“…ingenious presentation…sensationally well played”

“The Spektral has accomplished the signal service of obliterating the dividing line between past and present, tradition and avant-garde; chronological barriers collapse, and the sounds roam free.”
– Alex Ross (The New Yorker)

“…this is a remarkable, deeply rewarding offering from a quartet showing its abundant skills
across a joyfully bewildering range of repertoire.”
– David Kettle (Strad Magazine)

THIS ALBUM WILL NEVER BE HEARD THE SAME WAY TWICE

Do you remember the Choose Your Own Adventure books? “If you approach the mysterious stranger, turn to page 48...If you duck into the forbidden cave to avoid them, turn to page 136,” etc. There was a thrill to the equal possibilities of adventure or capture, friendship or deception, renown or obscurity.

Experiments in Living is the musical analog, and one where your listening experience will change profoundly based on the choices you make at each fork in the road. While routes through the record can be ever-changing, this double album flows along two currents. Part One pursues three historic innovators and singular voices circumventing the entrenched rules of their time – Johannes Brahms, Arnold Schoenberg, and Ruth Crawford (Seeger) – while Part Two pitches through passageways of music motivated by jazz, improvisation, and experimentation by way of composers Anthony Cheung, Sam Pluta, Charmaine Lee, and George Lewis. Finding the provocative connections between them is what defines our work together.

choose your own path

Experiments in Living is enhanced by Tarot-style interpretive cards with art from Copenhagen-based collage artist and musician øjeRum, to create an innovative, self-guided, “choose your own adventure” approach to experiencing the album.

Each of the 20 tracks corresponds to a gorgeous "Collage" card, and descriptive "Bridge" cards are used to create conceptual links between tracks in your playlists. A shuffle of the deck reveals a unique playlist every time you listen, and invites you to uncover and reflect on new connections each time.

try it online!

We’ve teamed up with the amazing folks at Critique Gaming to create a fully-functional web version of our card deck. You can choose a playlist (or have one randomly selected for you) and listen while contemplating the connections between tracks using the custom-built player. And you can share you playlist, too!

the music