More Light
The new album from cellist Brent Arnold
Produced by Randall Dunn
Preview it here: https://s.disco.ac/mqhwnyjcrzqz
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Shaped by spectral drones and heavy electroacoustics upon minimalist frameworks, cellist Brent Arnold’s new album More Light is a sublime journey through architectures of sound.
Brent Arnold has been known for his uniquely moving cello performances and his adventurous composition in opera, film, theater, and dance. He spent formative years as a student of both legendary jazz violinist Michael White (Pharoah Sanders, Sun Ra, Roland Kirk, John Handy), and Walter Gray, the original cellist of the Kronos Quartet. On More Light, he combines his wildly original approach to his instrument with the heavy sonic intensity that producer Randall Dunn brought to records by artists like Sunn O))) and the score to Panos Cosmatos’ Mandy. With layered cellos and synthesizers, and contributions from some of the most notable artists in contemporary music, the result is a supernal, disquieting beauty that moves between the ambient and the ecstatic.
The seven compositions on More Light patiently open, transform, bloom, and collapse. A delicate skittering of bowhair on string starts “Soft, Soft”, building to an overwhelming cascade as Gelsey Bell’s soprano soars above. Robert Aiki Aubrey Lowe’s ghostly vocals haunt the cinematic, ever-evolving “Shifter” and the sci-fi planetscape of “Arcs”. On “Charcoal”, Eyvind Kang plays the viola d’amore, a baroque instrument whose drone strings resonate ominously with Alaina Ferris’ harp and Mark Dover’s bass clarinets. The contributions of some of New York’s most brilliant string musicians like Joshua Modney, Jessica Pavone, and Finnegan Shanahan appear throughout.
As a sonic architecture, More Light is a sacrament to spaciousness. Marked by Dunn’s heavy sonic signature, Arnold’s evocative compositions take on aspects of the uncanny and the otherworldly—creating a luminous world that oscillates between the infernal and the sacred.
[titles not final]
01 Soft, Soft feat. Gelsey Bell (voice)
02 Cathedral Cycles feat. Alaina Ferris (harp), Finnegan Shanahan (violin, viola)
03 Shifter feat. Rob Aiki Aubrey Lowe (voice)
04 Charcoal feat. Eyvind Kang (viola d’amore), Alaina Ferris (harp), Mark Dover (bass clarinet)
05 An Arch feat. Jessica Pavone (violin)
06 Arcs feat. Rob Aiki Aubrey Lowe (voice)
07 Sky Blue feat. Joshua Modney (violin)
Recorded in NYC at Circular Ruin and The Endurance
Mixed at Circular Ruin by Randall Dunn
Contact: audiofriction@gmail.com / brentarnoldmusic.com