Melancholic piano music is not the same as melancholic piano music. Hence, after only fleetingly listening to »Tomorrow Was the Golden Age« by the New Yorker ensemble Bing & Ruth around the pianist David Moore, one could consider the record to be yet another contribution to the – rather kitschy – genre of post-classicism. However, the musicians (besides Moore, there are two clarinetists, two double bass players, a cellist and a Tape Delay Operator) are standing in the minimalistic tradition of manipulating resonance, following Gavin Bryars (»The Sinking of the Titanic«) or Leyland Kirby (»Sadly, The Future Is No Longer What It Was«). In addition, there is a striking contiguousness with regard to contents, as well, considering the skeptical look into the future that’s to be found in their works. And yet, Bing & Ruth are wrenching a kind of damaged beauty from their pessimistic attitudes: By combining dark and washed out epics and creating a suite of nine parts between ambient and reductionism, they dissolve the boundaries between acoustic ensemble music and electronic loop collages, opening up spaces for differentiated electro-acoustic nuances. While being harmless on the surface, this music has an alluring undertow which only casually hints at its abysmal depths.
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