*100 copies limited edition* "Composer and percussionist Sarah Hennies and composer and bassist Tristan Kasten-Krause make music rooted in observation. Timbres across percussion and string instruments gradually meld into one; pitches gently float into consonance after bristling in dissonance. With The Quiet Sun, their debut duo album, the two musicians present two pieces that survey their nuanced approach to sound as it grows over time. The album, recorded at Issue Project Room, presents two works that each show a different lens into the large-scale forms they have developed together. 

The Quiet Sun is a natural meeting point for Hennies and Kasten-Krause, who each write and play music that explores sonic perception. Hennies has composed numerous acclaimed pieces that unfold over long durations, such as recent works The Reinvention of Romance and Clock Dies, and has developed a singular approach to bowed vibraphone and other percussion instruments that foregrounds her attention to timbre and texture. Kasten-Krause plays in a variety of contexts that are also rooted in duration, catharsis, and perception, through performing works by composers like Alvin Lucier and the compositions featured on his 2021 album Potential Landscapes.

The two musicians first connected over a shared love of the landmark composer Iannis Xenakis. As they talked, they discovered they both listened to music in similar ways, finding solace in the exploration of timbre and texture and the slow evolution of sound. Hennies wrote a duo piece, “Hidden Observer,” for them to play together, and their collaboration has since continued. The two sides of The Quiet Sun are emblematic of the practice they have developed over the past few years, showcasing two pieces that are sewn together from the overarching forms in which they work. There is no hierarchy in this music — rather, it builds from open phrases held until intuition tells them to change.

Each side of the album emphasizes the subtle movements of the duo’s music within its long duration and patterning. Some are so tiny as to be unnoticeable; bowed vibraphone, for example, dovetails with high harmonics on the bass, blending so intuitively that they gradually become one. The A side, “Axo,” unfolds from a quiet array of twinkling high pitches, held long and taut, and often clashing and held with gentleness and roundness. As they fade, the brash ring of gongs rattles over a deep pulse, only to disappear into a rhythm that rings with the steadiness of a slow clock. On the B Side, “Axonic,” the duo takes similar shapes, but offers a more ominous approach. A sharp scrape leads into a distant vibration and later, a cutting distortion. There is ample room for rest, but it is cloaked in mystery, capturing the dim-lit corners of the room in which it was recorded.

Though each track uses similar themes, techniques, and sounds, both show that there is a treasure trove of possibilities in the quietness of perception. No two sounds can be wholly differentiated; no instrument sounds like it lives in its own world. This is music that celebrates how close attention to sound will allow it to lead somewhere unexpected, and perhaps cathartic. Hennies and Kasten-Krause’s music reminds us that over time, anything can and will change — and there is beauty held in the patience of watching it unfold." – Vanessa Ague