An Offering

Description

New work from Photay, influenced by a special creative partnership with Carlos Nino. A simple introduction to Photay (born Evan Shornstein) would be to say: he has made some of the best "ambient" music of the last five years. No one knows what that word means at this point, but fortunately, it doesn't really matter. What we are listening to is calm music, the best of which is often the most subtly chaotic and free. Floating multi-rhythmic sound walls, expertly constructed. This is not a new concept, and it has been masterfully explored by composers from Steve Reich (The Desert Music) to Susumu Yokota (Grinning Cat), but for many, it was unexplored listening territory until the start of the global pandemic in 2020. There should be a recognition of the continuum and a nod to the old masters. The partnership between Shornstein and Nino is just that. Nino's influence is vast (who comes here with a network of regular collaborators including Iasos and Nate Mercereau), as is the presence of harpist Mikaela Davis, and the result on this collaborative album is to push Photay towards the sounds of the earth. And water. And the spaces that exist, somewhere, probably.