Catherine Lamb: interius/exterius (2022) — 35'

album

A striking new addition to the evolving catalog of Berlin-based composer Catherine Lamb, interius/exterius is a long-form chamber nonet developed through a sustained dialogue with Ghost Ensemble. The work’s title reflects its central organizing principle: tones move in “interior” and “exterior” directions, shifting between inward balance within the ensemble and outward expansion towards new harmonic possibilities. The result is a piece that is simultaneously precise and open, crystalline and fluid—attuned to the interplay between individual agency and collective form.

"a breathtaking collaboration that expands the boundaries of harmonic perception and immersive sound" Igloo

"a rare union of compositional brilliance and strength in execution" The Vinyl District

"magical and serene ... masterfully interpreted … a transcendent, macrocosmic perspective" I Care If You Listen

Ben Richter: Rewild (2022) — 45'

album

Ben Richter’s Rewild traces the fragile evolution of a shadow biosphere, stretching acoustic elements across perceptual thresholds to new orders of magnitude. The pulsing, breathing sonic ecosystem orients temporal perception toward global listening in a sound-world of constant transformation that marks humanity’s fragile, transient, yet vital role within the immensity of geologic time.

"gorgeous … arresting … serene, slowly unfolding shapes … lingering, unspooling and evading time … suggesting an eternal process" Bandcamp Best Contemporary Classical

"vast ... resounding success ... a sanctuary for presence and reflection." New Classic LA

Sky Macklay: Harmonifriends (2022) — 11'

video below

Sky Macklay’s Harmonifriends features two of the composer’s inflating “harmonitree” sculptures, which use vinyl, fans, and dozens of deconstructed harmonicas to create vibrating tree-shaped free-reed sound creatures. The ensemble interacts in sonic and kinetic counterpoint with the moving and sounding sculptures as they rise, sing, tremble, and fall in a visceral aural and visual experience that is whimsical yet intense.

"joyful theatricality ... animating plastic, electricity, metal, and air into cuddly loveable creatures ... memorable and heartfelt." New Classic LA

Sarah Davachi: Basso Continuo (2024) — 33'

live audio excerpt

Sarah Davachi’s music pays close attention to the rumblings under the surface. The Ghost Ensemble commission Basso Continuo stretches the Baroque practice of harmonic accompaniment to an extreme duration. Woodwinds work through a glacial counterpoint, anchored by low-end strings of two contrabasses, cello, and viola, and scaffolded by a retuned harp and ensemble leader Ben Richter’s custom just intonation accordion. Like much of Davachi’s work, the real action happens in the phenomenological experience beyond the notation. Close interactions of microtones ripple and waver, with a just intonation tuning involving the prime number seven—a favorite of minimalist pioneer La Monte Young, particularly in his The Well-Tuned Piano—and occasional glides of intervallic spans smaller than a semitone. Davachi’s work invites a harmonic listening in between stasis and motion, where the physical body of the instrument and resonance of the room are constantly in play with one another.

Phill Niblock: Exploratory (2019) — 23'

The late drone legend Phill Niblock’s music relies on many microtonally distinct voices devoid of rhythmic expression, performed at a high volume. The voices are part of an intensively active sound cloud, even though they are not individually expressively active; it is their sum that produces the cloud. Ghost Ensemble’s arrangement of Niblock’s Exploratory combines the original large-ensemble acoustic version, Looking for Daniel, simultaneously with ExplAccordion, the 20-track accordion version recorded by Niblock and Richter in 2020.