Trey Pollard (Natalie Prass, Foxygen) shares new music from Matthew E. White-produced debut

SPACEBOMB RECORDS' TREY POLLARD
(NATALIE PRASS, FOXYGEN,

HELADO NEGRO, BEDOUINE, S-TOWN)

SHARES NEW TRACK "8 PAIRS: FUGUE VIII. MARCH"

 

MATTHEW E. WHITE-PRODUCED DEBUT ALBUM ANTIPHONE

TO BE RELEASED ON NOVEMBER 16

VIA SPACEBOMB RECORDS

"Antiphone [is] set to emphasise Pollard's emotional and conceptual sound...
Jumping between producing, piano and conducting the small ensembles,
his debut album will highlight Pollard's prowess and attention to minor detail."

 

Trey Pollard (Spacebomb Records' in-house arranger; Natalie Prass, Foxygen, Helado Negro, Matthew E. White, Bedouine, S-Town podcast) is excited to share "8 Pairs: Fugue VIII. March," the newest single from his contemporary classical debut album Antiphone. Produced byMatthew E. White, Antiphone will be released on November 16 via Spacebomb Records. "8 Pairs: Fugue VIII. March" is now available to stream or embed HERE.

Pollard will be performing music from Antiphone at a pair of live performances this fall -- first comes aNovember 13 performance at The Hofheimer in Richmond, VA, followed by a date at Brooklyn, NY's Rough Trade on November 15 to properly celebrate the album's release. Both dates will find Pollard accompanied by a live string quintet.

STREAM // EMBED "8 PAIRS: FUGUE VIII. MARCH"

The music featured on Antiphone had a unique introduction -- its official world debut was via a live stream of the recording session from Montrose Recording in Richmond, VA. Not even Trey had heard the music yet -- this was the first time a group of musicians has performed it, and the stream allowed the listener to hear the music as it was rehearsed, perfected and recorded. The live stream consisted of the recording of two separate pieces with a 16-piece orchestra comprised of string players and a pianist, with Pollard at the helm as conductor. Viewers took a rare, intimate front-row seat as Pollard conducted and instructed his players while they rehearsed, and ultimately recorded, his debut compositions. It's not often that outsiders get such a close look inside the creative process of recording chamber music, especially not for a composer's anticipated debut. Watch the archived live stream HERE.

About Trey Pollard:

To understand the composing and arranging world, lineage of learning is key-some subtleties of technique can only be passed from teacher to student in ways unreproducible through solitary study alone. Trey Pollard learned the art from Doug Richards, the renowned Duke Ellington scholar who founded a university Jazz Studies program in Richmond back in 1980. Richards is a brilliant composer, arranger and educator, a featured artist at the Kennedy Center and the Smithsonian, and for what it's worth, was once invited to study with Nadia Boulanger, legendary guru of the 20th century classical scene. Richards espouses the view that jazz can be as artistically significant as classical music, placing Ellington Queen's Suite on the same pedestal as the works of Bach or Ligeti. Pollard has a perceptive ability to parse this history, to see his place in it, and draw structures and forms from various periods to inform his writing.

He is entering a new phase, completing a record of contemporary chamber pieces under his own name  featuring a set of preludes and fugues for string quintet and pieces for chamber string orchestra and piano. He wrote within a systematic framework, a series of parallel harmonic planes, constellations of notes unburdened by the tension of standard chordal and melodic structures. Pollard's creative powers are at a certain fullness now, a ripeness matched to his age and his experience in various roles: producing in the recording studio, performing with ferocious skill on guitar, piano or pedal steel, conducting small ensembles or orchestras-often with the same group of musicians he has known for over a decade. As co-owner of Spacebomb Records, his work has been a cornerstone of productions by a growing list of rock and pop artists in the know, Natalie Prass, The Waterboys, Foxygen, Helado Negro, Matthew E. White and Bedouine, and expanded to projects outside that context, recently contributing to the score of S-Town, a groundbreaking longform podcast. The music of his mind is of such quality-agile and prescient, conceptual yet emotional, with an absorbing sense of beauty. Though he might not try to bring down the heavens, they swing low just the same. Pollard moves through the field of creation with surety, finding his own line on the thrill of sound.

Trey Pollard's upcoming performances:

11/13 - The Hofheimer - Richmond VA *
11/15 - Rough Trade - Brooklyn, NY ^

* - w/ Matthew E. White solo

^ - Album release show