R&B singer-songwriter and producer Dawn Richard and multi-instrumentalist and composer Spencer Zahn harness their collaborative musical curiosity and quiet the noise. A shared vision of common collaborative ethos, musical curiosity, and a cosmopolitan eagerness to escape the conventions of genre first brought Richard and Zahn together on 2022’s Pigments—icy and warm, stripped-down and grand, familiar and otherworldly. They reunited for a second recording, 2024's Quiet in a World Full of Noise. By turns intimate, soul-baring, spectral, and startling, Quiet in a World Full of Noise blends atmospheric and orchestral soundscapes with mellifluous soul, jazz, and journalistic vocalizing—driving it all home with stark, confessional lyricism. Richard channels the emotional impact of recent traumatic experiences of loss into her lyrics and vocal performances, which are left bare and human here, raw and unprocessed across the album. Zahn's eerie instrumental recordings serve as the basis for this progressive, avant-garde R&B by rewriting them altogether. Hear their set, recorded live at National Sawdust in October of 2024 for the New Sounds Live concert series. ARTIST: Dawn Richard and Spencer ZahnWORK: Life in Numbers [1:00]RECORDING: Quiet in a World Full of NoiseSOURCE: Merge RecordsINFO: https://dawnrichard.bandcamp.com/album/quiet-in-a-world-full-of-noise ARTIST: Dawn Richard and Spencer ZahnWORK: Ocean Past [3:06]RECORDING: Live at National Sawdust, Oct. 2024SOURCE: This peformance not commercially available. INFO: The work appears on Quiet in a World Full of Noise ARTIST: Dawn Richard and Spencer ZahnWORK: To Remove [4:47]RECORDING: Live at National Sawdust, Oct. 2024SOURCE: This peformance not commercially available. INFO: The work appears on Quiet in a World Full of Noise ARTIST: Dawn Richard and Spencer ZahnWORK: Life in Numbers [4:34]RECORDING: Live at National Sawdust, Oct. 2024SOURCE: This peformance not commercially available. INFO: The work appears on Quiet in a World Full of Noise ARTIST: Dawn Richard and Spencer ZahnWORK: Saffron [4:23]RECORDING: Live at National Sawdust, Oct. 2024SOURCE: This peformance not commercially available. INFO: The work appears on Pigments ARTIST: Dawn Richard and Spencer ZahnWORK: The Dancer [2:50]RECORDING: Live at National Sawdust, Oct. 2024SOURCE: This peformance not commercially available. INFO: The work appears on Quiet in a World Full of Noise ARTIST: Dawn Richard and Spencer ZahnWORK: Vantablack [3:21]RECORDING: Live at National Sawdust, Oct. 2024SOURCE: This peformance not commercially available. INFO: The work appears on Pigments ARTIST: Dawn Richard and Spencer ZahnWORK: Diets [2:05]RECORDING: Live at National Sawdust, Oct. 2024SOURCE: This peformance not commercially available. INFO: The work appears on Quiet in a World Full of Noise ARTIST: Dawn Richard and Spencer ZahnWORK: Traditions [3:53]RECORDING: Live at National Sawdust, Oct. 2024SOURCE: This peformance not commercially available. INFO: The work appears on Quiet in a World Full of Noise ARTIST: Dawn Richard and Spencer ZahnWORK: Try [7:17]RECORDING: Live at National Sawdust, Oct. 2024SOURCE: This peformance not commercially available. INFO: The work appears on Quiet in a World Full of Noise ARTIST: Dawn Richard and Spencer Zahn WORK: Moments for Stillness [1:56] RECORDING: Quiet in a World Full of Noise SOURCE: Merge Records INFO: https://dawnrichard.bandcamp.com/album/quiet-in-a-world-full-of-noise
R&B singer-songwriter and producer Dawn Richard and multi-instrumentalist and composer Spencer Zahn harness their collaborative musical curiosity and quiet the noise. A shared vision of common collaborative ethos, musical curiosity, and a cosmopolitan eagerness to escape the conventions of genre first brought Richard and Zahn together on 2022’s Pigments—icy and warm, stripped-down and grand, familiar and otherworldly. They reunited for a second recording, 2024's Quiet in a World Full of Noise.
By turns intimate, soul-baring, spectral, and startling, Quiet in a World Full of Noise blends atmospheric and orchestral soundscapes with mellifluous soul, jazz, and journalistic vocalizing—driving it all home with stark, confessional lyricism. Richard channels the emotional impact of recent traumatic experiences of loss into her lyrics and vocal performances, which are left bare and human here, raw and unprocessed across the album. Zahn's eerie instrumental recordings serve as the basis for this progressive, avant-garde R&B by rewriting them altogether. Hear their set, recorded live at National Sawdust in October of 2024 for the New Sounds Live concert series.ARTIST: Dawn Richard and Spencer ZahnWORK: Life in Numbers [1:00]RECORDING: Quiet in a World Full of NoiseSOURCE: Merge RecordsINFO: https://dawnrichard.bandcamp.com/album/quiet-in-a-world-full-of-noise
ARTIST: Dawn Richard and Spencer ZahnWORK: Ocean Past [3:06]RECORDING: Live at National Sawdust, Oct. 2024SOURCE: This peformance not commercially available. INFO: The work appears on Quiet in a World Full of Noise
ARTIST: Dawn Richard and Spencer ZahnWORK: To Remove [4:47]RECORDING: Live at National Sawdust, Oct. 2024SOURCE: This peformance not commercially available. INFO: The work appears on Quiet in a World Full of Noise
ARTIST: Dawn Richard and Spencer ZahnWORK: Life in Numbers [4:34]RECORDING: Live at National Sawdust, Oct. 2024SOURCE: This peformance not commercially available. INFO: The work appears on Quiet in a World Full of Noise
ARTIST: Dawn Richard and Spencer ZahnWORK: Saffron [4:23]RECORDING: Live at National Sawdust, Oct. 2024SOURCE: This peformance not commercially available. INFO: The work appears on Pigments
ARTIST: Dawn Richard and Spencer ZahnWORK: The Dancer [2:50]RECORDING: Live at National Sawdust, Oct. 2024SOURCE: This peformance not commercially available. INFO: The work appears on Quiet in a World Full of Noise
ARTIST: Dawn Richard and Spencer ZahnWORK: Vantablack [3:21]RECORDING: Live at National Sawdust, Oct. 2024SOURCE: This peformance not commercially available. INFO: The work appears on Pigments
ARTIST: Dawn Richard and Spencer ZahnWORK: Diets [2:05]RECORDING: Live at National Sawdust, Oct. 2024SOURCE: This peformance not commercially available. INFO: The work appears on Quiet in a World Full of Noise
ARTIST: Dawn Richard and Spencer ZahnWORK: Traditions [3:53]RECORDING: Live at National Sawdust, Oct. 2024SOURCE: This peformance not commercially available. INFO: The work appears on Quiet in a World Full of Noise
ARTIST: Dawn Richard and Spencer ZahnWORK: Try [7:17]RECORDING: Live at National Sawdust, Oct. 2024SOURCE: This peformance not commercially available. INFO: The work appears on Quiet in a World Full of Noise
ARTIST: Dawn Richard and Spencer Zahn WORK: Moments for Stillness [1:56] RECORDING: Quiet in a World Full of Noise SOURCE: Merge Records INFO: https://dawnrichard.bandcamp.com/album/quiet-in-a-world-full-of-noise