Published by BARONMAG
Pyroclasts is the result of a daily practice which was regularly performed each morning or evening during the two week Life Metal sessions at Electrical Audio during July 2018, when all of the days musical participants would gather and work through a 12 minute improvised modal drone at the start and or end of the day’s work. The piece performed was timed with a stopwatch and tracked to two-inch tape, it was an exercise and a chance to dig into a deep opening or closing of the days session in a deep musical way with all of the participants. To connect/reconnect, liberate the creative mind a bit and greet each other and the space through the practice of sound immersion. The players across the four pieces of Pyroclasts are Tim Midyett, T.O.S., Hildur Guðnadóttir, and as always Stephen O’Malley & Greg Anderson.
The music on Pyroclasts is inextricably woven to Life Metal. It exists on the very same tape reels, was explicitly recorded by Steve Albini. The brightness and vividity of that glorious session glares through these four tracks, the precision and radiance, prismatic lustrousness of the saturation, the elemental sculptural shapes, the abstract renderings. It is a sister, or perhaps a shadow album. Or perhaps the now apparent miasma or aether. But it also exists in a form of a pause, a time space which exist in between and around the compositional structures of Sunn O)))’s titanic works.
For the listener or recipient/participant, there are deep rewards within the patience of pulling down the walls and letting the music feel and feel the music. To be immersed will reveal great detail and color, clarify image, encourage a depth of focus and stillness which may lead to a quite profound experience. Sitting inside the space of time. A deep form of elementalism, even atomism, and connection with present moment, time and reality. Sunn O))) would invite their audience to consider these points of perception when experiencing and listening to Pyroclasts. Sunn O))) would also invite and encourage their audience to use Pyroclasts as a lens to review and reexperience the complexity of the Life Metal album, and even to interrupt its sequence with Pyroclasts. This elaboration can bring the astute listener both abyssal, hallowed rewards.
Pyroclasts was recorded and mixed by Steve Albini at Electrical Audio on two inch tape July 2018, and mastered by Matt Colton through all analogue AAA process at Metropolis July 2019. Four of Samantha Keely Smith’s incredible consciousness memory landscapes grace the album sleeve – album cover art is below.
Stephen & Greg would like to dedicate this album to the memories of Ron Guardipee, Kerstin Daley & Scott Walker.
Pyroclasts, track listing:
SIDE A:
Frost (C)
Kingdoms (G)
SIDE B:
Ampliphædies (E)
Ascension (A)
SUNN O))), ON TOUR:
SEPTEMBER 2019 – WESTERN U.S.
September 1 Dallas, TX @ Granada, with Papa M, Big|Brave
September 2 Austin, TX @ Emo’s, with Papa M, Big|Brave
September 4 Denver, CO @ The Gothic, with Papa M, Big|Brave
September 6 Salt Lake City, UT @ Metro Music Hall with Papa M, Big|Brave, Eagle Twin
September 7 Phoenix, AZ @ Arcosanti with Papa M, Big|Brave
September 8 Los Angeles, CA @ The Mayan, with Papa M, Big|Brave
September 9 San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore, with Papa M, Big|Brave
September 11 Seattle, WA @ Showbox, with Papa M
September 12 Portland, OR @ Revolution Hall, with Papa M
September 15 Los Angeles, CA @ Hollywood Forever [Shoshin (初心) Duo]
LET THERE BE DRONE (MULTIPLE GAINS STAGES) OCTOBER 2019
October 7 DE, Munich Backstage Werk with Caspar Brötzmann Bass Totem
October 8 DE, Karlsruhe HfG / ZKM with Caspar Brötzmann Bass Totem
October 9 CH, Basel Rosstall with Caspar Brötzmann Bass Totem
October 10 DE, Leipzig Felsenkeller with Caspar Brötzmann Bass Totem
October 11 PL, Krakow Unsound festival
October 13 LT, Vilnius Kablys with Caspar Brötzmann Bass Totem
October 14 EE, Tallinn Vene Theatre with Caspar Brötzmann Bass Totem
October 15 FIN, Helsinki Kulttuuritalo with Caspar Brötzmann Bass Totem
October 17 SE, Stockholm Kraken with Carl Michael Von Hausswolff
October 18 NO, Oslo Kulturkirchen Jakob with Runhild Gammelsæter & Lass Marhaug duo
October 19 NO, Oslo Blä, Shoshin (初心) Duo show with Runhild Gammelsæter & Lass Marhaug duo DJ set
October 21 DK, Copenhagen Koncerthuset with Puce Mary
October 22 NL, Nijmegen Doornroosje
October 24 UK, Bristol SWX with Anna Von Hausswolff
October 25 UK, Glasgow QMU with Anna Von Hausswolff
October 26 UK, Birmingham The Crossing with Anna Von Hausswolff
October 27 UK, Manchester Albert Hall with Anna Von Hausswolff
October 28 UK, London Roundhouse with Anna Von Hausswolff
INCOMING IN 2020…
La Gaîté Lyrique presents:
SUNN O))) – LET THERE BE DRONE
ONE RESIDENCE, TWO CONCEPTS, THREE CONCERTS
30 Jan / Life Metal
01 Feb / Life Metal
02 Feb / Shoshin (初心)
source: www.southernlord.com