*In process of stocking* Since their inception in 2010, Jeremiah Cymerman (clarinet, electronics), Toby Driver (electric bass), and Mario Diaz de Leon (synth and drum machine) have been steadily forging their unique approach to free improvisation, drawing from the realms of dark ambient, noise, and metal to craft surreal explorations of otherworldly sound. As individual artists, Cymerman is widely known as an improviser, record producer, and experimental music evangelist through his 5049 Records Podcast. Driver is celebrated as a solo artist and as the longtime mastermind of the endlessly eclectic band Kayo Dot, while Diaz de Leon has been recognized for his work at the crossroads of modern classical music, electronic music, and metal. 

With their 2020 sophomore album Phos, the group established their signature sound, a wildly evocative exchange between Cymerman’s elegiac clarinet melodies and colorful electronic processing, Driver’s invocations of the outer realms of distorted bass guitar, and the anchoring element of Diaz de Leon’s sparse and shifting drum machine and synth riffs. Building from this foundation, Arc was recorded in November of 2020 at the venerable Pioneer Works artist center in Brooklyn, with engineers Justin Frye and Federico Escalante. Over two evenings, the group set the cavernous acoustics of the 19th-century iron factory in motion, resulting in nearly 4 hours of recorded material. The four selections that encompass the album were then collaboratively curated, with final mixing handled by Marc Urselli at East Side Sound.

Drawing from the cinematic and expansive sound of the album, individual song titles on Arc are names of meteorite impacts, with the years of impact corresponding to key events in the band’s history, including their first meeting in 2007, their first show under the name Bloodmist in 2012, and the release of their second album in 2020. At just under an hour in length, Arc is pervaded by the primordial resounding of Diaz de Leon’s Moog-synthesized bass drum, tuned to a low B flat, which is transformed throughout in contrasting articulations and shapes. The absence and presence of the bass drum serves as point of gravity for a cosmos of densities and colors, encompassing melodic modal passages, sparse electroacoustic atmospheres, and feral hellscapes, all showcasing finely attuned sonic dialogues between three longtime collaborators.