Label: Best Hill Records
Format: LP
Genre: Experimental
In process of stocking
* 200 copies, hand-numbered edition, 180g black vinyl with letterpress outer jacket and custom printed insert. * Prisoner's Cinema is the 2nd full length LP by percussionist Sarah Hennies and bassist Tristan Kasten-Krause. It is the followup to their 2025 critically acclaimed LP The Quiet Sun (Dinzu Artefacts) which was hailed as a "marvel of shifting timbre, motion, and texture," (Peter Margasak, Bandcamp Daily) and "an inspired meeting of two distinct yet harmonically aligned voices." (SoundOhm) The album derives its name from a neurological phenomenon in which colors and shapes appear as visual hallucinations for those who have spent extended periods of time in darkness. Originally commissioned in 2025 as a 20-minute live work by the Wassaic Project, the piece was initially performed in total darkness except for a single candle flame which was extinguished by air from a pounding bass drum at the piece's conclusion.
For this new LP, the duo expanded this performance into two distinct sidelong compositions: "Whole Field," which tracks a descent into contemplative darkness, and "Pareidolia," which pairs hypnotic, waltz-like bass and percussion with an array of field recordings from around the globe, evoking images and memories as part of the music's hazy reality. Prisoner's Cinema offers a mature work of both depth and restraint from a duo that has developed an idiosyncratic and organic approach to collaborative composition with a vast sonic and emotional impact.
Sarah Hennies: singing bowls, Thai gongs, Aarti gong, bass drum, mokusho, field recording. Tristan Kasten-Krause: singing bowls, double bass, clarinet, field recording. Guest appearance by Madison Greenstone (clarinet). Recorded March 2026 at Bard Hall, Annandale-On-Hudson, NY. Mastered by A.F. Jones at Laminal Audio.
Hand-numbered edition of 200 LPs on 180g black vinyl with letterpress outer jacket by Middle Press and custom printed insert.