New release: Nora Stanley and Benny Bock’s Distance of the Moon
Distance of the Moon, Nora Stanley and Benny Bock’s first album together as a duo, is a deep journey into acoustic, electronic, and improvisatory realms. With a friendship dating back to high school in Berkeley, CA, the saxophone/ keyboard duo has been making music together for nearly a decade. Hikes through the Marin Headlands and Mt. Tam set the landscape for a long friendship that only deepened when the duo found themselves both living in Ohio, attending Oberlin Conservatory. Cross country road trips and weekend excursions through cornfields further solidified a connection both personal and musical that Nora and Benny have continued to build throughout the past four years, despite being situated on opposite coasts.
For their debut album, the two friends draw on a trove of shared musical, literary, and cinematic influences. Their connection to and love for the natural landscape of the San Francisco Bay Area is also present throughout the album, referenced in songs like “Into The Flats” and “Hawk Hill”, the latter, an homage to the late Pharaoh Sanders.
Distance of the Moon features the duo on a plethora of instruments, capturing a variety of textures and sounds from pump organ and prepared piano to Oberheim Four Voice synthesizer and baritone guitar. Featured guests include Abe Rounds, CJ Camerieri, Daphne Chen, Doug Stuart, Jacob Richards, Jeff Parker, Mark Giuliana, Myles Martin and Owen Clapp.
Nora and Benny draw influence from the duo recordings of Charlie Haden and Ornette Coleman as well as the playful and exploratory music of Argentinian composer Juana Molina. Other influences include LA artists Sam Gendel and Sam Wilkes, Keith Jarrett, Pharoah Sanders, composers such as Olivier Messiaen, Caroline Shaw, Arvo Part, and Indonesian Gamelan.
TRACKS: 1. Hawk Hill / 2. Assembling / 3. Vista Ahead / 4. Maurice / 5. Interlude / 6. Into The Flats / 7. Like Smoke / 8. Peaches / 9. Two / 10. Distance of the Moon
A few words from Benny via @bennybock:
Our album, “Distance of the Moon” is out today!
Nora (@notnorastanley) and I have been making music together since high school, so it’s such a special moment to see this record being put out into the world. The music created here is a reflection of our friendship throughout the years, our love for the natural world, and for Northern California, where we’re from.
Huge thanks to Pete Min (@lucysmeatmarket) who co-produced and recorded this project, @colorfieldrecords for putting it out, @david.mirarchi for the album art, and all the musicians who played so beautifully on this album. And if you’re of the vinyl persuasion, you can preorder the LP (mastered by Kevin Gray & arriving later this year) with the link in bio.
And a few words from Nora via @notnorastanley:
It was such an immensely fun and rewarding experience working on this record with @bennybock and Co-Producer Pete Min at @lucysmeatmarket over the course of two weeks in January of 2021. With so much room for experimentation and warmth in the studio the direction of the music was ever shifting and constantly surprising, resulting in an album that feels incredibly personal and reflective of the long musical friendship Benny and I have shared. The music is inspired by many things and people, in large part by the Northern California landscapes we grew up in. We hope the music takes you to some of these serene and jagged habitats as well.
Huge thank you to everyone who played on and contributed to the record. You can listen and pre-order vinyl (mastered by Kevin Gray and available later this year) at the link in bio.
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Album art by @david.mirarchi