troy Archives - Various Small Flames https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/troy/ New and independent music Wed, 19 Jan 2022 14:31:44 +0000 en-GB hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 https://i0.wp.com/varioussmallflames.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/cropped-finalwhite-e1490809629909-1.jpg?fit=32%2C32&ssl=1 troy Archives - Various Small Flames https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/tag/troy/ 32 32 88787050 Armbruster – The House Stood Empty https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2022/01/19/armbruster-the-house-stood-empty/ Wed, 19 Jan 2022 14:30:24 +0000 https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/?p=27218 Armbruster is the recording project of Troy-based composer, performance artist and violin player Connor Armbruster, a vehicle for his diverse and exploratory music which probes for new possibilities within the experimental style. After entering college to study for a career in the sciences, Armbruster came to realise his interests were more firmly rooted in music. He decided to take a leave of absence, before transferring to a smaller department in the school that explored the convergence of art and science, […]

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]]> Armbruster is the recording project of Troy-based composer, performance artist and violin player Connor Armbruster, a vehicle for his diverse and exploratory music which probes for new possibilities within the experimental style. After entering college to study for a career in the sciences, Armbruster came to realise his interests were more firmly rooted in music. He decided to take a leave of absence, before transferring to a smaller department in the school that explored the convergence of art and science, where he became intensely interested in the avant garde tradition developed by the likes of Pauline Oliveros.

The latest Armbruster release, an album titled Masses out via Dear Life Records later this month, is essentially a conversation between sound and setting. With nothing beyond a pair of violins, one acoustic and one electric, Armbruster performed tracks both composed and improvised within the refuge of an old church. The two instruments conjure and interrogate the contradictory ambiences of such a place, peeling back layers to examine the coexistence of sanctuary and space. An environment capable of protection and nurturement despite its own slow deterioration.

Masses offers this duality not so much as a question but the basis of its conversation. An exchange spilt into two parts. Firstly with ideas of loss and ruin, the slow fading of the space from solemn significance to solemn silence, and then the counter movement. A springing back through curiosity and exploration, as captured in a brighter, fonder sound.

We’re delighted to share the album’s latest single ‘The House Stood Empty’, a track very much situated within the first part of this exchange. The composition opens with sluggish pulsing, the torpid heartbeat of some great thing now dying or dormant. But within this ebb and flow exists a certain weight, some latent physicality which evokes what it once must have been, or what it might be again. Call it a memory, call it a ghost, a force Armbruster is mourning as the track unfolds, or perhaps calling back to the present once more.

Masses is out on the 28th January via Dear Life Records and you can pre-order it now from the Armbruster Bandcamp page.

a picture of the musician Armbruster

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]]> 27218 Fire Mountain – Of The Dust https://varioussmallflames.co.uk/2012/08/28/fire-mountain-of-the-dust/ Tue, 28 Aug 2012 14:06:00 +0000 http://www.wakethedeaf.co.uk/?p=539 Fire Mountain are a group of guys from Troy, Alabama, who combine folk sensibilities with an undercurrent of rock to form an impressively cohesive and professional sound. Of The Dust, their 2nd EP, demonstrates this perfectly. A lovely mix of slow thoughtful songwriting (such as ‘Why Can’t I Stay’) and finger-clicking, feet-stomping quicker songs (see: ‘Ghosts’ and my personal favourite ‘No One’s Help’). The band plan to record a full-length this winter with the award-winning songwriter Arthur Alligood producing. If […]

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]]> Fire Mountain are a group of guys from Troy, Alabama, who combine folk sensibilities with an undercurrent of rock to form an impressively cohesive and professional sound. Of The Dust, their 2nd EP, demonstrates this perfectly. A lovely mix of slow thoughtful songwriting (such as ‘Why Can’t I Stay’) and finger-clicking, feet-stomping quicker songs (see: ‘Ghosts’ and my personal favourite ‘No One’s Help’).

The band plan to record a full-length this winter with the award-winning songwriter Arthur Alligood producing. If the accomplished EP is anything to go by, this record is definitely one to keep an eye on.

<a href=“http://firemountainband.bandcamp.com/track/no-ones-help” data-mce-href=“http://firemountainband.bandcamp.com/track/no-ones-help”>No One’s Help by Fire Mountain</a>

Of The Dust is available on a pay-what-you-want basis here, along with some lovely looking CDs. If the EP isn’t enough and you can’t wait for the album, a live recording is available free of charge here.

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