Dark Full Ride

Julia Wolfe - Dark Full Ride

"I imagined each of these pieces as an exploration of one color."

Julia Wolfe’s Dark Full Ride consists of four new compositions, each written for multiples of individual instruments—nine bagpipes, four drum sets, six pianos, and eight double basses. Working closely with the performers during the composing process, Wolfe uncovers unexplored sides of these instruments.

While writing LAD, Wolfe discovered the initial drone produced while filling the bagpipe with air, using that as the piece’s introduction. The first section of the titular Dark Full Ride uses only hi-hats. my lips from speaking builds on the piano riff from a classic R&B song. Stronghold turns the register of the bass upside down, webbing together the highest overtones as the eight-piece ensemble becomes one mega bass.

“Like staring for a long time at a Rothko painting, I imagined each of these pieces as an exploration of one color. But in truth an instrument isn’t really a single timbre. There are a myriad of worlds within each sound.  With each piece I tried to dive into a psychedelic landscape, at once multilayered, fractured, ecstatic, silent, driving, cacophonous, and direct." – Julia Wolfe

 

Artists

Dark Full Ride
CA21058
Formats: 
CD / Digital
Release Date: 
11/10/2009