NTHNL - Movement in the Tunnel (2023)

Youngbloods proudly presents the ambitious second iteration of its long-form sonic exploration series CYCLES with Movement in the Tunnel, performed and recorded in the depths of New York City’s subway system by multi-instrumentalist Jacob “NTHNL” Rudin. Drawing on a rich sonic practice involving experimental production and field recordings, Rudin’s new composition for Youngbloods displays an audacious affinity for composing with his environment. Movement in the Tunnel employs the unique aural qualities of forgotten or overlooked public (and off-limit) spaces to amplify lyrical flute-led avant jazz and resonant orchestral explorations.

Having produced electronic and acoustic music in a variety of contexts since 2012, Rudin’s work currently straddles healing and contemporary creative spheres, leading regular sound baths and performing as NTHNL. His mastery of the flute, piano, and brass instruments has been featured in projects by Cola Boyy, Laura Wolf, and Liturgy, and met with wide critical acclaim. Rudin’s most recent full-length effort, Cosmic Flute Rides Again, received praise from Earmilk, Obscure Sound, Left Bank, and Vents Magazine who described his productions as “genre-defying” and transportive.

Where his previous work navigates the margins of new age and pop motifs with a wry sense of humor, Rudin’s motivations in creating Movement in the Tunnel are driven by a deeper gravity: a personal challenge to push the conceptual boundaries of his previous output, fueled by his determination to realize a daring thesis. In abstract, the collection seeks to capture the breath and spontaneity of the outside world, a fusion of composition and improvisation performed alongside an ensemble of urban sounds in resonant, forgotten cul-de-sacs of New York City’s transit system. The city itself is felt between each note and recording session. The album’s namesake, split into four separate movements, sees rhapsodic cello, trumpet, and violin arrangements amplified by the tunnel’s concavity, delicately placed atop soothing purrs from passing cars, humming trains, and singing birds. The nature of these recordings find a certain placidity easy to sink into. The following three pieces, When The World Wants to Stop, it Spins, Ceaselessly Ceasing, and Breaking Bread, slowly take us away from the sanctuary of the tunnel, hinting at the unpredictability beyond its walls through a series of anxious flute solos by Rudin.

Movement in the Tunnel’s concluding works, recorded at the G-Train Broadway platform in Brooklyn and the Times Square train station respectively, utilize its surroundings and circumstance in composing a more tense, fast-paced atmosphere juxtaposed with that of its sheltered predecessors. The stir of late night commuters, disruption of self-aggrandized NYPD, and footsteps of travelers with no time to spare stain these pieces with a gritty veneer, elaborated by arrhythmic gong beats and the insomniatic dance of smoky, cigarette-tinged alto saxophone.

Stillness and spontaneity are embraced in these spaces. There are no wrong notes; everything is reactionary. In these recordings, Rudin seeks immersion in sound, submitting himself to the power and contextual importance of soundscape.

“The more our worldviews become laser-focused on screens and specific bands of compressed frequencies, the more urgently I believe in media that makes us zoom out and pushes us out of itself and unto a broader appreciation of what exists around us.”