Virgil Moorefield

Composer Virgil Moorefield was born in Chapel Hill, North Carolina in 1956 and grew up primarily in Europe. Living in NY since 1975, Moorefield recorded and toured as a drummer with numerous rock bands and avant garde ensembles, including the Swans, Glenn Branca, Bill Laswell, Elliott Sharp and Damage. The music on this disc is a reflection of his recent interest in microtonality and in creating a music which is looser in structure than his previous works. Alternating between strict notation and passages which may be described by nothing more than a drawing - Virgil blends minimalism, microtonal tunings and improvisation to create a unique sound world of precision, movement and surprise. Taking his title from one of a series of ranting, religious leaflets, pasted to lampposts in Lower Manhattan, The Temperature in Hell is Over Three Thousand Degrees is one of this year's most exciting and adventurous musical projects.