Sean McCann’s Recital imprint first gave this gorgeous collection of gamelan pieces a proper release in 2016. It’s gone through three blink-and-you’ll-miss-’em vinyl pressings since then, but you can still let the album’s four sublime vibrations reverberate across your living room online.
Pulled from the personal 1978-1982 archive of music teacher/composer Daniel Schmidt, In My Arms, Many Flowers alternates between minimal studio recordings and live performances without missing a mallet. The first side starts off strongly, melding Schmidt’s metallic progressions with a simple digital sampler—lent by Pauline Oliveros and loaded with a lovely string quartet—and the prickly counterpoints of a bowed rebab.
The rest of the record sticks to a gamelan setup, emphasizing the strengths and signatures of an instrument that’s been an integral part of Indonesian culture for centuries and a driving force in Schmidt’s own career. Here’s hoping the Bay Area beacon shares more of it with the outside world soon.
