*2022 stock. In process of stocking. 200 limited edition* Recorded during a month-long residency at Brooklyn art space Pioneer Works in late 2020, Cymerman’s fifth solo album is his most accessible work to date. While past releases have included extensive edits, overdubs, and effects processing to push his clarinet into the realm of abstraction, nearly each piece on Citadels & Sanctuaries was captured in a single take.
“This album was recorded when playing lines and melodies were feeling really good for me,” says Cymerman. “It feels good to be able to share my work with people who might not have all this context about the music. They can just enjoy it because it has an immediacy to it. There are abrasive, dissonant parts that might be off-putting, but for the most part I like showing another side of myself. I don’t want to just make abstract, dark music all the time.”
“From the Metaphysical to the Transcendental (For Bill Smith)” opens the album with curlicues of clarinet drifting through a meditative backdrop of synth drones and chiming percussion. This piece for the late Canadian reed player and founding member of the CCMC was the first dedication planned for Citadels & Sanctuaries. “Spheres of Humanity (For Alvin Lucier)” introduces higher-pitched tones, before “The Absolute and Its Tearing (for Horațiu Rădulescu)” unleashes a torrent of sputtering electronics.
“Conscious Faith (For Evan Parker)” closes the album on a personal note as Cymerman extends his gratitude to a longtime friend, teacher, and collaborator. This mesmerizing eight-minute paen is specifically inspired by Parker’s 2012 album As The Wind, where he is joined by percussionists Mark Nauseef and Toma Gouband. While honouring the language of Parker’s soprano sax multiphonics and harmonics, Cymerman also plays six different bowls and gongs. To complete its feeling of sacred devotion, the piece begins with a field sample recorded by Cymerman inside Paris’s Notre-Dame cathedral several years before it was set ablaze.
