Breathing Landscape

Recorded in an abandoned water tank in rural
northwest Colorado and inspired by Muriel
Rukeyser’s circa 1935 poem of the same
name, violinist Leslee Smucker explores the
range and saturation of intense natural reverb
on Breathing Landscape. The artist pushes
her instrument to the limit by turns
percussive, sweeping, and scraping and, on
several tracks, utilizes her own voice as well,
resulting in an album that combines
breathtaking beauty and visceral texture.
Leaning into the meditative quality being
present in one moment can provide, this is
music you can feel on your skin, calling out
from our decomposing modernity into the
indifferent sky above. Conjuring deep time but
captured in one day, the album is
simultaneously immediate and vaporous,
primeval sounding yet unapologetically
modern.
Released by Beacon Sound