With each successive release, Brooklyn post-minimalist ensemble Bing & Ruth have both refined their approach and reduced their line-up. 2010's City Lake was a sprawling, dramatic neo-classical/post-rock work played by nearly a dozen musicians (including two vocalists), and subsequent full-lengths Tomorrow Was the Golden Age and No Home of the Mind were fluid, focused efforts which endeared the group to ambient music listeners. On 2020's Species, composer and leader David Moore switches from piano, his usual instrument, to ...
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With each successive release, Brooklyn post-minimalist ensemble Bing & Ruth have both refined their approach and reduced their line-up. 2010's City Lake was a sprawling, dramatic neo-classical/post-rock work played by nearly a dozen musicians (including two vocalists), and subsequent full-lengths Tomorrow Was the Golden Age and No Home of the Mind were fluid, focused efforts which endeared the group to ambient music listeners. On 2020's Species, composer and leader David Moore switches from piano, his usual instrument, to Farfisa organ, recalling the hypnotic keyboard compositions of minimalist icons like Philip Glass and Terry Riley. Double bassist Jeff Ratner and clarinettist Jeremy Viner subtly underscore Moore's wavering, cascading organ pulsations, helping to flesh out an instrument beyond its apparent limitations -- Moore has even admitted that he considered the Farfisa to be one-dimensional. Like other Bing & Ruth albums, Species was thoroughly conceived before the musicians began recording it, yet it has such a river-like flow that it can seem as if it spontaneously poured out of Moore and his cohorts. This is intentional, as the meditative compositions are meant to evoke a trance state. "Badwater Psalm" creates a calm, pleasant atmosphere, perfect for leaving worries behind and just embracing the moment, and "I Had No Dream" elevates this feeling higher. Moore switches to an Elka Panther (a combo organ similar to a Farfisa) for "Live Forever," a 13-minute exercise designed for casting off earthly concerns and losing one's self inside. "The Pressure of This Water" stays afloat for ten minutes, but as weightless as it sounds, it's a balancing act that requires much discipline, like all of Bing & Ruth's work. ~ Paul Simpson, Rovi
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Add this copy of Species to cart. $25.03, new condition, Sold by Entertainment by Post - UK rated 2.0 out of 5 stars, ships from BRISTOL, SOUTH GLOS, UNITED KINGDOM, published 2020 by 4AD.
