CD

Housed in a 6 panel digipack with silver text and graphics… 450 km from the arctic circle, ‘The Rustle of the Stars’ is a phenomenon of austere beauty, a barely audible noise that occurs when the draught from human breath causes multiple collisions among the ice micro-crystals in the air. Some words about this record from Richard & Frederic: We met on tour when performing in Europe with our respective bands Glissando and FareWell Poetry. We had beautiful times, drinking and talking our common grounds whilst some simple ideas formed in our minds: to compose an album together. To imagine a musical passage through the North Pole explorer diaries. To ask some people and some friends to participate. To record the project in a church. To act quickly. We began to work at our homes in November 2010, In Paris (FR) and in Leeds (UK), with electric guitars, a bunch of pedals, piano, dulcimer, organ, crystal glasses, bows and field recordings, sending and adding ideas together to the tracks, trying to find a global organic sound. We met in Leeds two months later at the beginning of 2011 to record in the St Margaret of Antioch Church, using a ‘wall of sound’ process in some of the tracks and arranging / recording the string parts you will hear in the music. We would like to think of this album as a polar journey to the ends of the earth through the arctic sea. We kept in mind the first polar expeditions, Edgar Allan Poe’s Dream-Land, the ships trapped or crushed by ice, the point of no-return, the minds sinking, the attempt on the Pole ending in disaster, the quest of the Northwest Passage, Erebus & Terror, the Mercy Bay, Mangazeya, Charles Francis Hall, Beechey Island, the Midnight sun and the Polar night.

A-Sun Amissa is a new project formed out of Leeds, UK by members of Glissando. Built on the foundations of the unknown, a project that encompasses minimalist drones, modern-classical movements and avant-garde tendencies. Richard Knox (Glissando / ‘The Rustle of the Stars’ / Of Thread & Mist) & Angela Chan (Glissando / ‘The Rustle of the Stars’ / Ten / Tomorrow We Sail) began forming initial ideas in the Autumn of 2011, moving away from the piano-led ambience of previous outputs. Long-time friend Owen Pegg was soon invited to join the project as the pieces developed to enable the songs the depth and intensity they require. The trio produce a dense, drone-like atmosphere accompanying evocative, melodic string sections and intertwining guitars. The live show features sections of the recorded output combined with improvisation to unlock new movements and progressions in the music. The subtle, considered textures and the hypnotic interaction between players and instruments provide an intense live performance.