In a recent interview with Chocolate Grinder’s own MRubz, prolific multi-instrumentalist/producer Sean McCann hinted at a collaborative album with Root Strata honcho/electro-acoustic droner Maxwell August Croy, alluding to a marathon of “rigorous and demanding” (and highly caffeinated) recording sessions in pursuit of a full-length LP. “Parting Lights (Suite),” our first taste of their album called I, premieres below. As with any extended swath of introspective music possessed of such high tonal fidelity (other recent examples that come to mind: Nicholas Szczepanik’s Not Knowing, or Lubomyr Melynck’s Windmills), the duo’s dynamic piece demands a session of close listening at high volume to glean the myriad crystalline details waiting within.
McCann and Croy segment their suite into stand-alone passages of instrumental performance that blossom into layered complexity before rarefying into the next discrete atmosphere. The yearning individual tones of violin, koto, and electronic drones resound in the lush studio mix, surging and decaying with stunning clarity as a time-lapse of fingers and bows fluttering across strings. Like McCann’s triumphant Music for Private Ensemble or Croy’s drifting explorations as half of the duo En, “Parting Lights (Suite)” maximizes a process of deliberate studio overdubbing to expose a fertile middle ground between minimalist composition and the chance-based tonal nuances of improvised ambient/drone performance.
I arrives on April 15 via Students of Decay. You can preorder the album now.
• Sean McCann: https://mccann.bandcamp.com
• Maxwell August Croy: http://maxwellaugustcroy.com
• Students of Decay: http://studentsofdecay.com