Go placidly amid the noise and haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence. — Max Ehrmann, “Desiderata” (1927)
The ostensible follow-up to Sō Percussion co-founder and composer Jason Treuting's ambitious work Nine Numbers, Go Placidly with Haste is a multi-movement sonic meditation that actually bears a more distinct connection to Treuting's early work Amid the Noise (2006) — which began as a soundtrack, then morphed into Sō Percussion's third album, and from there into a communal music-making project that can occur with a flexible number of musicians in almost any combination.
Go Placidly takes up that thread and weaves it into a vivid tapestry of moods, styles and genres, from the oddly folk-inflected strains of "1927" (featuring Irish singer and Afro Celt Sound System mainstay Iarla Ó Lionáird) to the Eno-esque keyboards and electronics of "White Diamond," the frenetic and angular "Build Up," the mournful and stately "Slow Moving Chords" (with singer-songwriter Sam Amidon), the groove-chasing "Four Lines" (with composer and singer Angélica Negrón) and plenty more. By turns whimsical, expansive and exploratory, this is new music in the most thrilling and adventurous sense of the word.
