“Range”, the latest single from Balmorhea’s forthcoming album Pendant World, available June 16th via Deutsche Grammophon. The track offers a glimpse into the new musical directions of co-founders Rob Lowe and Michael A. Muller the Austin band.

As Muller explains, “Range” belongs to the same family, “tonally speaking”, as “Step Step Step”. Sam Gendel plays tenor saxophone on both tracks, contributing to the textural changes heard on Pendant World. “‘Range’ started formulating in September 2020 with Rob attempting to project a ‘hard’ approach to a song which would relate to the current state of the world,” adds Muller. “Over time the track softened, expanded and anchored into a Lynch-ian quality in the main melody. The piece makes us think of a mountain: grandiose and immovable – mysterious. The bright electric tremolo and dark acoustic guitar voices serpentine the low piano and shimmering hand bells. Floating above it all is the strata of Sam Gendel’s delicate and strange saxophone.”

Pendant World, named for a line from Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure, grew from Lowe and Muller’s desire to reunite with friends and perform with like-minded musicians after a long break. Joining Balmorhea on the new album are regular collaborators violinist/vocalist Aisha Burns and cellist Clarice Jensen, and an equally distinguished line-up of guest artists, including experimental jazz saxophonist Sam Gendel, Joseph Shabason on tenor saxophone and flute, clarinetist Jonathan Sielaff, percussionist Jason Treuting and vocalists Steph Jenkins and Lisa Morgenstern. Pendant World dissolves hard genre boundaries to reveal a spectrum of musical styles, instrumental textures, propulsive rhythms and multihued tonal colours. The music was recorded in ideal conditions in rural Vermont in collaboration with engineer and producer Jonathan Low (The National, Taylor Swift, Sufjan Stevens).

Balmorhea
Pendant World
Tracklist

Nonplussed
Oscuros
Step Step Step
Desiderium
The Bright Door
Loess
New Conditions
Held
Range
Fire Song
Violet Shiver
Elsewhere
Depth Serenade

Balmorhea 2023 tour dates

7 July – Ankara – CSA ADA
8 July – Istanbul – Maximum Uniq Acikhava
12 July – Berlin – Silent Green
14 July – London – Barbican – Milton Court

Pre-order Pendant World by Balmorhea HERE