“American Burial” wastes little time establishing its atmosphere. The track opens abruptly, dropping the listener straight into a dense and often unsettling landscape of industrial textures, experimental sounds, and improvised instrumentation.
At the centre of the composition sits Zhang’s trumpet, which acts as a melodic guide through the surrounding chaos. Its expressive lines provide a focal point while layers of noise, percussion, electronics, and abstract textures shift and evolve around it. The contrast between the trumpet’s human presence and the more abrasive elements of the arrangement creates much of the track’s tension.
The piece feels rooted in improvisation, with sounds emerging, colliding, and dissolving rather than following a traditional song structure. Despite its abstract nature, there is a clear sense of direction throughout. The trumpet continually pulls the listener forwards, grounding the composition even as the surrounding textures become increasingly fragmented and unpredictable.
Taken from the forthcoming double album Orion/Mother, due for release on June 19 via American Dreams, “American Burial” reflects Alex Zhang Hungtai’s ongoing exploration of memory, identity, and transformation. Inspired by personal reflection and assembled from recordings made with a diverse group of New York improvising musicians, the track combines past performances with newly recorded material, creating a dialogue between different moments in time.
The recording features contributions from percussionist Che Chen, experimentalist Leo Chang, clarinetist Madison Greenstone, flautist Laura Cox, cellist Lester St. Louis, noise artist Kwami Winfield, and tap dancer Melissa Almaguer. Rather than presenting these performances in a conventional ensemble setting, Zhang deconstructs and reshapes them through editing, sampling, and improvisation.
Following the conclusion of his influential Dirty Beaches project, Zhang has increasingly focused on free jazz, experimental composition, improvisation, and soundtrack work. “American Burial” continues that journey, combining elements of industrial music, ambient sound design, free improvisation, and cinematic atmosphere into a challenging but rewarding listen.
