Absolute Zero (album)

Release date

April 12 2019

Track listing

1. Absolute Zero
2. Fractals
3. Cast-Off
4. Meds
5. Never in this House
6. Voyager One
7. Echolocation
8. The Blinding Light of Dreams
9. White Noise
10. Take You There (Misty)

Personnel

Bruce Hornsby (piano, organ, drums, violin, percussion, bass, dulcimer, John Cage samples, vocals, orchestration), John Mailander (violin), Chad Wright (drums), Sonny Emory (drums), J.V. Collier (bass), Gibb Droll (pedal steel, guitar), J.T. Thomas (organ), Justin Vernon (vocals), Sean Carey (keyboards, vocals), Bobby Hornsby (violin), Jack Dejohnette (drums), Howard Drossin (orchestration), The Staves (vocals), 

Blake Mills (bass, guitar), Michael Lewis (saxophone), Jeremy Ylvisaker (guitar), Chris Messina (loops), Brad Cook (bass), J.T. Bates (drums), Chris Croce (bass), University of Miami Frost School Orchestra, Elizabeth Vonderheide (violin), Jonathan Richards (violin), Matt Umlauf (viola), Elizabeth Richards (cello), Christopher White (bass), yMusic: Rob Moose (violin, viola, orchestration), Alex Sopp (flute), C.J. Camerieri (trumpet), Hideaki Aomori (clarinet), Nadia Sirota (viola), Gabriel Cabezas (cello); Bruce Coughlin (orchestration), Scott Flavin (conductor)

Audio clips

Fan reaction

Absolute Zero was a very notable release. It scored the highest for lyrics on Bruce’s studio records since Spirit Trail some 21 years earlier. 

It scored the highest out of all Bruce’s releases for liner notes – ever! That includes the photography and cover – clearly you are a fan of Kathy Hornsby’s infra-red photography.

And Never in This House was the highest-rated song of Bruce’s since the very first record!

Here are your scores:

Absolute Zero reviews

Pitchfork: “Melody remains essential to his music, but it’s threaded within dazzling cloistered chords and majestically eerie string arrangements. The lyrics are fractured and elliptical in a way that recalls Van Dyke Parks, borrowing imagery from science fiction and the natural world to evoke emotional disconnect. It is heady material, and in other hands it might seem overwrought or awkward. But Hornsby plays with elegance, at ease with both his traces of hipness and essential squareness. It’s a confidence that arrives with both comfort and age and it’s what unifies all the disparate elements of Absolute Zero, shaping the album into a testament to the full range of Hornsby’s gifts.”

New York Times: “Absolute Zero makes a 180-degree pendulum swing from Hornsby’s 2016 album, “Rehab Reunion.” On that record, Hornsby set aside the piano for songs built around the dulcimer, with basic folky harmonies and string-band-centered arrangements. “Absolute Zero,” in contrast, doubles down on piano virtuosity and musical intricacies: odd meters, polytonality, bustling counterpoint. In the new songs, Hornsby addresses a complex, distressing world with complex music, offering not an escape but a cleareyed recognition of 21st-century pressures and longings.”

NPR: “Far from a conventional Hornsby album, Absolute Zero is the sound of an artist subverting expectations and pulling it off brilliantly. At this point in his career, Hornsby could easily coast on writing cozy songs and settling for that. Thankfully for us, he’s still up for an adventure.”

All About Jazz: There are moments of aching honesty, eye-opening surprise, and a couple joyous anthems as effervescent as anything Hornsby’s ever done. With a scope that keeps making room for more things all the time, his recognizable sound is still one of a kind and more full of life than ever.

Tinnitist: “A VIP lineup that includes Bon Iver’s Justin Vernon, New York’s yMusic ensemble, veteran jazz drummer Jack DeJohnette, guitarist Blake Mills and Dead lyricist Robert Hunter join Hornsby in his explorations, helping the restless artist push his music further than he has in years”.

Purchase Absolute Zero

Amazon Absolute Zero purchase link (commission goes to Bruuuce.com)