"A half-airy, half-aggressive interdisciplinary happening organized by the young and enterprising composer Christopher Bono, who brought together a wise, postcategory, electric and acoustic 12-person crew." -- New York Times "You couldn't pigeonhole it into one genre if you tried -- it goes from eerie David Lynchian soundscapes to Eastern melodies to avant-garde jazz drum freakouts to a million other places, all while remaining strangely accessible." -- Brooklyn Vegan New York experimental music project NOUS, led by producer and composer Christopher Bono, present their debut album. Nous is an experimental music project with a fluctuating group of artists exploring ritual and spontaneity within music. NOUS I: A Musical Rite features multi-instrumentalists Christopher Bono(keyboards/electronics/percussion/vocals), Greg Fox (drums/percussion/electronics), Thor Harris(drums/percussion), Shahzad Ismaily (electronics/guitar/bass) and Grey Mcmurray (guitar), with special guests. Produced by Christopher Bono and Kevin McMahon (Swans, Titus Andronicus, Real Estate). Each NOUS recording, and performance centers around a different focal concept, always seeking alternative ways of creating art. The name Nous was chosen for its double meaning. 'Nous' in the French language is the plural personal pronoun in the first person, meaning 'we' or 'us'. However, within the philosophical tradition it is a word, sometimes equated to intellect or intelligence, used to describe the faculty of the human mind which is described in classical philosophy as necessary for understanding what is true or real, similar in meaning to intuition. In the eastern tradition, the sanskrit equivalent is Buddhi, which denotes an aspect of mind that is higher than the rational mind and that is attracted to Brahman (i.e., to "Truth" (sat) or "Reality"(dharma)). Discriminative in nature, Buddhi/Nous is that which is able to discern truth (satya) from falsehood and thereby able to make wisdom possible. Inspired by this definition, the Nous project looks to build communal musical relationships that collectively work to find new ways of creating art that bypasses the small, fearful, egotistical mind and encourages the connection of those involved to reach a higher level of consciousness, providing a creative field/space where intuitive, unexpected and unexplained results can occur. Nous band members on this recording:~ Christopher Bono (Composer, Ghost Against Ghost) ~ Greg Fox (Guardian Alien, Zs, Ben Frost, ex-Liturgy) ~ Shahzad Ismaily (Yoko Ono, Laurie Anderson, Bonnie Prince Billy)~ Thor Harris (Swans, Angels of Light, Amanda Palmer, Shearwater)~ Grey Mcmurray (itsnotyouitsme, So Percussion, Tyondai Braxton) Special guests:~ Clarice Jensen (Cello, ACME: American Contemporary Music Ensemble, yMusic, Ra Ra Riot~ Caleb Burhans (Composer, itsnotyouitsme, ACME) ~ Laura Lutzke (Violin, ACME)~ Alex Sopp (Flutes, ACME, yMusic)~ Imago (Cello, Vocals, Múm)~ Laraaji & Arji (Zither, Ambient Sounds)~ Akil Davis and Loud Sol Productions www.allnous.com
![NOUS - NOUS I: A Musical Rite [Digital Download]](https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0564/2985/files/Sleeve-Front_e0b233b1-34a8-431e-8b4d-6f526e331c4f.jpg?v=1716473753&width=480)
