David Moore photographed by Tonje Thilesen
Bing & Ruth have announced the release of new album Species, Getintothis’ Matthew Eland has the low down on this minimalist piano ensemble.
Bing & Ruth are set to release their fourth album Species on July 17, 2020, courtesy of 4AD.
Rather than being a duo as their name might suggest, Bing & Ruth is in fact a loose collective headed by Kansas pianist David Moore.
Species is described as being ‘an exploration of the sonic possibilities of the Farfisa organ, aided by a clarinet and double bass’ (and has nothing to do with the naughty 1995 Natasha Henstridge film that all the bigger boys told you about).
In this he’ll be joined by long-standing colleagues Jeremy Viner and Jeff Ratner on clarinet and double bass, respectively.
The album’s first single, I Had No Dream, gives us a good indication of what to expect from the record.
Sitting somewhere between the work of Lubomyr Melnyk and Philip Glass, I Had No Dream is a twisting, non-linear composition that’s simultaneously exultant and technical.
“I suppose what interested me the most in putting this together was the concept of trance and what can happen to the listener by submitting to the wave of the thing,” says Moore.
“Upon reflection, I suppose what I was moving towards was a way to feel small – a way to feel humble. I had always made music in search of some sort of inner peace, but I no longer cared so much to comfort myself. I’d grown tired, it seemed, of looking inward; I wanted to look nowhere.”
There’s also a summery haze to the track, a bleached-out evocation of retinal flashes and dehydration; the transcendental deliverance of sunstroke.
It’s no surprise to hear that the album was inspired by long-distance running in the desert.
Moore moved from his New York HQ to Point Dume, a Californian promontory that sits on the edge of the ocean. This change in location provided plenty of inspiration for the new music.
“I’d found myself in places unfamiliar enough that I could easily lose all sense of direction, size and, more than anything, all sense of time. The music I was making became a kind of reflection of these intentional detachments – and a place to mirror that feeling of trance that had pushed them out in the first place.”
Species tracklist:
1. Body
2. Badwater Psalm
3. I Had No Dream
4. Blood Harmony
5. Live Forever
6. The Pressure Of This Water
7. Nearer
Just like everyone else, the band has had to reschedule all their live dates. You can now catch Bing & Ruth in North America and Europe on the following dates:
August 12 – NEW YORK, NY, Le Poisson Rouge
August 14 – RALEIGH, NC, Kings Barcade
August 15 – ATLANTA, GA, Contemporary Art Center
August 17 – AUSTIN, TX, North Door
August 19 – DALLAS, TX, Sons of Hermann Hall
August 20 – TUCSON, AZ, Hotel Congress
August 22 – LOS ANGELES, CA, Lodge Room
August 23 – SAN FRANCISCO, CA, Great American Music Hall
August 25 – PORTLAND, OR, Mississippi Studios
August 26 – SEATTLE, WA, Fremont Abbey
August 29 – MINNEAPOLIS, MN, Cedar Cultural Center
August 30 – CHICAGO, IL, Constellation
August 31 – DETROIT, MI, Marble Bar
September 1 – TORONTO, ON, Brothers Dressler
September 2 – MONTREAL, QC, La Sala Rossa
September 3 – BOSTON, MA, Great Scott
September 4 – PHILADELPHIA, PA, World Café Live
December 4 – LISBON, PT, ZDB
December 5– GIUMARAES, PT, CCVF
December 7– BRUSSELS, BE, Botanique
December 8– UTRECHT, NL, TivoliVredenburg
December 9 – PARIS, FR, Les Trois Baudets
December 10 – LONDON, GB, Kings Place
December 11 – MANCHESTER, GB, St. Michael’s
[paypal-donation]
