Tag Archives: David Moore

On Record – David Moore: Graze The Bell (RVNG Intl.)

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Reviewed by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

David Moore is best known for his work as part of New York-based Bing & Ruth, yet here goes it alone on his first official solo piano release.

The cover, designed by Moore and embroidered one stitch at a time, reflects the care Moore takes with his music, looking to reflect personal experiences in transcendental piano music.

The album was recorded live on a Steinway piano at the Oktaven Audio studio in Mt. Vernon, New York. The press release reveals that producer Ben Kane and assistant Owen Mulholland, “reinforcing Moore’s experimental approach…creatively misused pitch-correcting software to orchestrate the different registers of the piano’s tonal profile”.

What’s the music like?

Moore’s signature flowing style is present and correct here, once again turning the mind inwards in a rather magical way. After a hesitant start, Then a Valley releases a torrent of notes, flowing downstream and down the piano with an easy yet inevitable progress. Moore controls the ebb and flow of these waters with expert ease.

It is an immensely reassuring yet subtly powerful sound, a bottomless well of notes that contains a great deal of positive energy but also a subtle, lasting melancholy, explored most explicitly on All This Has To Give through the rumble of the piano’s lower register.

Moore’s intimate explorations create a world of emotion, privately expressed but often giving the impression that he is projecting wide into the natural world. Offering and Rush Creek are powerful examples of this, but there are still moments of contemplation to offset the rapids, with No Deeper and Will We Be There suggesting the softer side of Satie or Debussy.

Does it all work?

It does. Moore’s world is a private yet accessible one, quelling the anxious mind with its thoughts.

Is it recommended?

Yes, enthusiastically. If you have enjoyed the music of Bing & Ruth then David Moore’s solo work is a natural progression. Beautifully played and recorded, it is a welcome antidote to the stresses and strains of modern living!

Listen / Buy

Click here to read Arcana’s interview with David Moore from summer 2020.

Published post no.2,788 – Wednesday 4 February 2026

Switched On – Bing & Ruth: Species (4AD)

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reviewed by Ben Hogwood

What’s the story?

Species is the fourth album from Bing & Ruth, the New York-based project where the ever-present is David Moore. Previous album No Home Of The Mind was largely powered by flowing piano textures, but this time around the outlook is very different. As the cover art implies, the album was made in a hotter, drier climate, and this is reflected in the instrumentation. Moore wrote the music on a Farfisa organ, hooking up with friends playing clarinet (Jeremy Viner) and acoustic bass (Jeff Ratner).

What’s the music like?

This incarnation of Bing & Ruth feels more static than the previous model in terms of its harmonic and melodic movement. Yet it is every bit as compelling, and tracking the development of each track is a little like listening to the earlier Philip Glass of the Dance Pieces.

The colours are immediately appealing as Body in a Room and Badwater Psalm reveal. Time seems suspended in space as compact figures and loops oscillate on the Farfisa, spreading out over long, held pedal notes that support the framework. Moore sets out this deceptively simple material in a way that works really well, bringing out different and intriguing phasing effects from the mellow tones of the organ that prove very pleasing to the ear.

I Had No Dream emits a brighter light as Moore moves to the instrument’s upper register, but in response the short Blood Harmony gives out mellow, sonorous strokes. This prepares the listener for two tracks comprising half the album’s length. Live Forever develops a warm, reassuring loop of consonant harmony, blissfully layered and with beautiful mottled textures. The Pressure of this Water leads straight on with greater movement, its figures dancing in the mind’s eye.

Finally Nearer holds still, its relative lack of moment revealing a heart of greater substance, Moore’s simple bow strokes soft but emotionally penetrating.

Does it all work?

Yes. The longer pieces are the most effective, showing that Moore has really mastered the art of pacing a track that lasts almost a quarter of an hour while keeping it compelling to the listener. It is fascinating tracking the development of the material…but it is equally rewarding to zone out completely and allow the developments to take place in the background and set the mood.

Is it recommended?

Yes. David Moore has opened a fascinating new chapter of Bing & Ruth’s sound by switching to a different keyboard, one that wholly complements the previous piano-based work. Species is both intimate and expansive, so it will prove fascinating to witness it in a live environment – which, COVID-19 permitting, we should be able to do in the UK in December.

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You can read an interview with David on Arcana in the next few days…and in the meantime enjoy the playlist he put together for us