“Some of it sounds so pure and clear and I am picturing him huddled around all that gear, simply magical. In my memory he didn’t play ‘for’ the audience but was rather trying to perfect these various permutations of sound within himself…and a few of us just happened to be present.” – Tom Lee

Open Vocal Phrases, Where Songs Come in And Out & Sketches For World of Echo offers two intimate unedited Arthur Russell solo live performances recorded at Phill Niblock’s Experimental Intermedia Foundation in Downtown NYC on 12/20/85 and 06/25/84 as a limited edition double CD.

Phill curated and produced with Arthur both concerts at EI that would become an integral part of the foundation for the World of Echo album. Arthur titled the performances “Sketches for World of Echo” (originally released on cassette/DL in 2020) and “Open Vocal Phrases, Where Songs Come in and Out”. These extraordinary performances were recorded 18 months apart between 1984/85 by Steve Cellum and overseen by Phill and Arthur. Arthur would later edit sections from both concerts merging it with studio material recorded at Battery Sound to finalize the World of Echo album released in 1986.