Nightbloom, by Desert Quill Quartet

Nightbloom

by Desert Quill Quartet

	/

Streaming + Download

Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

Purchasable with gift card

$5 USD or more

Nightbloom 10:06

about

Released July, 2020 by Caoba Records, www.caobarecords.com
Insta @desertquillquartet www.instagram.com/desertquillquartet
@caobarecords www.instagram.com/caobarecords

“A cactus flower blooms once a year for a single night
Scraping and breathing unfolds into tonality
Sounds intertwine
At times agree
Then contradict
In an active conversation
Kinetic energy drives
Pushing forward
Pulling into a strong current
A blooming crescendo breaks into harmonic pulsing
Moves towards serenity”

Desert Quill Quartet (DQQ) is a performer-composer collective featuring Dan Gonzalez (clarinet), Yvette Holzwarth (violin), Patrick Behnke (viola), and Ben Finley (double bass).

In February of 2019, a month before the COVID-19 pandemic, they recorded in one of their favorite places: their friend Jared’s basement in LA’s Chinatown.

“Nightbloom” emerged as a reconnection.

Dan, Yvette, Patrick and Ben met at CalArts. In 2014, Dan relocated to California from Mexico City; Yvette from Northern California; Patrick from Detroit; and Ben from a small town in rural Ontario, Canada. Improvisation has been their meeting point ever since, their watering hole.

For DQQ, Jared’s basement—a low ceilinged, well-kept clean and cluttered with cultural trinkets like old VHS walls, vintage music gear, vine lights, action figures, lanterns and fake grass—has oftentimes sparked a sigh of refuge from life’s diversions.

“Nightbloom” is an unscripted rekindling of friendship. It scratches, grooves, boils, lifts and soars as a form of contemporary music making that searches for human (and nonhuman) connection.

Like a cactus flower that blooms once a year for a single night, the tracks unfolds. Scraping and breathing organically finds tonality. As instruments intertwine – agreeing or contradicting each other, an active conversation emerges. Kinetic energy pulls you into a strong current and a blooming crescendo. At times it is difficult to discern where one voice ends and another begins. After its crest, the pulsing settles and matures into a place of serenity and softly trails off into air and harmonics.

Recorded shortly before the world’s landscape changed due to coronavirus, this track is a treasured reminder of making music in a room together with friends. DQQ would especially like to thank Jared Rodriguez for his exceptional aura, ears, and generosity in recording the piece.

credits

released July 24, 2020

Dan Gonzalez (clarinet)
Yvette Holzwarth (violin)
Patrick Behnke (viola)
Ben Finley (double bass).

Recorded by Jared Rodriguez in Los Angeles
Mixed by Dan Gonzalez and Jared Rodriguez
Mastered by Caoba Records

Album Drawing by Patrick Behnke, Album Design by Dan Gonzalez

license

about

Desert Quill Quartet Los Angeles, California

desertquillquartet.com

Dan Gonzalez,,Yvette Holzwarth, Patrick Behnke, and Ben Finley are four performer-composers from diverse geographical and music backgrounds who co-founded Desert Quill Quartet in 2014. Their instrumentation opens an unplaceable and rich acoustic sonic palette—welcoming in improvisatory soundscapes, kinetic grooves, and personal/place-based compositions. ... more

contact / help

Contact Desert Quill Quartet

Streaming and
Download help

Report this album or account

If you like Desert Quill Quartet, you may also like:

I was too young to hear silence
by Patrick Shiroishi

Free jazz saxophonist explores negative space on a vast, improvised work recorded in a L.A. parking structure. Bandcamp Album of the Day Nov 9, 2023
go to album
Like the Grass
by Stacey Juritz Ravens Keller

featured on Bandcamp Radio May 26, 2020
go to album
The Organ That Breathes
by Alex Ring Gray

A striking new work from Alex Ring Gray finds the composer transforming his saxophone into a living reed organ. Bandcamp New & Notable Jun 20, 2023
go to album
The Shenanigans-to-Tomfoolery Continuum
by Bridges of Königsberg

This experimental release from Bridges of Königsberg is electroacoustic noise at its most playful and expansive. Bandcamp New & Notable Aug 1, 2023
go to album
Echo Lab Sessions Vol. 1 & 2
by Violent Squid

This double tape from Violent Squid showcases a dizzying array of sounds, including sci-fi analog synths & dazzling guitar instrumentals. Bandcamp New & Notable Jan 24, 2021
go to album
No Base Trio
by No Base Trio

featured on Bandcamp Radio Jul 14, 2020
go to album
The Odd River
by Helen Svoboda

A theatrical change of pace for the Australian double bassist, vocalist, and composer; neoclassical splendor with a cathartic undertow. Bandcamp New & Notable Oct 18, 2023
go to album