Between the Air
TAK ensemble’s eighth studio album, Between the Air, comprised of works written for the ensemble over the last seven years, inhabits a dizzying landscape of visceral extremes. From Eric Wubbels’ blistering tour de force, INSTRUMENTS—as it splinters the ensemble into a fractured hydra of composite hyperinstruments—to Tyshawn Sorey’s glacially crystalline elegy for improviser, composer and bandleader jaimie branch that sublimates sonic architecture to a gossamer and enveloping fog.
Bethany Younge’s At midnight I walked into the middle of the desert elicits surreal atmospheres overflowing with raw sonic richness and unexpected encounters, while Golnaz Shariatzadeh’s moon that sank|wet grass zooms in as a trio subset for the ensemble, with sharp corners that spill into haunting tendrils of utterances at once throttling forward and remaining hidden. Lewis Nielson’s Siesta Negra, the center of the album, sets letters from Che Guevara’s last days of imprisonment with a tension so palpable its experience is hauntingly haptic.
TRACKLIST
4. At midnight I walked into the middle of the desert
- Bethany Younge
5. For jaimie branch - Tyshawn Sorey
1. INSTRUMENTS - Eric Wubbels
2. moon that sank|wet grass - Golnaz Shariatzadeh
3. Siesta Negra - Lewis Nielson
Artist: TAK ensemble • Album: Between the Air • Format: CD | Digital • Label TAK editions • Cat No. TAKed007 • Link: TAKeditions.com/Btwn
Photo by Titilayo Ayangade
ABOUT THE COMPOSERS
ERIC WUBBELS
Eric Wubbels (b.1980) is a composer and performer. Since 2004 he has been pianist and Co-Director of the Wet Ink Ensemble (NYC).
A recipient of the Ernst von Siemens Foundation Composer Prize, Wubbels has been awarded grants and
fellowships from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, Koussevitzky Foundation/Library of Congress, and Chamber Music America, among others, and his music has been presented by LA Phil Green Umbrella series, Huddersfield Festival,ISSUE Project Room, Cafe OTO, Roulette, Bowerbird, LAMPO, ECLAT Festival, TRANSIT, Rainy Days, TIME:SPANS, Archipel,Ostrava Days, EAR WE ARE, Zurich Tage für Neue Musik, and Ultraschall.
Current ongoing projects include Second Nature (flute, percussion, keyboards trio with Erin Lesser and Ian Antonio of Wet Ink), interbeing (with TAK Ensemble), and duo with vocalist Charmaine Lee.
As a performer, he has given U.S. and world premieres of works by major figures such as Peter Ablinger,
Richard Barrett, Beat Furrer, George Lewis, and mathias spahlinger, as well as vital young artists such as
Rick Burkhardt, Erin Gee, Bryn Harrison, Clara Iannotta, Darius Jones, Catherine Lamb, Ingrid Laubrock,
Charmaine Lee, Alex Mincek, Sam Pluta, Kate Soper, Anna Webber, and Katherine Young.
He has recorded for hatART, Carrier Records, Out of Your Head, Intakt, New Focus, and quiet design,
among others, has held teaching positions at Amherst College, Oberlin Conservatory, and the Peabody Institute.
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GOLNAZ SHARIATZADEH
About TAK ensemble:
Regarded as “one of the most prominent ensembles in the United States practicing truly experimental music” (I Care If You Listen), TAK delivers energetic performances "that combine crystalline clarity with the disorienting turbulence of a sonic vortex” (The WIRE), and “impresses with the organicity of their sound, their dynamism and virtuosity” (New Sounds, WQXR).
TAK is a mixed-quintet committed to musical exploration and experimentation and dedicated to commissioning new works and direct collaboration with composers and other artists. They have premiered hundreds of works to date since its founding in 2013. Recent highlighted collaborations include large-scale works by Eric Wubbels, Michelle Lou, Brandon López, Tyshawn Sorey, and Weston Olencki. The group has performed internationally at IntACT Festival (Thailand), Music Current Festival (Ireland), Cluster Festival (Canada), Harpa Concert Hall (Iceland), and the Delian Academy (Greece), among many others, and enjoys an active schedule of domestic touring in the U.S.
The quintet has released seven albums to critical acclaim; recent records have been described as “sublime art… a masterpiece,” (AnEarful), and “one of the most distinct and eclectic releases of the year” (I Care If You Listen). Their recorded output fosters a “deep sense of connection and communication” (Bandcamp Daily), and features collaborations with Mario Diaz de Leon, Taylor Brook, Erin Gee, Brandon López, Ann Cleare, Tyshawn Sorey, Seth Cluett, Natacha Diels, Scott L. Miller, David Bird, and Ashkan Behzadi. Their most recent release, Love, Crystal and Stone, brought together composer Ashkan Behzadi, scholar Saharnaz Samaienejad, painter Mehrdad Jafari, and design-house Sonnenzimmer to fuse poetry, visual art, original essays, and music into an experience-based hybrid publication. The ensemble’s 2019 album Oor launched their in-house media label, TAK editions, that aims to support recorded musical endeavors from across the experimental music communities, highlighting direct conversations with artists through the TAK editions Podcast. Recent TAK editions releases have included those of Ensemble Interactivo de La Habana, Ensemble Pamplemousse, Nina Dante + Bethany Younge, and several of TAK’s own recordings.
Deeply committed to educational collaborations, TAK has conducted residencies at dozens of higher educational institutions including Harvard, Stanford, Columbia, Princeton, Cornell, University of Chicago, and many others. The ensemble has also collaborated with younger musicians and composers at the Walden School, the New York Philharmonic’s Very Young Composers Program, and Juilliard’s Music Advancement Program. TAK served as the Long-term Visiting Ensemble in Residence at University of Pennsylvania from 2022-23.
TAK is: Laura Cocks, flute; Madison Greenstone, clarinet; Charlotte Mundy, voice; Marina Kifferstein, violin; Ellery Trafford, percussion.