Sō Percussion

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Biography (Excerpt)

Rectangles and Circumstance comprises ten songs co-written and performed by Caroline Shaw and Sō Percussion. Shaw and Sō's Eric Cha-Beach and Adam Sliwinski "sourced a group of nineteenth-century poems that shaped its expressive mode [and] ended up using verses by Christina Rosetti, Emily Brontë, Emily Dickinson, Gertrude Stein, and William Blake," says Sliwinski. "The lyrics on this album by members of the band contain wordplay that explores the same profound feelings explored by Blake and Dickinson.” Shaw and Sō co-produced the album with Grammy-winning engineer Jonathan Low (The National, Taylor Swift).

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Rectangles and Circumstance, an album of ten songs co-written and performed by Caroline Shaw and Sō Percussion, was released via Nonesuch Records on June 14, 2024. The album follows their 2021 Grammy Award–winning Nonesuch debut, Narrow Sea, and their first record as a band, 2021’s Let the Soil Play Its Simple Part, with Shaw on vocals backed by Sō—Eric Cha-Beach, Josh Quillen, Adam Sliwinski, and Jason Treuting. Grammy-winning engineer Jonathan Low (The National, Taylor Swift) co-produced with them on both Let the Soil… and Rectangles and Circumstance


Sliwinski says in the new album’s liner notes, “After a few years of touring Let the Soil Play Its Simple Part together, with a pandemic in between, we came to record our second album, Rectangles and Circumstance, as a road-tested band who knew each other’s strengths, weaknesses, and tendencies intimately.” He continues, “Most of the songs started with instrumental pieces or fragments of pieces from Jason or Eric.

“As both a songwriter and a classical composer, Caroline is accustomed to writing lyrics as well as setting them. Going over texts with her is like working on music: I collect a handful of poems and send them over to her, waiting to see if anything catches her interest, then I modify my search based on her feedback,” Sliwinski says. “For this album, Caroline, Eric, and I sourced a group of nineteenth-century poems that shaped its expressive mode [and] ended up using verses by Christina Rosetti, Emily Brontë, Emily Dickinson, Gertrude Stein, and William Blake … The lyrics on this album by members of the band contain wordplay that explores the same profound feelings explored by Blake and Dickinson.”

Caroline Shaw is a musician who moves among roles, genres, and mediums, trying to imagine a world of sound that has never been heard before but has always existed. She is the recipient of the 2013 Pulitzer Prize in Music, several Grammy awards, an honorary doctorate from Yale, and a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship. She has worked with a range of artists including Rosalía, Renée Fleming, and Yo-Yo Ma, and she has contributed music to films and TV series including Fleishman Is in Trouble, Bombshell, Yellowjackets, Maid, Dark, and Beyoncé’s Homecoming. In addition to her albums with Sō, Nonesuch has released her two Grammy-winning albums Orange (2019) and Evergreen (2022), both of which feature Attacca Quartet. “Two-Step,” the first of Shaw’s songs with Ringdown, her duo with Danni Lee, to be released on Nonesuch is available now.

For twenty years and counting, Sō Percussion has redefined chamber music for the twenty-first century through an “exhilarating blend of precision and anarchy, rigor and bedlam” (New Yorker). Their commitment to the creation and amplification of new work, and their extraordinary powers of perception and communication, have made them trusted partners for composers including David Lang, Julia Wolfe, Nathalie Joachim, Bryce Dessner, Dan Trueman, Kendall K. Williams, Angélica Negrón, Shodekeh Talifero, claire rousay, Leilehua Lanzilotti, Bora Yoon, Olivier Tarpaga, and many others. Sō has recorded more than twenty-five albums, including a performance of Steve Reich’s Mallet Quartet on the Nonesuch record WTC 9/11. Its members are the Edward T. Cone performers-in-residence at Princeton University. Sō Percussion’s educational and community work includes the Sō Laboratories concert series and the Sō Percussion Summer Institute, an intensive two-week chamber music seminar for percussionists and composers.

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Latest Release

  • June 14, 2024

    Rectangles and Circumstance comprises ten songs co-written and performed by Caroline Shaw and Sō Percussion. Shaw and Sō's Eric Cha-Beach and Adam Sliwinski "sourced a group of nineteenth-century poems that shaped its expressive mode [and] ended up using verses by Christina Rosetti, Emily Brontë, Emily Dickinson, Gertrude Stein, and William Blake," says Sliwinski. "The lyrics on this album by members of the band contain wordplay that explores the same profound feelings explored by Blake and Dickinson.” Shaw and Sō co-produced the album with Grammy-winning engineer Jonathan Low (The National, Taylor Swift).

News

  • October 25, 2024

    The original score for Ken Burns’s new two-part documentary, LEONARDO da VINCI, with new compositions by Caroline Shaw, is out now; the documentary airs on November 18 and 19 at 8pm ET on PBS. The album features performances by the composer’s longtime collaborators Attacca Quartet, Sō Percussion, and Roomful of Teeth as well as John Patitucci. Shaw wrote and recorded new music for LEONARDO da VINCI, marking the first time a Ken Burns film has featured an entirely original score. Also out today is a music video for the album track "The Mona Lisa," which can be seen here.

