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1.
Dendrites I 03:12
2.
Supergiant 04:20
3.
Dispatch 01:16
4.
Brother Tom 03:42
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Bricolage 04:19
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10.
Dendrites II 06:34
11.

about

The Westerlies and Conrad Tao present Bricolage, an album of improvisations and experiments recorded in a small cabin in rural New Hampshire in June 2019. True to the definition of the title, the music finds its form in the unscripted conversation of the instruments and imaginations at hand, revealing new sonic worlds to both performers and listeners alike.

For two weeks, the collaboration between The Westerlies and Tao came to life as they embarked on a daily practice of improvisation, pairing brass and keyboard with digital processing and extended techniques, and eluding genre and expectations in the process. Tao’s boundless dynamism shines as both a fearless performer and spontaneous composer, while The Westerlies subvert the natural timbres and tendencies of their instruments to unearth new sonic terrain and compositional cohesion as one.

Bricolage features nine pieces drawn from the session tapes, humbly captured with a few microphones and minimal editing. Amidst the chirping birds of rural New Hampshire and creaky cabin floors, a musical narrative is woven in patient but deliberate fashion, encapsulating what is at the core of this album: an exploration of beauty in its raw, messy, and unvarnished state. At its core stands a work entitled “just so long and long enough,” recalling the words of the E.E. Cummings poem [as freedom is a breakfastfood].

Bricolage creates its own language in the ebb and flow of group harmony with dissonance, and conversational concurrence with discord. This collection of pieces was created and captured in the moment like lightning in a bottle and conjures the collective imagination of this new collaboration that is greater than the sum of its parts.

credits

released May 21, 2021

Conrad Tao - Piano

The Westerlies:

Riley Mulherkar - Trumpet
Chloe Rowlands - Trumpet
Andy Clausen - Trombone
Willem de Koch - Trombone

Produced by Andy Clausen

Recorded June 2019 at Avaloch Farm, Boscawen, NH
Mixed and Mastered April 2021 by Andy Clausen at
The International House of Long Tones, Brooklyn, NY

Cover Image by Chloe Rowlands
Design & Layout by Riley Mulherkar and Conrad Tao

license

all rights reserved

tags

about

The Westerlies New York, New York

“folk-like and composerly, lovely and intellectually rigorous.” - NPR

"Chamber music with bracing melodies and, crucially, an undeniable sense of fun." - L.A. Times

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