Thor & Friends

Polymath percussionist and instrument maker Thor Harris inaugurated Thor & Friends in the autumn of 2015 after five years of touring as the percussionist of iconic avant-rock ensemble Swans. The ensemble has three core members, Harris, Peggy Ghorbani, and Sarah “Goat” Gautier. Its lineup expands and/or contracts within the flux of compositional and improvisational contexts. The range of tonal color depends on which instrumentalists are present or absent from the creative process at any given time. The band can perform organically with acoustic instruments or use shading with hues of electronic instrumentation, either as a stripped-down trio or as a large ensemble. Most of the band’s rotating cast is culled from the ranks of Austin-based musicians. Thor & Friends’ music draws on the influence of American minimalist composers including Terry Riley and Steve Reich, but it’s also influenced by the strategies and experiments of Brian Eno, Aphex Twin, Moondog, and Australia’s the Necks. It’s built around a polyrhythmic core of mallet-struck instruments, primarily marimba, xylophone, and vibraphone. Circling these core motifs are shifting streams of everything from processed pedal steel and analog synthesizer to violin, viola, stand-up bass, clarinet, duduk, and oboe, as well as handmade instruments. Their expansive sound also acknowledges similarities and commonalities of purpose from Harris’ past projects and continuing collaborations with musicians such as Ben Frost, Bill Callahan, Hospital Ships, Shearwater, and John Congelton. The group’s debut album, Thor & Friends, was issued by LM Dupli-cation in the autumn of 2016. It was recorded with A Hawk & A Hacksaw’s Jeremy Barnes and Heather Trost, and Deerhoof’s John Dieterich in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Following stints across the American Southwest, a version of the band toured the U.S. as the recording piled up reams of positive press. They followed the set with The Subversive Nature of Kindness in December 2017. Like its predecessor, the album was recorded in Albuquerque, and produced by Barnes, who co-engineered it with Dieterich. ~ Thom Jurek