William Brittelle & ACME: Loving the Chambered Nautilus (New Amsterdam, 6/26/12)
“Future Shock for String Quartet, Mvmt. 2”
[audio:https://alarm-magazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/02-Future-Shock-for-String-Quartet-Mvmt.-2.mp3|titles=Future Shock for String Quartet, Mvmt. 2]In the summer of 2010, Brooklyn-based composer/performer William Brittelle released Television Landscape, an art-rock epic that combined rock, pop, and classical in infectious song structures. Next month, Brittelle makes his return with Loving the Chambered Nautilus, composed for (and likewise performed by) the American Contemporary Music Ensemble (ACME), a talented collection of chamber players. On Nautilus, Brittelle focuses more on progressive arrangements, creating a highly psychological, imaginative experience of true musical sustenance.
It is worth mentioning that the title of the album is in reference to the chambered nautilus, a sea-dwelling creature whose shell is nearly a perfect logarithmic spiral. And just as the countershading of its shell helps it to blend in with the sea when seen by predators from above and blend in with the light of the surface when seen from below, it is so intricately designed that it is nearly impossible to delineate being from exoskeleton.
The song we are premiering today is explicative of a similar phenomenon, showcasing both ACME’s precision and Brittelle’s fluid combinations of chamber music and futuristic, synth-pop elements. The resultant exploit, as visceral and unpredictable as they come, is akin to a perilous yet beautiful journey on the back of the nautilus itself.