New York, New York -- Brooklyn-based pianist/"sound sculptor" Marco Benevento continues to break ground with his third studio album, Between The Needles & Nightfall. The album's opening track “Greenpoint" has been released as a free mp3 accompanied by Benevento's homemade video for the song.
“'Greenpoint' came from a series of ideas that I wrote on a circuit bent keyboard. It managed to piece itself together over the last two years. I had always thought about recording a tune that didn't have many changes harmonically, but had a lot of variations in drum ideas, circuit bent sounds and amplified piano. Parts come in and out throughout the song. The initial idea arrived during a time when the only thing I could listen to was a Can record called Flowmotion," explains Benevento. “'Greenpoint' is different every time we play it live. I always find that the open-ended tunes are important because it opens the audience up to receive the moment as it's happening and they can tell that you're opened up too."
Between The Needles & Nightfall was recorded at Trout Recording in Brooklyn, NY where engineer Bryce Goggin (Pavement, Akron/Family) tracked Marco Benevento over three days. The material was drawn from fragments of melodies and song ideas that Benevento had been collecting throughout the year. To achieve the colors he envisioned for these compositions, Benevento recorded on a baby grand piano bolstered by guitar pick-ups, amplifiers and a myriad of pedals and circuit bent toys, while adding flourishes of Moog, Optigan, Mellotron and Farfisa.
Marco Benevento, who was recently profiled on NPR's All Things Considered, will also take part in this summer's Celebrate Brooklyn concert series where he'll re-score The Fall Of The House Of Usher, the '60s film starring Vincent Price and based on the Edgar Allan Poe short story. The performance, scheduled for Friday, August 6, will feature Benevento playing his newly composed score along with the movie for a live audience. A full list of summer tour dates are below.
MARCO BENEVENTO Upcoming Tour Dates:
June 24 | Tractor Tavern | Seattle, WA
June 25 | Doug Fir | Portland, OR
June 26 | Axe & Fiddle | Cottage Grove, OR
June 27 | Winnipeg Jazz Festival | Winnipeg, Canada
June 28 | Montreal Jazz Festival | Montreal, Canada (solo)
June 29 | Toronto Jazz Festival | Toronto, Canada
July 4 | High Sierra Music Festival | Quincy, CA
Aug 6 | Celebrate Brooklyn | Brooklyn, NY ***re-scoring The Fall Of The House Of Usher
August 9 - 10 | Fly Me To The Moon | Telluride, CO (SOLD OUT)
August 11 | Telluride Mountain Village Sunset Series | Telluride, CO
August 12 & 13 | Dazzle | Denver, CO
Between The Needles & Nightfall is out now on Royal Potato Family Records.
