Back in April, the heady, rustic instrumental trio Setting released their self-titled sophomore album. In addition to enjoying the music, we appreciated that they made a song called "Gum Bump," and since this is my third straight post about Setting to mention that song, I promise to cut it out now. Since the album dropped, the group — Nathan Bowles, Jaime Fennelly, and Joe Westerlund — has been busy since then playing shows across these United States, and they have some more coming up. But first, some new music.
Today's new Setting track "Your Destiny Distresses Me" was recorded during the sessions at Asheville's Drop Of Sun studio that yielded the recent album. But if it's an outtake, it holds its own with the album tracks. Over the course of nearly eight minutes, the music wafts through dark corners and heavy moods toward what sounds like a light in the distance. The song conjures a powerful atmosphere that could be perceived as foreboding (that title has me thinking it's about people who tout AI as "inevitable"), but it ultimately soothes me more with each passing listen.
A word from Setting:
Even before we started sequencing the album material, this track’s focus on acoustic sound sources (including multiple piano harp innards and a wide-open orchestral bass drum) combined with inky, binaural synth smears denoted a specific vibe that, if anything, suggested that it stood out best in its own isolated context, like a heavy, pendulous obelisk arcing slowly in space. This is an approach that we were curious to keep exploring in the studio, but we ended up choosing to dig down into greasier, loamier soil rather than keep our eyes fixed solely towards the skies. Thankfully, Adam McDaniel had the tapes rolling while we donned our low-gravity suits for this one. We hope that you can feel the float, too.
Hear "Your Destiny Distresses Me" below and check out Setting's tour dates; tickets are available here.
TOUR DATES:
09/04 - Buchanan, MI @ Inner Freedom
09/05 - Chicago, IL @ Sound & Gravity
09/06 - Milwaukee, WI @ Vivarium #
09/08 - Minneapolis, MN @ The Cedar Cultural Center #
09/09 - Madison, WI @ Art Lit Lab
09/12 - Raleigh, NC @ Hopscotch Festival
11/04 - Brooklyn, NY @ Public Records ~
11/07 - East Meredith, NY @ West Kortright Center ~
11/08 - Philadelphia, PA @ Solar Myth ~
# w/ Keith Fullerton Whitman
~ w/ Wednesday Knudsen
