Thor & Friends

Thor & Friends is Thor Harris, the drummer and percussionist probably best known for his work with the Swans and his friends Peggy Ghorbani and Sarah Gautier, plus some other relatively loose group of Austin based musicians. The three core members handle the percussive instruments among other things, including occasional keyboard clarinet work, and trombone. Their music is typically instrumental except when an assortment of old friends and comrades (M. Gira, Jarboe, etc) stop by. It is post-minimalist music for the most part, minimalistic in some ways but with expressive melodic themes growing out of basic repetitious phrases and a more organic, less rigid interaction between rhythm and melody and between the instruments. The pieces are also fairly lush and cinematic, even quite peaceful, which may be surprising coming from a musician so closely associated with Swan.