Interior Features: Includes color-matched carpets and headliner, hand-crafted hardwood accents, ice storage, and custom-tailored seating.
Optional Equipment: Available with crystal decanters and glasses, a custom rear floor mat, and a 5" RCA color TV.
Consoles: Features a right-side console with ice storage, climate control, sound system, and sliding tambour cabinetry. The left side can include optional crystal glasses & decanters, a 5" screen color television on a sliding, swivel frame, and rich wood tambour sliding cabinetry.
Violinist Conor Armbruster has shifted gears on Can I Sit Here. His previous release, Masses, reveled in the generous acoustics of an acoustic violin in a church sanctuary. On his latest for Dear Life, Can I Sit Here, the recording of an electric violin is close-miked and in mono, with many of the tracks using lots of distortion. Some electric violins have a number of extra strings that allow the performer to access a wider registral compass. That is certainly the case here. There is more use of drones too, as well as sounds inspired by heavy post-rock and even metal.
The leadoff track, “I’m Really Trying to Catch Up With You Soon,” bridges the gap between Masses and Can I Sit Here, with repetitions of organ-like sonorities wafting in the high register. Eventually, a thunderous, sustained bass register line enters as do treble register rock solos. The ostinato persists, creating a piece that, if only it had drums, would sound every bit like a piece by Godspeed You! Black Emperor. Indeed, in places one wishes that percussion, even electronic percussion, was incorporated.
“Playground” has a distorted repeating chord progression that registrally unfolds into a bold, bracing textural environment. It is nearly two thirds of the way through the piece that a rollicking solo is added. Shrieking “bird calls” arrive, as does dynamic intensity, the conclusion abandoning the chord progression for a sustained dissonant high note. In “Playground,” Mogwai seems like a touchstone. In fact, one could readily hear Armbruster touring in support of some of the aforementioned ensembles, heating up the crowd with searing strings.
“No Other News” features a constantly pulsating high note juxtaposed with bass strings in a wayward melody. The piece breaks into triplets against dovetailing melodies. Partway through, the ostinato from “Playground” makes a brief appearance, followed by bent bass notes and glissandos against the upper drone. It concludes with another repeated note in the low register and a swath of chords. “Lament” remains a chordal ostinato for most of its duration, until it goes sideways in a downward bend. “Thank You for Putting These Feelings Into Words” follows closely upon, with repeated spacy riffs providing the mood of a sci-fi soundtrack. Perhaps the catchiest among selections is “Tell the Crowd,” with a loping repeating bass-line and a solo that combines Americana and experimental music. “Can’t Wait To Be Chillin’” closes the album with a seven-minute work in which the violinist takes his time, with another bass ostinato and an alto register solo dovetailing alongside it. It is only near the end of the piece that Armbruster moves from a clean sound to distorted chordal slides. The close is a fragmented version of the ostinato, gradually fading.
The technical underpinning of Armbruster’s music is impressively assured and the sounds he explores are consistently interesting. Can I Sit Here makes me eager to hear what surprises he has up his sleeve for the future.
It's time for Beginnings, the podcast where writer and performer Andy Beckerman talks to the comedians, writers, filmmakers and musicians he admires about their earliest creative experiences and the numerous ways in which a creative life can unfold.
On today's episode, I talk to musician Connor Armbruster. Originally from Bethlehem, NY, Connor has been playing fiddle since he was young. While he's written and recorded music for over half a decade, his first professional album as Armbruster was 2022's Masses, which was released on Dear Life Records. This was followed by the brilliant Can I Sit Here two years later and a number of wonderful EPs and live recordings in the years since. His latest, Half My House, just came out at the end of February, and folks, it's great!
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Small box made of #blackwood & #shagreen. Made on the #armbruster #roseengine #lathe. #africanblackwood #ornamentalturning #lathework #oneofakind #handmade #woodturning # (at Pacifica, California)
