Bing & Ruth

Bing & Ruth is an American minimalist/ambient music[1] ensemble from Brooklyn, led by pianist David Moore.

History

Formation

In 2006, David Moore started Bing & Ruth to bring his music outside of academia. As a student at The New School for Jazz in New York City, Moore wanted to write "minimalist ensemble music with a certain filmic sensitivity, one that prioritized grace and texture over the style’s once-radical subtraction."[2] Moore named the band after two characters from the 1980 short story "Daylight Come" by Amy Hempel.[3]

City Lake (2010) and Tomorrow Was The Golden Age (2014)

Bing & Ruth's first album, City Lake, was self-released in 2010 in a run of 250 physical copies. The ensemble featured eleven members, making touring and rehearsals difficult to coordinate.[2]

While facing financial and logistical issues associated with selling self-released vinyl out of his basement, Moore was put in touch with experimental label RVNG Intl. In 2014, Bing & Ruth signed with the label RVNG Intl. and issued Tomorrow Was the Golden Age;[4] the following year, they reissued City Lake in a larger print run.[5]

Tomorrow Was The Golden Age saw the group pare down to a seven-person ensemble composed of a pianist, two clarinetists, two bassists, a cellist and a tape-delay operator.[6] The group sought to "revive[] interest in the meditative pop traditions of Philip Glass and Harold Budd."[2] Pitchfork called it, "one of the finest left-field releases of the year"[7] and included it on their list of the "Top 50 Ambient Albums of All Time" in 2016.[3]

No Home of the Mind (2017)

In 2016, Bing & Ruth signed with 4AD and announced the release of their new album No Home of the Mind in February 2017.[8]

No Home of the Mind was written on seventeen pianos across North America and Europe over numerous sessions, tours, and travel and recorded in Hudson, NY in 2016.[9] The self-contained pieces were arranged for a five-person ensemble. The album was recorded in two days at a repurposed church in Hudson, NY in the fewest takes possible in order to "capture the immediacy of classic session-style musicianship, where one-take recordings were a standard to keep costs down."[2]

Species (2020)

On July 17, 2020, Bing & Ruth released their new album Species with 4AD.[10]

Discography

Members
  • David Moore – piano
  • Jeremy Viner – clarinet
  • Mike Effenberger – tape delay
  • Jeff Ratner – bass
  • Greg Chudzick – bass

Former members
  • Patrick Beiner – clarinet
  • Leigh Stuart – cello

References
  1. Review of Tomorrow Was the Golden Age, Pop Matters
  2. "The official website for independent record label 4AD". 4AD. Retrieved 2017-01-31.
  3. Lozano, Kevin (26 September 2016). "The 50 Best Ambient Albums of All Time". Pitchfork. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
  4. Review of Tomorrow Was the Golden Age, Resident Advisor
  5. Review of City Lake, The Quietus
  6. Bing & Ruth First Listen at NPR
  7. "Bing & Ruth: Tomorrow Was the Golden Age Album Review | Pitchfork". pitchfork.com. Retrieved 2017-01-31.
  8. "Bing & Ruth sign to 4AD with new album, No Home Of The Mind". Resident Advisor. Retrieved 2017-01-31.
  9. Burleson, Ryan (10 February 2017). "17 Pianos Helped Make The New Bing & Ruth Album. Here's The Story Behind Them". The Fader. Retrieved 8 March 2018.
  10. Minsker, Evan. "Bing & Ruth Announces New Album Species, Shares New Song". Pitchfork. Retrieved 2020-07-20.
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