The avant-garde luminary’s ‘Not Checking Up’ features on a new rarities compilation curated by Devendra Banhart.
Arthur Russell was a cellist and composer who, whilst being a prominent figure in New York’s avant-garde and disco communities from the mid 1970s onwards, didn’t gainer wider recognition for the broad spectrum of music that he made over two decades until after his untimely death in 1992 aged 40.
From sparse, haunting cello and vocal couplings to unshakeable disco, Russell is now considered a luminary within various genres and his discography is looked upon fondly by many. A number of posthumous releases have materialised in the years following the cellist’s passing and now previously unreleased music is seldom seen, making Swiss label Bongo Joe’s collaborative compilation Fragments du Monde Flottant all the more remarkable.
‘Not Checking Up’ appears as track 7 on the new rarities and demos compilation curated by folk musician Devendra Banhart and was reportedly tracked during the same sessions that birthed Russell’s 1986 full-length studio album World Of Echo. Bearing stylistic similarities to those songs featured on the LP, the newly surfaced track is a simplistic marriage of Russell’s hushed vocals and signature cello work.
Also featuring on the compilation are Tim Presley of White Fence and The Fall, King Tuff, Nils Frahm, Vashti Bunyan and Jana Hunter of Lower Dens and Indian Jewelry.
Stream ‘Not Checking Up’ below.
Fragments du Monde Flottant is out now on Bongo Joe. Purchase the vinyl – which is limited to 2000 copies – here.
Words by Sam Wilkinson.
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Fruit and Grooves Collective 