1000 Airplanes On The Roof
Orange Mountain, 2026
9/10
Listen to 1000 Airplanes On The Roof
The Portland, Oregon-based contemporary music outfit, Third Angle New Music, turn in a daring project, where they tackle this first-ever complete recording of Philip Glass' 1000 Airplanes On The Roof, with libretto by David Henry Hwang.
The title track opens with plenty of ambience, as playful synth surrounds the cinematic climate, and “City Walk” follows with spoken word from Joellen Sweeney amid the warm synth.
Moving along, “Screens Of Memory” blends the vivid storytelling with chunky moments and bright synth gestures, while “Return To The Hive” recruits dreamy winds alongside the animated story about bees.
“Grey Cloud Over New York” arrives late and pairs the winds and synth with descriptive wordplay, and “A Normal Person Running” exits with a mesmerizing bout of swirling dynamics and captivating storytelling.
Disc 2 of the package contains the selections sans vocals, which gives the listeners another avenue to explore, though Arwen Myers’s stunning soprano voice on disc 1 sure is alluring, and Maria Garcia and Yoko Greeney’s synths, Sean Fredenburg’s soprano saxophone/tenor saxophone, John Nastos’ flute/soprano saxophone and Sarah Tiedemann’s flute/piccolo/wind synthesizer also do a fascinating job illuminating this haunting, cryptic sci-fi adventure.
Travels well with: David Handler- Life Like Violence; Percussia- Murmuration