Drag City is excited to introduce Resolve, the first release of new music from Arnold Dreyblatt & The Orchestra of Excited Strings since 2002.

Dreyblatt’s minimalist conception - a rhythmic drone played on a double-bass strung with piano wire, playing in concert with other stringed instruments performing in 20 unequal microtones per octave and changing key but keeping the same fundamental pitch - dates back to the 1970s, while he studied under La Monte Young and Pauline Oliveros. Resolve acts in intermittent dialogue with the first Orchestra of Excited Strings release, 1982’s Nodal Excitation.

Since then, Dreyblatt has formed new orchestras across various countries and decades, with each phase of his music requiring several overlapping periods of gestation and arrangement. The current Orchestra is formed by Konrad Sprenger, Joachim Schütz and Oren Ambarchi. On Resolve, each of the members' playing brings new angles to the compositions. Konrad Sprenger's involves solenoids, sine waves and a computer-controlled multi-channel electric guitar (as well as a relentless style behind the drum kit and oversight of the album production), while Joachim Schütz’s individual conception of electronics and electric guitar and Oren Ambarchi’s undeniable innovations with signal path work together with Dreyblatt’s bass (still strung with piano wire) as magnetic component parts of Resolve.

These contributions lead to Resolve's dialogue with the early Orchestra of Excited Strings canon - for instance, the track previewed here, "Flight Path" takes off at a pace not often found in the minimalist genre — a rolling lope! Yet the sense of play is palpable: the ensemble scale their microtonal keys with punkish brio, a stance sharing much with the original Orchestra’s downtown pulse, even as as the new Orchestra burn their own path through Dreyblatt's music.

Approaching his 70th birthday, with over 40 years of work as a solo artist, collaborator, composer, educator and bandleader, Arnold Dreyblatt views Resolve as an important expression within the long story of The Orchestra of Excited Strings. The album title’s tendency to mean different things is an indicator of the dynamic qualities of his music in all its different phases — an evolution that continues to produce new dimensions in acoustic sound with every new release. Pre-order Resolve on LP now! It hits the streets August 18th.