Richter: From Sleep (2015)

from SLEEP is a 1h version of the new digital 8h landmark recording SLEEP by acclaimed British composer Max Richter. SLEEP is an eight hour exploration of music, consciousness and human connectivity – and is actually intended to send the listener to sleep. SLEEP is played on piano, strings, with subtle electronic touches and vocals – but no words.

“It’s my personal lullaby for a frenetic world. A manifesto for a slower pace of existence. I want people to start playing it while they are getting ready for bed, so that they hear it in their sleep.” Max Richter

Composer: Max Richter

On one level, Max Richter’s latest album is straight-up ambient postminimalism, all hushed and precious moodiness, but there’s concept behind the mellow loops and drones and wordless floaty vocals. A decent night’s sleep lasts for eight hours; Richter’s epic durational work Sleep clocks in at the same. The German-British composer calls it both a “personal lullaby for a frenetic world” and a “very deliberate political statement” on the way we engage with our sonic environment. He wants to know how our brains deal with music while we dream: it is neurological research by incredibly low-key stealth.

The full version, Sleep, is intended to actually send us to sleep, but From Sleep is a one-hour offshoot during which we’re supposed to stay awake. Richter plays piano, organ, synths and low-thrumming electronics; the American Contemporary Music Ensemble adds soft-hewn vocals and strings. It’s a warm, slow-moving daydream with no sharp edges and a self-consciously hazy sound, as if recorded next door or underwater.

Tracklist:

1. Ben Russell, Yuki Numata Resnick & Max Richter – Dream 3 (in the midst of my life) (10:03)
2. Max Richter & Grace Davidson – Path 5 (delta) (11:14)
3. Ben Russell, Yuki Numata Resnick, Caleb Burhans, Brian Snow & Clarice Jensen – Space 11 (invisible pages over) (5:15)
4. Clarice Jensen, Ben Russell, Yuki Numata Resnick & Max Richter – Dream 13 (minus even) (8:52)
5. Ben Russell, Yuki Numata Resnick, Caleb Burhans, Brian Snow & Clarice Jensen – Space 21 (petrichor) (4:47)
6. Max Richter & Ben Russell – Path 19 (yet frailest) (7:50)
7. Grace Davidson, Ben Russell, Yuki Numata Resnick, Caleb Burhans, Brian Snow, Clarice Jensen & Max Richter – Dream 8 (late and soon) (11:53)