#4889, With Jason Treuting, Sō Percussion, Angélica Negrón, and Caroline Shaw

The quartet Sō Percussion (Eric Cha-Beach, Adam Sliwinski, Josh Quillen, Jason Treuting) is made of composer/percussionists/instrument builders/finders who beat, shake, bow, immerse, and rip all kinds of things – home goods and instruments - both acoustic and electric; they also compose. Sō describes percussion as an ethos – a willingness to make any and all sounds as requested, by whatever means necessary - whether that is a keyboard, a crotale dipped in water, or ripping a roll of duct tape in time. Listen to music by Sō member Jason Treuting, with friends Grey McMurray, Beth Meyers, and composer/plant electricity manipulator Angélica Negrón. Then, sample collaborative music by Pulitzer Prize-winning vocalist/composer Caroline Shaw and Sō Percussion from their recent release, Rectangles and Circumstance.

Percussionist/Composer Jason Treuting has set out to make music that can be flexible, and played by anybody. On his latest, Go Placidly with Haste, Treuting continues putting the members of Sō Percussion to work, along with other instrumentalist friends and collaborators, the composer/vocalist Angélica Negrón, violist Beth Meyers, and guitarist Grey McMurray, guitar. The music is structured, but there is space to play, so that folks can stretch out and improvise, under no pressure. The album takes its name from the first line of a poem, Desiderata, by Max Ehrmann, “Go placidly amid the noise and the haste, and remember what peace there may be in silence.”

Then, listen to music by composer Caroline Shaw and Sō Percussion, where despite everything being counted off in four, there are “beats of deceit”, where the music surfs on the edge of some meter, and it carries you, (-Caroline Shaw.) The members of Sō have worked with her as a composer (Narrow Sea), and collaboratively as a band as on their album, Rectangles and Circumstance. They’ve described their groups songwriting as lyrics via adaptations of poetry, or by a band member - and music which can morph - whether added to and/or sliced up; it’s a process where everyone contributes equally. Listen to some of these songs with contributions by Caroline Shaw, and with her band Ringdown, together with Sō Percussion, as played live, in-studio. - Caryn Havlik

Program #4889, With Jason Treuting, Sō Percussion, Angélica Negrón, and Caroline Shaw (First aired 5/30/2024)

ARTIST: Sō Percussion
WORK: Go [1:11]
RECORDING: Amid the Noise
SOURCE: Cantaloupe Music
INFO: https://sopercussion.bandcamp.com/album/amid-the-noise-2

ARTIST:  Jason Treuting, with Sō Percussion, Grey McMurray, Beth Meyers
WORK: Build Down [2:48]
RECORDING: Live at WNYC, May 2024
SOURCE: The work appears on Go Placidly with Haste
INFO: https://jasontreuting.bandcamp.com/album/go-placidly-with-haste

ARTIST:  Jason Treuting, feat. Angélica Negrón, with Sō Percussion, Grey McMurray, Beth Meyers
WORK: Four Lines/Me Voy [3:57]
RECORDING: Live at WNYC, May 2024
SOURCE: The work appears on Go Placidly with Haste
INFO: https://jasontreuting.bandcamp.com/album/go-placidly-with-haste

ARTIST: Caroline Shaw, Sō Percussion
WORK: Sing On [3:48]
RECORDING: Live at WNYC, May 2024
SOURCE: The work appears on Rectangles and Circumstance, due out June 14
INFO: https://sopercussion.bandcamp.com/album/rectangles-and-circumstance

ARTIST: Caroline Shaw, Sō Percussion, Ringdown
WORK: Slow Motion [3:57]
RECORDING: Live at WNYC, May 2024
SOURCE: The work appears on Rectangles and Circumstance, due out June 14
INFO: https://sopercussion.bandcamp.com/album/rectangles-and-circumstance

ARTIST: Caroline Shaw, Sō Percussion, Ringdown
WORK: Rectangles and Circumstance [1:00]
RECORDING: Rectangles and Circumstance
SOURCE: Nonesuch Records, due out June 14
INFO: https://sopercussion.bandcamp.com/album/rectangles-and-circumstance

ARTIST: Caroline Shaw, Sō Percussion, Ringdown
WORK: To Music [1:00]
RECORDING: Rectangles and Circumstance
SOURCE: Nonesuch Records, due out June 14
INFO: https://sopercussion.bandcamp.com/album/rectangles-and-circumstance

ARTIST: Caroline Shaw, Sō Percussion, Ringdown
WORK: The Parting Glass [5:30]
RECORDING: Live at WNYC, May 2024
SOURCE: The work appears on Rectangles and Circumstance, due out June 14
INFO: https://sopercussion.bandcamp.com/album/rectangles-and-circumstance