NEWS: Aidan Baker announces North American dates with Insect Ark in support of his upcoming Already Drowning LP

Press release provided by Pigeon Row 

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Next month, composer and multi-instrumentalist Aidan Baker will embark on his first solo tour in North America since 2009. Although originally from Toronto, Baker has been living in Berlin for a number of years, where he keeps up a prolific release and global tour schedule for both his solo work and wall-of-sound project Nadja.

The upcoming tour, which sees stops in the Eastern USA and Canada, is in support of Baker's Already Drowning full length on UK's Gizeh Records. 

A change from Baker's usual drone based work, the new album explores a complex song cycle, featuring a different female vocalist on each piece. The vocal artists include Clara Engel, Jessica Bailiff, Valérie Niederoest, Maude Oswald, Joanna Kupnicka, Geneviève Castrée, Liz Hysen, and Carla Bozulich. Already Drowning is slated for worldwide release on April 15/13.

Brooklyn's Dana Schechter (Angels of Light, Bee and Flower) will join Baker on the North American dates with her experimental project Insect Ark. Dana will be touring behind a new split cassette with Nathan Bell (Lungfish) and a 10" EP called Long Arms. Both are being issued by Geweih Ritual Documents early this spring. 

Aidan Baker - Already Drowning LP/CD/DL (GZH43 - April 15/13)

Already Drowning, a song-cycle inspired by various myths & folktales about female water spirits, marks something of a departure for Aidan Baker. While still retaining his trademark sense of ambience & texture, the tracks on this album are much more structured & song-oriented, embracing a minimalist post-rock, slowcore style & featuring a different guest vocalist on each track.

All words & music written by Aidan Baker (guitars, bass, flute, drums, trombone, piano, & field recordings), vocal melodies & interpretations/translations by respective singers. Additional musicians: Leah Buckareff (of Nadja – accordion), Laura C. Bates (violin), Nick Storring (of Picastro – cello), Carl Pace (of Beta Cloud – trumpet), & Laura Rodie (alto & soprano saxophones).

Aidan Baker Biography

Aidan Baker is a multi-instrumentalist, classically trained in flute, although his primary instrument is the guitar. Using various electronic effects combined with prepared &/or alternate performance methods, Baker creates music which generally falls within the ambient/experimental genres, but draws on influences from shoegaze & post-rock, contemporary classical & jazz. Over the course of the last decade, Baker has released numerous album, under his own name, with his duo Nadja, & with various other group projects, on such labels as Alien8 Recordings, Important Records, Broken Spine Productions, & Robotic Empire. He is also the author of several books of poetry. Baker has toured extensively around the world, appearing at such international festivals as FIMAV, SXSW, Unsound, & Pop Montreal. Baker, originally from Toronto, Canada, currently lives in Berlin, Germany. 

Insect Ark Biography
INSECT ARK is the new solo project from Dana Schechter, known for her work with M. Gira’s Angels of Light (Swans) and her own band Bee and Flower. Based in Brooklyn, Insect Ark is composed and performed as an analog-electronic hybrid: one woman, a sampler, a bass, a lapsteel and a keyboard.

 Creating her personal soundtrack to the human psyche’s underbelly, Schechter’s sounds weave a brooding, textural landscape, a starless night spiked with sparkling moments of light and flash. Intimate and cold at the same time, this foray into her aggressive and experimental musical side braids a strong sense of melody into the twists and turns.

A new 10” EP, Long Arms, and a split Cassette with Nathan Bell (Lungfish) are both slated for release Spring 2013 on Geweih Ritual Documents. These follow her debut release 7”, Collapsar on Lancashire & Somerset Records in February 2012.

For more information on Aidan Baker and Already Drowning, visit:

http://www.aidanbaker.org
http://www.gizehrecords.com/gzh43.html

For more information on Insect Ark, visit:
http://insectark.tumblr.com/

Aidan Baker tour dates:

28-03-13: Casa Del Popolo, Montreal, QC*

29-03-13: Aviary Gallery, Boston, MA*

31-03-13: Big Snow Buffalo Lounge, New York, NY*

01-04-13: First Unitarian Church, Philadelphia, PA*

02-04-13: Metro Gallery, Baltimore, MD*

03-04-13: Garfield Art Works, Pittsburgh, PA*

04-04-13: MOTR, Cincinnati, OH*

05-04-13: The Burlington, Chicago, IL*

07-04-13: June Records, Toronto, ON*

09-04-13: The Ambient Ping, Toronto, ON (Whisper Room performance)

11-04-13: The Spill, Peterborough, ON (Nadja performance)

12-04-13: New Harbours Music, Hamilton, ON (Nadja performance)

13-03-13: Feast In The East, Toronto, ON (Nadja performance)

19-03-13: Musideum, Toronto, ON

*with Insect Ark