Pineapple Thief and Kscope stores)
Limited edition green vinyl LP (exclusive to worldwide independent record shops)
Limited edition cream vinyl LP (exclusive to Germany & Austria)

Blu Ray – Includes “It Leads To This” and bonus album “Y Aqui Estamos” . All in hi-res dolby atmos, dts-hd 5.1 and stereo created by Bruce Soord

The next release in the quiet details series has been created by two of the most well-respected artists currently in modern ambient and experimental music, Ian Hawgood and James Murray, here as Slow Reels.

Ian is one of the people behind the legendary label Home Normal, plus has a vast discography of releases under his own name and in collaborations. A masterful exponent of magnetic tape, synthesisers and electro-acoustics - Ian is loved across the musical world for his deeply thoughtful production and curation.
James runs the wonderful Slowcraft label, another fantastic outlet for some of the best ambient-leaning music around. His own productions are also of the highest calibre, exploring analogue and digital techniques to breath-taking effect. Also working on film scores and more, James is an artist with many talents.

Together they complement each other perfectly, as shown by the previous two Slow Reels releases - Farewell Islands (Morr Music) and Sustain (Fluid Audio).
This is continued in stunning fashion here, they have made something quite wonderful with their latest album, Everyday Exotic.

Bringing all their melodic and textural sensibilities, they have created an album that’s full of beautiful and deeply moving moments, always evolving yet giving you enough time to fully immerse yourself in the harmonic wonder and the vast open spaces only artists of their skill and experience can achieve.

Piano, electro-acoustics and field recordings meet incredibly creative synth-work and granular processing, creating a peerless marriage of layers and textures -  you can feel the respect and affection these artists have for each other coming through every element - some collaborations just work and this is easily one of my most loved.

Each track moves gently and seamlessly into the next, the pacing and range of emotions are again a sign of musicians with full command of not only their tools, but also the human feeling behind what they are aiming to express.

To me, this is as close to sonic bliss as you can get, it’s my great honour to share it with you.

The artwork was made as always influenced by the music and idea behind the album - this time originating from a picture of James’ beautiful cockatiel friend Coco, which was then captured with analogue photography and processed here at quiet details studios.

As usual, the album is presented on the physical edition, a custom 6-panel digipack with a separate fine art print too.
The CD also has a special long-form continuous mix of the album, representing the music in its purest form.   Find it here on Bandcamp.

 As a label we support the incredible Cancer Centre - Milton Keynes University Hospital and all their wonderful NHS staff.

Our thanks to Alex at quiet details with providing us with a copy of this release to share with our listeners.

Among the musicians I have appreciated the most in recent years, a special place is undoubtedly reserved for Lars Bröndum and David Lee Myers. From 2015 onwards, I had the pleasure of playing their songs on the radio transmission The Recognition Test frequently, and inviting them to participate in numerous compilations published by the Unexplained Sounds network. Over time, I realized that, albeit in different ways and forms, their music could integrate and complement that of my Sonologyst project. This led me to the idea of inviting them to collectively produce tracks. From our exchanges of samples, audio experiments, music segments, a long piece of over 20 minutes emerged, which I believe effectively encapsulates how our musical sensibilities complemented each other. We then added individually composed tracks, resulting in this album, "Unus Et Trinus," in which the listeners can hear the music of each of the three participants separately but also the collective piece. This allows them to get an "almost real-time" idea of how three different sonic worlds can create a synthesis.
Raffaele Pezzella

credits

released February 29, 2024 

Our thanks to Raffele Pezzella (Sonologyst) for providing us with a copy of this release to share with our listeners.

REVIEWS

Ver Sacrum
www.versacrum.com/vs/2024/03/unus-et-trinus-by-david-lee-myers-sonologyst-lars-brondum.html


David Lee Myers, hailing from New York City, is an accomplished sound and visual artist. His journey in sound manipulation began in 1980, utilizing electronic circuitry of his own design for sound production, both under his name and as Arcane Device. Since 1987, he has pioneered "Feedback Music," a distinctive approach that predates the "no-input mixer" trend by several years. In this genre, audio processors feed off their own outputs and those of other processors via custom-built matrix mixers, enabling these devices to create their unique sonic narratives. More recently, Myers has incorporated modified video circuits to produce complementary visual presentations during his performances. He has an extensive discography, with over thirty recordings released by prominent labels such as Generator, Recommended, Line, Silent, Pogus, RRRecords, Staalplaat, Monochrome Vision, and more. Notably, he has collaborated with electronic music pioneer Tod Dockstader, as well as artists like Gen Ken Montgomery, Thomas Dimuzio, Ellen Band, guitarist Marco Oppedisano, and Dirk Serries (Vidna Obmana).

Sonologyst is the brainchild of Italian producer Raffaele Pezzella, known for his meticulous exploration of the intersection between music and contemporary mythologies. Sonologyst's sonic landscape spans from Fortean documentary-style soundscapes to the creation of post-industrial auditory experiences. He fuses various technologies, including analog machines, software, and, more recently, AI, drawing inspiration from the early electronic music pioneers. Since 2014, Pezzella has curated Unexplained Sounds, a 'Global Network of Aural Disorientation.' Under this umbrella, Unexplained Sounds Group was founded in 2015, now encompassing subsidiary labels like Eighth Tower Records, ZeroK, and Reverse Alignment. Pezzella is also a publisher of books and hosts a streaming radio program titled 'The Recognition Test.' Sonologyst's works have been published by various labels, including Cold Spring Records, Unexplained Sounds Group, Eighth Tower Records, Gravity's Rainbow Tapes, and Attenuation Circuit.

Lars Bröndum, PhD, is a versatile artist, serving as a composer, live electronics performer, theorist, and guitarist. His compositions have graced international stages in countries such as Sweden, Japan, Germany, Scotland, Lithuania, Russia, Latvia, England, USA, Spain, and Mexico. They have also found their way onto the airwaves, being broadcast on radio and webradio in Germany, England, Italy, Sweden, and the USA. Lars Bröndum's music is a captivating exploration of the interplay between acoustic and electronic instruments, residing on the boundary between structured compositions and spontaneous improvisation. His works are characterized by cyclic processes, irregular ostinatos, fragmented gestures, and microtonal clusters. Bröndum is actively involved in the electroacoustic music scene, notably at EMS (Electroacoustic Music in Sweden), and he has held positions on the boards of Fylkingen (a society for new music and intermedia art), SEAMS (Society of Electroacoustic Music in Sweden), and VEMS (Composers at EMS) from 2007 to 2008. He has also contributed as a board member to the Swedish Section of ICEM (International Confederation for Electronic Music). Bröndum often composes for and collaborates with ensembles such as ReSurge, ExSurge, AGAIG, and Spiral Cycle. He is a key figure in projects like the "Ensemble SFW" and maintains a duo partnership with Sten-Olof Hellstrom. His dedication to the craft has earned him composer grants from Konstnärsnämnden (Swedish Art Council), STIM (Swedish Performing Rights Society), and accolades from FST (Swedish Composer's Society). Moreover, Lars Bröndum is the founder of the independent record label Antennae Media.



Published by ©Unexplained Sounds Group in collaboration with Dissipatio
Mastered by Raffaele Pezzella (Sonologyst)
Artwork by Nicola Quiriconi
Layout by Matteo Mariano
Cat. Num. USG092
© 2024. All rights reserved

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experimental avant-garde drone improvisation musique concrete sound art Italy

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