William Brittelle

Brooklyn-based composer William Brittelle’s work is a genre-fluid collage of modern classical, electro-acoustic, art rock, and other styles. He is one of the co-founders and artistic directors of widely regarded contemporary classical label New Amsterdam Records, as well as the curatorial collective Infinite Palette. His song cycles, such as 2019′s Spiritual America, are surreal, poignant reflections which combine dissonant guitars, lush orchestral arrangements, and electronic textures.
Brittelle was born and raised in rural North Carolina. He attended college at Vanderbilt University, but experienced a breakdown, partially due to academic artistic constrictions. He later attended classes in New York, where he was taught by composer David Del Tredici, and was mentored by Richard Lloyd of Television. He fronted a post-punk band and worked at legendary Lower East side rock club Sin-é. After suffering from a severe vocal injury, however, he returned to composition. In 2008, Brittelle co-founded New Amsterdam Records with Sarah Kirkland Snider and Judd Greenstein. His first album, an intense art-pop song cycle titled Mohair Time Warp, was released that year. Two years later, Brittelle released Television Landscape, a more accessible full-length which was met with praise from the New York Times and Time Out New York. The largely instrumental Loving the Chambered Nautilus, performed by the American Contemporary Music Ensemble as well as Nadia Sirota and Clarice Jensen, was released in 2012. Brittelle’s piece “Amid the Minotaurs” was performed on vocal ensemble Roomful of Teeth’s Grammy-winning 2012 debut. Their sophomore release, 2015′s Render, included Brittelle’s “High Done No Why To.” A brief electronic EP, Without Chasms, appeared in 2018, preceding 2019′s Spiritual America, Brittelle’s first release for Nonesuch. Featuring indie rock duo Wye Oak, the Brooklyn Youth Chorus, and the Metropolis Ensemble, Spiritual America reconciles Brittelle’s conservative Christian upbringing with his Brooklyn-based “agnostic Buddhist” adulthood. ~ Paul Simpson