The Centre Cannot Hold
Ben Frost has announced details of his fifth studio album, The Centre Cannot Hold, out on 29 September 2017. The Centre Cannot Hold was recorded over ten days by Steve Albini in Chicago. The music exists not in space, but in a space; it is a document of an event, of a room, and of the composer within it. It is music that is not fully controlled and appears to be anxiously, often violently competing against its creator. An exercise in limitation and chromatic saturation, The Centre Cannot Hold is an attempt at transcribing a spectrum of glowing ultramarine into sound. Watch the video for Threshold Of Faith, the opening cut from the new album, a new collaboration shot in the winter of 2016 in Reykjavík, Iceland with conceptual documentary photographer Richard Mosse and Cinematographer Trevor Tweeten: po.st/BFThresholdVideo Ben Frost released Threshold Of Faith, a seven-track 12” and digital EP, last month. Pitchfork describe the track title track as “moving from heroic vistas into a garbled, snow-blinded melee. Distant choral pads, a glistening upper-register sheen, submerged piano, and groaning harmonies all stack up into a geologic crescendo that extends into infinity.” while The 405 describe the EP as “scorching and beautiful”.
Recording in Chicago with Steve Albini at the controls, Ben Frost unleashes volleys of brutalizing electronic sound as an allegory for the grim state of the world.
For The Centre Cannot Hold, Australian experimental musician Ben Frost flew to Chicago to work with famed engineer Steve Albini, who has continually received praise for his ability to capture rawness and immediacy on tape.
Ben Frost focuses on what most would consider the cracks or mistakes in modern production — buzzing, hissing, feedback, distortion — and amp...
'The Centre Cannot Hold' by Ben Frost: Ben Frost crafts a strong tone piece in our review of 'The Centre Cannot Hold' but it's definitely not for everyone.