A carefully arranged collection of disparate movements joined and made whole by tendinous themes of birth, erosion, decay, and triumphant renewal.

Reid Willis and Mesh announce album ‘Sediment’ – A carefully arranged collection of disparate movements joined and made whole by tendinous themes of birth, erosion, decay, and triumphant renewal.

Following ‘Mother Of’, Reid Willis’s previous album released on Mesh, ‘Sediment’ is yet another collection of songs propelled by ideas of rebirth and reinvention. The delicate melding of seemingly disparate sounds echoes the natural phenomena of changing states–of decaying and eroding matter that over time is not lost, but pulverized and transformed into something new.

Each song is in conversation with its own elements and those of subsequent tracks–sometimes in cooperation, sometimes in defiance–creating an LP whose jagged edges beautifully align into a singular entity.
‘I’m always inspired by extremes,’ Willis says. ‘I find as much beauty in sadness and fear as I do in joy and love. I don’t think you can have one without the other; each emotion complements and enhances the other.’

In his exploration of polarity, Willis is thoughtful with his symphonic arrangements, leaving spaces within the chaos of sharp, electronic pulses for soft, dreamlike piano melodies that carry the listener from one extreme to the next. Tracks often conclude with a brief sense of loss, leaving just enough time to ask ‘What now?’ before delivering an answer as unexpected as it is satisfying.

Willis’s deft and classical touch makes ‘Sediment’ an apt rendering of the unpredictability–yet perfect order–of the natural world, the earth and its history. Willis learned to play piano at age eight and followed this passion through a Master’s degree in composition, a further certification in sound engineering and music production, and seven full-length albums.

While ‘Sediment’ is a collection of vividly linked scenes, each track is its own cinematic landscape. The album’s first single, ‘Conveyor’, laces Willis’s signature hypnotic melodies with forceful industrial clamor and synths. ‘Shoulder the Burden’ layers distorted vocal melodies with dynamic rhythms and fierce percussion, seamlessly traveling between smooth byways and rough circuits until the listener is left dangling over empty space–only to be pulled back before the point of complete melodic dissolution. Finally, ‘Cast Your Net Over a Torn Earth’ booms with energy and rumbles with deep, somber string arrangements that stretch toward–yet never reach–delicate piano arrangements that hover overhead.