Robert Nance releases single The Brink from upcoming sophomore album do you believe in ghosts?
The Brink originated as the closing number to an evening-length meditation opera The Spectrum Of Dreams’ Resting Light which I premiered alongside my wife in 2018. The opera was a longtime dream of mine encouraging its audience to lie on yoga mats, meditate, sip tea, and drift off into a restful state of hypnagogia. This bombastic guitar solo came after a fire breathing exercise and was intended to pull listeners back to the present, and it still does that to this day. The recording is a result of one continuous take - a full recording session left my shoulder and elbow packed in ice to deal with the heavy, relentless all-out strumming lasting its duration. The piece draws inspiration from legendary technical metal guitarist Mick Barr and the iconic Thurston Moore and remains the simplest piece of musical engineering I’ve mustered to date; recording straight from guitar with minimal effects added. The Brink is the second release from my upcoming full-length record do you believe in ghosts? (spring of 2023) and offers a stark textural contrast to its much slower counterpart ridgeland. It’s meant as a shock treatment to the ears - demanding the listener face their own presence; calling them back from the edge of mental drift.
Recording/Editing/Mixing: Robert Nance
Mastering: Myles Boisen
Photo and Cover Design: Stephen Rollick
Robert Nance is an American guitarist, composer, and producer creating immersive sonic cocoons through the use of guitars, synthesizers, electronics, and field recordings. His works seek to build lusciously abstract environments that invite listeners to engage as actively or passively as their own experience unfolds, and have graced the stages of Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, and SFMOMA. Nance’s second full-length album do you believe in ghosts? premiers in Spring of 2023 as a follow up to his debut album A Musical Offering In Spite Of My Flaws. His first installation work The Spectrum of Dreams’ Resting Light was an acclaimed evening-length meditation opera, and during the lockdown Nance teamed up with long-time dance collaborator Kit McDaniel to present a recurring virtual movement and music event Allow To Realign for participants to enjoy guided movement and ambient music. As a founding member of Mobius Trio, he champions new forms of guitar music from disparate backgrounds. Robert's musical journey began with piano and trumpet lessons, but he never quite felt at home until discovering the guitar and catalogs of post-minimalism composers, pioneers of ambient music, electro-acoustic improvisers, and artful noise. When not making music he can be found loudly screaming at his beloved West Ham United, or brewing himself a cup of coffee.
