This autumn, Erased Tapes are set to release Give It to the Sky: Arthur Russells Tower of Meaning Expanded by composer and producer Peter Broderick and French 12-piece group Ensemble 0; a complete re-recording of Russells epic minimalist orchestral composition originally released in 1983. Released 6th October, Give It to the Sky also includes unreleased tracks by Russell which have been restored and re-recorded, resulting in an 80-minute reanimation that threads several lost songs into a meticulous and gorgeous rendering.
Ensemble 0 weave in and out of Brodericks additions. Corky, a poignant cowboy ballad that Russell never finished, appears, disappears, and reappears three times, the droning exhalations of Tower of Meaning making it feel sweeter and sadder. Arriving just after the triumphant halfway mark, the title track is a sublime meditation on mere existence, about staring at some simple rural scene and marcelling at the miracle of being anywhere at all. It is an apt encapsulation of how this entire project feels a glorious way to hear something that might have seemed familiar as if for the very first time.
Russell was never much for definitive versions, of course. He was constantly rethinking the possibilities of a piece, of wondering what else it could do. Give it to the Sky is a powerful affirmation of those principles, using Tower of Meanings framework to build outward and upward, to shape something that functions within Russells wondrous, paradoxical world. And Give it to the Sky is also not intended to be some definitive last word. Broderick and Ensemble 0 speak already of the ways it may shift on stage, of where else it might lead.
1. Tower of Meaning I 2. Tower of Meaning II 3. Tower of Meaning III 4. Tower of Meaning IV 5. Corky I / White Jet Set Smoke Trail I 6. Consideration 7. Tower of Meaning V 8. Tower of Meaning VI 9. Tower of Meaning VII 10. Tower of Meaning VIII 11. Tower of Meaning IX / Corky II 12. Tower of Meaning X 13. Give It to the Sky 14. Tower of Meaning XI 15. Tower of Meaning XII 16. Corky III 17. White Jet Smoke Trail II
- Format Detail: 2LP Clear Vinyl [w/ download card]
- Genre: Classical
- Format: Vinyl
- Handling Time Note: ** Please allow an additional 3-4 business days for this item's shipment. **
- Released: 10/6/23
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