“I think a lot of my stuff is weirdly joyful about mortality, and this is no exception,” Caroline Shaw tells GBH News’ James Bennett II. The two sat down at the Newport Classical Music Festival last weekend for a track-by-track tour of her new album with Sō Percussion, Rectangles and Circumstance, as well as a conversation about songwriting, collaboration, copyright law, and more. You can listen to their conversation here.

The original score for Ken Burns’s new two-part documentary, Leonardo da Vinci, with new compositions by Caroline Shaw, is available via Nonesuch on October 25; the documentary airs on November 18 and 19 at 8pm ET (check local listings) on PBS, PBS.org, and the PBS App. 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. You can watch the video for “Intentions of the Mind" here. In a special event at The Town Hall in NYC October 29, the musicians will perform from the score, and the filmmakers will preview excerpts from the film.

"'Ghost' explores the weariness and anxiety of being a fully feeling human who is forced to live in our modern world and its tech-saturated chaos,” Ringdown, the Portland-based cinematic pop duo of creator-musicians Danni Lee Parpan and Caroline Shaw, says of its second Nonesuch single, out now. “This is especially isolating in the world of internet dating, where the spotty texting tempo and normalized behavior of ‘ghosting’ someone can feel crushing. We used the clunky pedal sounds from a vintage piano as a heartbeat throughout the song. To us, this represents the yearning for connection beyond technology.”

The 92nd Street Y in New York City (92NY) has announced its 2024–25 Tisch Music Season, including performances by Caroline Shaw and Sō Percussion, Jeremy Denk, Julia Bullock, Richard Goode, Brad Mehldau, Gabriel Kahane, and Days of Wine and Roses star Kelli O'Hara.

Rectangles and Circumstance, an album of ten songs co-written and performed by Caroline Shaw and Sō Percussion, is out now. 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). Also out today is a video for the album track "Sing On," which you can watch here.

Ringdown, the cinematic pop duo of Caroline Shaw and Danni Lee Parpan, stopped by WNYC in New York City to perform on New Sounds' Soundcheck and talk with host John Schaefer. They perform three songs: "Reckoning," "Thirst," and "Two-Step," their Nonesuch debut single released in March. You can watch all three and hear the episode here. Ringdown recently joined Sō Percussion on New Sounds to perform songs from Rectangles and Circumstance, the new album from Shaw and Sō, out tomorrow.

"When Sō Percussion started working with Caroline, we noticed that her first creative step, before writing any music, was to suggest sounds. Then, she would step back and listen," Sō's Adam Sliwinski writes in his liner note to the new Caroline Shaw and Sō Percussion album, Rectangles and Circumstance, out this Friday on Nonesuch. You can read his note here.

Caroline Shaw stopped by for the Nonesuch Selects video series, in which artists visit the Nonesuch office, pick some of their favorite albums from the music library, and share a few words on their choices. She chose recordings by Rhiannon Giddens, Dawn Upshaw, Gabriel Kahane, Mountain Man, Steve Reich, and Chris Thile.

Caroline Shaw, Sō Percussion, and Ringdown stopped by WNYC to perform on an episode of New Sounds focused on the music of Sō's Jason Treuting. They give live performances of three songs from the upcoming album Rectangles and Circumstance: Shaw and Sō on "Sing On," joined by Ringdown (Shaw and Danni Lee) on "Slow Motion" and "The Parting Glass." You can watch all three and hear the full episode here.

Caroline Shaw and Sō Percussion have released "Slow Motion," a new track from their upcoming album, Rectangles and Circumstance, due June 14. The track features Ringdown, the cinematic pop duo of Shaw and Danni Lee, who co-wrote the song with Sō. You can watch the video, made by Robert Edridge-Waks and the artists, here.

Caroline Shaw and Sō Percussion have released "To Music," a new track from their upcoming album, Rectangles and Circumstance, due June 14 on Nonesuch. You can watch the video, directed by Robert Edridge-Waks with photography by Daniel Kukla, here. Shaw and Sō co-wrote and performed the ten songs on the album, which they co-produced with Grammy-winning engineer Jonathan Low (The National, Taylor Swift).

Rectangles and Circumstance, an album of ten songs co-written and performed by Caroline Shaw and Sō Percussion, is due June 14. 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).