Amp
wind chimes but instead of wind it’s the ghosts of John Coltrane and Albert Ayler playing together like kids in the park
Favorite track: Inner Garden I.
Marcel Zaes
an unexpected sonic world that takes me to Mars or so! The laws of gravity seem reversed, how did you get rid of the boundaries between pitch, timbre, and rhythm? This is awesome.
Favorite track: Inner Garden I.
Subscribe
now to receive all the new
music
New Amsterdam Records releases,
including
38 back-catalog items,
delivered instantly to you via the Bandcamp app for iOS and Android.
You’ll also get access to
subscriber-only
exclusives.
Learn more.
This nirvana-inducing three movement work, which showcases Laplante’s passion for seamlessly merging improvisation and composition, was inspired by a dreamlike state he experienced shortly after receiving the commission from Yarn/Wire, a beloved ensemble he’d shared many stages with in Williamsburg and Lower Manhattan.
“The bands and groups playing were all really amazing and very hard to define,” explains Laplante of those many nights. "It was the intensity that tied everyone together."
When Laplante and Yarn/Wire finally united in a direct collaboration for Inner Garden, it was kinetic energy that mattered more than any style or genre classification.
"Yarn/Wire and I work together in an effortless and open way. There's a tremendous force in that openness,” explains Laplante. “We're all on the same page in terms of musical values, even if we all have different ways of describing them, a way of really being patient and allowing for something magical to organically come alive without needing to assert ourselves or prove anything.”
The feelings were mutual.
“Engaging with Travis’ music required me to simultaneously use everything that I’ve learned as a musician up to now while also attempting to start from a state of nothingness and create from an elemental ‘core’ of music,” explains Russell Greenberg, a percussionist in Yarn/Wire. “This was a challenge that required deep listening, rehearsal, honesty, and reflection. This recording captures the very different explorations that we each took which ultimately led us all towards the same destination.”
While the sounds of Inner Garden are signature Laplante, the work also documents an astounding shift that sees Laplante moving away from the physical and visceral and consciously becoming, as he describes it, “more and more inspired by subtlety, gentleness and the unknown --trying to let my musical language open up into more dimensions of human existence without dulling anything down.”
With Inner Garden, Laplante invites listeners to live inside this rich intensity of music, a sound world that was created through deep connectivity and intuition.
“There is a feminine, yin, and receptive musical state that is a vital part of our connection with each other,” explains Laplante, who wrote a compositional framework so that the players could listen to each other deeply and respond equally. “This feels vital and distinct from my past work, which has been rigorously composed with a greater emphasis on physical strength."
The result is music that, in Laplante’s own words, “carries a highly precise essence and design, while simultaneously allowing for the performers to put their ears, hearts, and connection with one another above all else.”
credits
released October 9, 2020
Yarn/Wire and Roulette Intermedium commissioned Travis Laplante to write “Inner Garden” in 2019.
Travis Laplante- tenor saxophone
Yarn/Wire:
Ning Yu- piano, wind chimes
Laura Barger- piano, wind chimes
Ian Antonio- vibraphone, cymbals, frame drum, wind chimes
Russell Greenberg- vibraphone, cymbals, frame drum, wind chimes
Recorded at Oktaven Audio in Mt. Vernon, NY on September 28th, 2019
Engineered, mixed, and mastered by Ryan Streber
Assistant Engineer: Edwin Huet
Piano Technician: Dan Jessie
Layout: Matthew Mayer
Creative and seamless fusion of computer and live music. The spirit of Steve Reich hovers over the procedings, but Tristan Perich is his own man, and this wonderful recording is by no means derivative. The most innovative take on minimalist music anybody has heard in quite a while. polinos
I have been entranced by Caroline Davis's music since the Wonderful Heart Tonic. Then the beautiful Anthems, followed by this swirling masterpiece. Also just picked up Live Work & Play. Caroline Davis is THE jazz musician to watch. Robert Middleton
London-based trio Damos Room and soundsystem artist LYAM come together for an irreverent EP offering a glitchy take on ambient techno. Bandcamp New & Notable Feb 8, 2023
Modular synths sparkle amidst piano, vibes, and other organic instruments stringing together constellations of sound. Bandcamp New & Notable Sep 22, 2023
When the Yule season rolls around, I am hopeful that some thoughtful souls will silence the all-too-commonplace holiday jingle-jangle in the room and allow sufficient space and stillness to play — and •listen• to — this most etherial take on a classic German carol. Philip David Morgan