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Aidan Baker and Insect Ark Team up for North American Tour

Posted in Whathaveyou on March 7th, 2013 by JJ Koczan

Probably most recognizable from his doomier dronings as part of the duo Nadja, the you’re-already-exhausted-just-thinking-about-trying-to-keep-up prolific Aidan Baker has a new album on the way called Already Drowning that teams him with an impressive range of female singers, from Carla Bozulich to Clara Engel, who can be heard on the title-track below and who, if you’ve never heard her stuff, is a badass.

Joining Baker as he hits the ol’ dusty trail is Brooklyn-based Insect Ark, the solo-project of one Dana Schechter, also of Bee and Flower. Insect Ark also has an EP coming out called Long Arms that rumbles like the good drone should and blends in organic instrumentation for an effect righteously creative and consuming in layers, sparse and full at the same time.

Music for both and tour dates follow, courtesy of the PR wire:

Aidan Baker (Nadja) and Insect Ark tour N. America in support of upcoming releases

Next month, composer and multi-instrumentalist Aidan Baker will embark on his first solo tour in North America since 2009 to promote his upcoming release, Already Drowning, available April 15 on UK’s Gizeh Records.

Brooklyn’s Dana Schechter will join Baker with her experimental project Insect Ark. Dana is touring behind Long Arms, an EP coming out on Geweih Ritual Documents March 15th. Dana Schechter has collaborated with Michael Gira (Swans, Angels Of Light), Mark Eitzel (American Music Club) and is also known for her band Bee And Flower.

Already Drowning takes inspiration from various myths and folktales about female water spirits. A different guest vocalist appears on every track, including Jessica Baillif, Liz Hysen (Picastro) and Carla Bozulich (Evangelista, The Geraldine Fibbers). Already Drowning marks a departure for Aidan Baker. While retaining his trademark sense of ambience and texture, the tracks are more structured and song-oriented.

Insect Ark is composed and performed as an analog-electronic hybrid: one woman, a sampler, a bass, a lap steel and a keyboard. Long Arms is massive and slow moving, full of stark vulnerability. Schechter weaves a brooding textural landscape which creates a personal soundtrack to the human psyche’s underbelly. Between sequenced drum beats Schechter’s agitated lap steel is enveloped by her thunderous bass tone, constantly keeping the music both on edge and all consuming. Schechter’s live shows are ferocious. She samples, layers and triggers loops like a one woman orchestra, guiding the sound through quiet passages and blaring crescendos.

Aidan Baker + Insect Ark US/CA Tour Dates:
3/28/13: Casa Del Popolo, Montreal, QC
3/29/13: Aviary Gallery, Boston, MA
3/30/13: Big Snow Buffalo Lodge, New York, NY
4/1/13: First Unitarian Church, Philadelphia, PA
4/2/13: Metro Gallery, Baltimore, MD
4/3/13: Garfield Art Works, Pittsburgh, PA
4/4/13: MOTR, Cincinnati, OH
4/5/13: The Burlington, Chicago, IL
4/6/13: TBD, Detroit, MI / Cleveland, OH
4/7/13: June Records, Toronto, ON

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