New Hermitage
Ambient improvisational ensemble New Hermitage makes beautiful, patient music. Musical dimensions evolve with intentionality and are given shape by the environment as the environment is shaped by the music. Inspired by the ethos of listening practices from Granelli and Pauline Oliveros, which seek to remove sonic hierarchy, New Hermitage dismantles hierarchical systems of harmony, form, and orchestration within their music. The result is an indiscernible sound, the aggregate, constantly moving forward.
Based in Kjipuktuk, the unceded ancestral home and territory of the Mi’kma’ki people. (Halifax, Nova Scotia), New Hermitage has been an active member of the improvised music community on Canada’s East Coast, Quebec, and Ontario. New Hermitage has shared bills with artists such as Angel Bat Dawid, chik white, Liu Fang, and i d m theft able. Among their live recordings are two performances with renowned bass clarinetist Jeff Reilly, one of which won Music Nova Scotia’s “Classical Recording of the Year'' award. New Hermitage’s first studio album, Unearth, was released in 2020 to much critical acclaim. New Hermitage is Andrew MacKelvie, woodwinds; India Gailey, cello; Ross Burns, guitar; and Ellen Gibling, harp.
Ambient improvisational ensemble New Hermitage makes beautiful, patient music. Musical dimensions evolve with intentionality and are given shape by the environment as the environment is shaped by the music. Inspired by the ethos of listening practices from Granelli and Pauline Oliveros, which seek to remove sonic hierarchy, New Hermitage dismantles hierarchical systems of harmony, form, and orchestration within their music. The result is an indiscernible sound, the aggregate, constantly moving forward.
Based in Kjipuktuk, the unceded ancestral home and territory of the Mi’kma’ki people. (Halifax, Nova Scotia), New Hermitage has been an active member of the improvised music community on Canada’s East Coast, Quebec, and Ontario. New Hermitage has shared bills with artists such as Angel Bat Dawid, chik white, Liu Fang, and i d m theft able. Among their live recordings are two performances with renowned bass clarinetist Jeff Reilly, one of which won Music Nova Scotia’s “Classical Recording of the Year'' award. New Hermitage’s first studio album, Unearth, was released in 2020 to much critical acclaim. New Hermitage is Andrew MacKelvie, woodwinds; India Gailey, cello; Ross Burns, guitar; and Ellen Gibling, harp.
