Seltzer

Peals is William Cashion and Bruce Willen, two bass players for some of Baltimore’s most revered bands (Future Islands and Double Dagger respectively) known for their passionate and energetic live performances. With Peals, the duo creates intimate ambient music based in improvisation, flipping the bombast of their other groups on its head in pursuit of a more subdued muse.

Seltzer documents Peals during a prolific period (2013–2014) as the duo was composing music for site-specific art installations, experimenting with interactive ambient music generators, and developing what would become their second LP, Honey.

These recordings capture the fermentation of improvisation, experimentation, and live performance. Collaged from home recordings, Seltzer’s original B-side “Before and After” is meant to be listened to as a seamless mix-tape journey through some of their early improvisations. The original A-side documents a unique site-specific performance inside the Bromo Seltzer clock tower, a collaborative installation with multimedia artist Zoe Friedman.

William and Bruce talk about the experience of performing in the clock room:

“We first visited the clock room on a cold winter night. In the stillness above the city, the darkened space took on the hush of a post-industrial church. We all found ourselves talking in low voices as if out of respect for some giant clockmaker. Unexpectedly, a series of loud pops and bangs broke the quiet, causing the three of us to jump—the large bank of elevator controls had sprung to life as someone called the elevator from one of the lower floors. We realized that the random whirring of the equipment and loud sparking noises were going to be inescapable elements in the room during the performance. Rather than mask the noises of the machinery, we decided to incorporate its sounds into our performance. Attaching a contact mic to the elevator controller, we captured and amplified the random clicks and pops of the machinery, adding to the layer of ambient sounds reverberating through the space.

Our performance included compositions created specifically to accompany Zoe’s projections as well as two adaptations of pieces from our Walking Field album. Because the clock motor hummed in the key of G, we tried to write pieces that would fit harmoniously with this tone. Noises from the elevator controller appear at unexpected-yet-oddly-appropriate times. Shortly before the last movement, you can hear a distant siren echoing from the streets below. This recording documents the first of two performances and was the first time that we had performed these pieces in a live setting.”