Oren Ambarchi seeks Quixotism through Editions Mego

The Australian musician is set to return to Editions Mego with a five-part album recorded in collaboration with Thomas Brinkmann.

As his biography states, Oren Ambarchi is a composer and multi-instrumentalist with long-standing interests in transcending conventional instrumental approaches. As explained, his production comprises of modern electronics and processing, laminal improvisation and minimalism, and hushed, pensive song writing. After the Australian surfaced in 1998 on his now dormant Jerker Productions, he’s gone on to release a raft of albums and collaborations for many obscure, DIY and experimentally labels, but most notably for the likes of Staalplaat off-shoot Mort Aux Vaches (alongside Ryoji Ikeda, Zoviet France, Tim Hecker and Pan Sonic), Chicago’s Kranky, and the UK label Touch.

This latest album, Quixotism, provides Ambarchi with a third record for Editions Mego since he debuted on the label in 2011. It follows the Indeed collaboration with Tokyo-based American artist Jim O’Rourke, and the solo ‘motorik grooves’ of 2012’s Sagittarian Domain. Adding to a busy year on the release front for Ambarchi, the album has been described by Editions Mego as a LP-length piece played out over five parts that takes his recent work to the next level. “The entirety of this long-form work is built on a foundation of pulsing double-time electronic percussion provided by Thomas Brinkmann,” the label explains, adding, “Quixotism represents the summation of Ambarchi’s work over the last few years while also pointing to the future.”

In a project joined by master Japanese tabla player U-zhaan for the piece’s final passages, the album was recorded with a multitude of collaborators in Europe, Japan, Australia and the USA, and as a press release goes on to say Quixotism presents the fruit of two years work. “The pulse acts as thread leading the listener though a heterogeneous variety of acoustic spaces, from the concert hall in which the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra were recorded to the intimacy of Crys Cole’s contact-mic textures.” Listen to U-zhaan’s sublime tablas on “Quixotism Part 5” streaming in its full 15-minute glory below.

Editions Mego will release Quixotism by Oren Ambarchi on October 27.

Tracklisting:

1. Quixotism Part 1
2. Quixotism Part 2
3. Quixotism Part 3
4. Quixotism Part 4
5. Quixotism Part 5

Header image: Bradley Buehring