  • September 26, 2024

    “The Last Supper," from Caroline Shaw's original score for Ken Burns's new two-part documentary, LEONARDO da VINCI, is out now, along with a music video you can watch here. The album, with new compositions by Shaw and performances by Attacca Quartet, Sō Percussion, Roomful of Teeth, and John Patitucci, is due October 25; the documentary airs on November 18 and 19 at 8pm ET on PBS, PBS.org, and the PBS App. Shaw wrote and recorded new music for LEONARDO da VINCI, marking the first time a Ken Burns film has featured an entirely original score.

Tour

Tue, Nov 26
Brussels,
Henry Le Boeuf Hall, Bozar
Tue, Nov 26
Brussels,
Henry Le Boeuf Hall, Bozar
Fri, Nov 29
Essex,
Saffron Hall
Fri, Nov 29
Essex,
Saffron Hall
Sun, Dec 01
London,
Barbican Hall
Sun, Dec 01
London,
Barbican Hall
Tue, Dec 03
Manchester,
RNCM Concert Hall
Tue, Dec 03
Manchester,
RNCM Concert Hall
Thu, Dec 05
Vilnius,
Thu, Dec 05
Vilnius,
Sun, Dec 08
The Hague,
Amare
Sun, Dec 08
The Hague,
Amare

Photos

About Sō Percussion

  • Rectangles and Circumstance, an album of ten songs co-written and performed by Caroline Shaw and Sō Percussion, was released via Nonesuch Records on June 14, 2024. The album follows their 2021 Grammy Award–winning Nonesuch debut, Narrow Sea, and their first record as a band, 2021’s Let the Soil Play Its Simple Part, with Shaw on vocals backed by Sō—Eric Cha-Beach, Josh Quillen, Adam Sliwinski, and Jason Treuting. Grammy-winning engineer Jonathan Low (The National, Taylor Swift) co-produced with them on both Let the Soil… and Rectangles and Circumstance


    Sliwinski says in the new album’s liner notes, “After a few years of touring Let the Soil Play Its Simple Part together, with a pandemic in between, we came to record our second album, Rectangles and Circumstance, as a road-tested band who knew each other’s strengths, weaknesses, and tendencies intimately.” He continues, “Most of the songs started with instrumental pieces or fragments of pieces from Jason or Eric.

    “As both a songwriter and a classical composer, Caroline is accustomed to writing lyrics as well as setting them. Going over texts with her is like working on music: I collect a handful of poems and send them over to her, waiting to see if anything catches her interest, then I modify my search based on her feedback,” Sliwinski says. “For this album, Caroline, Eric, and I sourced a group of nineteenth-century poems that shaped its expressive mode [and] ended up using verses by Christina Rosetti, Emily Brontë, Emily Dickinson, Gertrude Stein, and William Blake … The lyrics on this album by members of the band contain wordplay that explores the same profound feelings explored by Blake and Dickinson.”

    Caroline Shaw is a musician who moves among roles, genres, and mediums, trying to imagine a world of sound that has never been heard before but has always existed. She is the recipient of the 2013 Pulitzer Prize in Music, several Grammy awards, an honorary doctorate from Yale, and a Thomas J. Watson Fellowship. She has worked with a range of artists including Rosalía, Renée Fleming, and Yo-Yo Ma, and she has contributed music to films and TV series including Fleishman Is in Trouble, Bombshell, Yellowjackets, Maid, Dark, and Beyoncé’s Homecoming. In addition to her albums with Sō, Nonesuch has released her two Grammy-winning albums Orange (2019) and Evergreen (2022), both of which feature Attacca Quartet. “Two-Step,” the first of Shaw’s songs with Ringdown, her duo with Danni Lee, to be released on Nonesuch is available now.

    For twenty years and counting, Sō Percussion has redefined chamber music for the twenty-first century through an “exhilarating blend of precision and anarchy, rigor and bedlam” (New Yorker). Their commitment to the creation and amplification of new work, and their extraordinary powers of perception and communication, have made them trusted partners for composers including David Lang, Julia Wolfe, Nathalie Joachim, Bryce Dessner, Dan Trueman, Kendall K. Williams, Angélica Negrón, Shodekeh Talifero, claire rousay, Leilehua Lanzilotti, Bora Yoon, Olivier Tarpaga, and many others. Sō has recorded more than twenty-five albums, including a performance of Steve Reich’s Mallet Quartet on the Nonesuch record WTC 9/11. Its members are the Edward T. Cone performers-in-residence at Princeton University. Sō Percussion’s educational and community work includes the Sō Laboratories concert series and the Sō Percussion Summer Institute, an intensive two-week chamber music seminar for percussionists and composers.

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