My friends,
I bring exciting news! Dynamic Maximum Tension, Secret Society’s first recording in seven years, will be released on September 8, 2023.
I’m especially thrilled to announce that it will be coming out on Nonesuch Records, home to some of my favorite musicians, including Joshua Redman, Brad Mehldau, Pat Metheny, Tigran Hamasyan, and Mary Halvorson. Nonesuch has been one of my very favorite labels since my teenage years, and working with them on this release is a dream come true.
The album pays tribute to inspiring mid-20th century figures like Buckminster Fuller, Alan Turing, and Mae West. It looks back to a time when the future seemed brighter than it does now, as a way of trying to find the spark we need to carry us forward. The double album’s eleven tracks include a long-form response to Duke Ellington’s “Diminuendo and Crescendo in Blue,” the 35-minute composition “Tensile Curves,” featuring violinist Sara Caswell. My friend, collaborator, and fellow Nonesuch artist Cécile McLorin Salvant joins the band for “Mae West: Advice,” based on a text by poet Paisley Rekdal.
The album opener “Dymaxion” — a portmanteau of “dynamic maximum tension” — is named after the term coined by architect and inventor Fuller to describe his philosophy of using materials to maximum advantage. “Dymaxion,” featuring baritone saxophonist Carl Maraghi, is available now as a preview track from all your favorite streaming services. (For a sneak peek, check out the just-released “Dymaxion” video featuring Carl Maraghi absolutely tearing it up.)
We are all extremely proud of this record and can’t wait for you to hear it!
David Hadju’s The Parsonage with Theo Bleckmann, Alicia Olatuja, Dan Tepfer