Bent Arcana

Bent Arcana is an improvisatory collective featuring members of <a href="spotify:artist:3qYfqdVwX0fil71onLpLkh">Oh Sees</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:3HJIB8sYPyxrFGuwvKXSLR">TV on the Radio</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:2hI2HclB5dgv3Qks0jjXaV">Sunwatchers</a>, and several other groups. Their self-titled 2020 debut is a set of freewheeling, spontaneous jams recorded over the course of five days, channeling influences such as '70s hard fusion, prog, and Krautrock. After releasing several other improv albums, all credited to the individual members rather than a group, Bent Arcana issued Live Zebulon in 2022.

<a href="spotify:artist:3qYfqdVwX0fil71onLpLkh">Oh Sees</a> mastermind <a href="spotify:artist:5vIYVb7FAzYeQRE8xuYS9j">John Dwyer</a> assembled the group's players, who gathered at Stu-Stu-Studio (his Los Angeles home studio) in December 2019. <a href="spotify:artist:5vIYVb7FAzYeQRE8xuYS9j">Dwyer</a> played guitar, synthesizers, percussion, and tape loops, and other participants included <a href="spotify:artist:3HJIB8sYPyxrFGuwvKXSLR">TV on the Radio</a>'s Kyp Malone (modular synthesizer), percussionists <a href="spotify:artist:6Hawprezl5SMdIX7IfnbBm">Ryan Sawyer</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:3tPndFYzl1nK2xeN9Z2aiU">Andres Renteria</a>, bassist <a href="spotify:artist:3xYglWdCFU8LGl7NK0niAO">Peter Kerlin</a> (<a href="spotify:artist:2hI2HclB5dgv3Qks0jjXaV">Sunwatchers</a>), and saxophonists Brad Caulkins and Joce Soubiran. Additionally, Marcos Rodriguez played guitar and Laena "Geronimo" Myers-Ionita contributed violin. The sessions were edited down to a 38-minute album and released by <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Castle+Face%22">Castle Face</a> in August 2020.

Several additional albums, featuring a revolving cast including many of the same musicians as well as others such as Tomas Dolas and <a href="spotify:artist:37xkFjKBt1jPPZht4DPc8i">Greg Coates</a>, appeared throughout 2021. The fusion-like Witch Egg was issued in January, followed by the noisy, percussive improv set Endless Garbage. The more psychedelic Moon-Drenched surfaced in May, and the Krautrock-like Gong Splat capped the year. Live Zebulon, recorded in concert following the release of Bent Arcana, was released in 2022. ~ Paul Simpson, Rovi