Bing & Ruth is a musical and conceptual project led by pianist David Moore. As a former student of The New School of Jazz in NYC, Moore wishes to bring his academic skills in the street. He formed Bing & Ruth in 2006 using various formats of ensembles.

For “No Home of the Mind”, his second opus, released in February 2017, Moore joined forces with Jeremy Viner on clarinet, Mike Effenberger on tape delay and two bassists, Jeff Ratner and Greg Chudzick to create beautiful landscapes where his music is either an intense loop smoothly building up (Starwood Choker) or a very dreamy-style of ambient music where all notes are delicately played (As Much As Possible).

 

This type of music requires a calm and relaxed environment to be truly enjoyed. My first listening session of “No Home of the Mind” was done in commute and I would miss full minutes of music and didn’t hear the depth of the arrangements as subway trains would totally cover the instruments, even with high-end sound-blocking headsets.

One would be better to experience Bing & Ruth’s work sitting in a room with low ambiance lighting. At his concert during POP Montreal last September, lights were low and the crowd was lying on the floor, relaxing and letting themselves go to the soft music.

bing and ruth pop montreal 2017

At POP Mtl 2017 (photo Nico Pelletier)

I wouldn’t recommend this album for meditation as it can get intense at some points (Scrapes). Simply don’t do anything else while listening to David Moore’s music.

 

As explained on the group’s Wikipedia page “No Home of the Mind was written on seventeen pianos across North America and Europe over numerous sessions, tours, and travel and recorded in Hudson, NY in 2016”. The album is the first non-rock record to come out on the indie rock label 4AD, who are not known for signing this type of musicians.

Highly recommended for stressed minds that seek calm and escape from daily noises.

BING & RUTH

BING & RUTH
No Home of the Mind
(4AD, 2017)

-Genre: instrumental cinematic music
-In the same mindset as Philipp Glass, Harold Budd, Jean-Michel Blais

Buy the album on Google Play
Follow the band via their Facebook page
Watch videos on the label’s YouTube channel

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About The Author

Mélomane invétéré plongeant dans tous les genres et époques, Nicolas Pelletier a publié 6 000 critiques de disques et concerts depuis 1991, dont 1100 chez emoragei magazine et 600 sur enMusique.ca, dont il a également été le rédacteur en chef de 2009 à 2014. Il publie "Les perles rares et grands crus de la musique" en 2013, lance le site RREVERB en 2014, et devient stratège numérique des radios de Bell Média en 2015, participant au lancement de la marque iHeartRadio au Canada en 2016. Il dirige maintenant la stratégie numérique d'ICI Musique, la radio musicale de Radio-Canada.