Uniting forces across generations, Horse Lords join Arnold Dreyblatt for FRKWYS Vol. 18: Extended Field, a project that pivots from the expected and ventures boldly into new sonic realms. Built on Dreyblatt’s resonant tuning systems and layered with the group’s signature rhythmic complexity, the release thrives on interplay, spontaneity, and the frisson of shared exploration. Each track morphs and breathes, establishing a dialogue between kinetic repetition and harmonic drift. This meeting is more than a collaboration: it’s a living process, capturing a vibrant approach to experimental music that refuses stasis and relishes the art of perpetual becoming.

Dreyblatt is a pioneer of psychoacoustic phenomenon, serving as an assistant to La Monte Young between 1975 and 1977 before studying with the legendary Alvin Lucier at Wesleyan University. He discovered the sonic power of excited strings, retrofitting a double bass with piano wires and striking with a rapid thrum to produce enveloping clouds of metallic overtones. Dreyblatt’s 1982 album Nodal Excitation laid out a sonic blueprint that resides at the heart of his pulsating music today. He eventually moved to Berlin, and has led various ensembles over the years that have amplified and interpreted the compositional scaffolding he built around his ringing tones.

In contrast to Dreyblatt’s hyper-focused practice, Horse Lords have built an ecstatic, hybrid sound all their own; hard-driving rhythmic sprawls support a collision of traditional ritual music, free jazz, and spectrally brilliant electronic showers of psychoacoustic sound. After cementing a devoted following with their 2020 album The Common Task, most of the band relocated to Germany in 2021, with guitarist Owen Gardner and bassist Max Eilbacher settling in Berlin, and saxophonist Andrew Bernstein a few hours away in Bavaria. Drummer Sam Haberman remained in Baltimore, although he reconvenes with the band for album recordings, including the 2023 album Comradely Objects, and extended tours

Unbeknownst to one another the two parties shared a mutual interest in one another’s music. In early 2017 Dreyblatt’s long-time colleague and friend Werner Durand suggested he check out the band. He recalls, “After listening, I quickly replied: ‘Sounds great! A little like my music. I’ve never heard of them!’ I sent a message through their Bandcamp page, and they responded: ‘Hello! Thanks for the note, we’re big fans of your music!’ But it wasn’t until Dreyblatt caught the band in Berlin in October of 2021 that they finally crossed paths. Days later Bernstein proposed a collaboration. This process would unfold slowly but surely; both parties were exceedingly busy, and when the musicians eventually assembled, they had different harmonic conceptions to reconcile and needed someone in the room to fill Haberman’s percussive role. Dreyblatt suggested Andrea Belfi, a venerable Italian drummer and composer based in Berlin.