Thee Silver Mt. Zion's Jessica Moss has returned with news of her third album. The composer and violinist will share Phosphenes on November 19 via Constellation.
Moss' third solo LP follows 2018's Entanglement. Phosphenes' first side features the three-movement, post-classical "Contemplation" suite, while the second side features songs "Let Down," "Distortion Harbour" and "Memorizing & Forgetting."
Alongside today's news, Moss has shared the suite's second movement, "Contemplation II," which can be heard below. As she explains in a statement, the suite's recurring four-note sequence was initially born from remote collaboration with Big Brave guitarist Mathieu Ball:
I'd intentionally written down this note pattern without playing it or 'hearing' it beforehand. When I began improvising around this in the jam space, I found endless space in the note sequence to take my 'instructions' — originally intended for a distanced collaborator — and pour all of my own emotion into them: "look for the biggest feelings of love you have for the world in here (standing in the desert + hot air blowing over you, somewhere behind you is the ocean, somewhere ahead of you there are mountains.
I've always found my path towards expression through improvisation, but had never worked like this before — with a note-structure and conceptual flash-card set out in advance. As many others have similarly described and experienced, this restriction was creatively liberating and joyfully freeing. I followed instructions and expanded into the intervals, letting the beauty and sadness (love!) for the world wash through me in waves.
Moss will tour Europe this November, and you can find further details here.
Phosphenes:
1. Contemplation I
2. Contemplation II
3. Contemplation III
4. Let Down
5. Distortion Harbour
6. Memorizing & Forgetting
Pre-order Phosphenes
Moss' third solo LP follows 2018's Entanglement. Phosphenes' first side features the three-movement, post-classical "Contemplation" suite, while the second side features songs "Let Down," "Distortion Harbour" and "Memorizing & Forgetting."
Alongside today's news, Moss has shared the suite's second movement, "Contemplation II," which can be heard below. As she explains in a statement, the suite's recurring four-note sequence was initially born from remote collaboration with Big Brave guitarist Mathieu Ball:
I'd intentionally written down this note pattern without playing it or 'hearing' it beforehand. When I began improvising around this in the jam space, I found endless space in the note sequence to take my 'instructions' — originally intended for a distanced collaborator — and pour all of my own emotion into them: "look for the biggest feelings of love you have for the world in here (standing in the desert + hot air blowing over you, somewhere behind you is the ocean, somewhere ahead of you there are mountains.
I've always found my path towards expression through improvisation, but had never worked like this before — with a note-structure and conceptual flash-card set out in advance. As many others have similarly described and experienced, this restriction was creatively liberating and joyfully freeing. I followed instructions and expanded into the intervals, letting the beauty and sadness (love!) for the world wash through me in waves.
Moss will tour Europe this November, and you can find further details here.
Phosphenes:
1. Contemplation I
2. Contemplation II
3. Contemplation III
4. Let Down
5. Distortion Harbour
6. Memorizing & Forgetting
Pre-order Phosphenes