PHOTO: RORY VAN MILLINGEN
Max Richter announces new album in collaboration with Wayne McGregor, While The Flood Rages
Composer Max Richter has detailed While The Flood Rages, a new body of work continuing his collaboration with choreographer Wayne McGregor on a ballet inspired by Margaret Atwood's MaddAddam trilogy, and shared lead single "Now We Can Sing."
The album marks Richter and McGregor's third major collaboration, following Infra and Woolf Works, and was developed ahead of the COVID-19 pandemic before being delayed by its onset. "Now We Can Sing" arrives as the first preview of While The Flood Rages. The track is the album's closer, and it's inspired directly by Atwood's text as it contemplates voice and connection.
Recorded at Studio Richter Mahr, While The Flood Rages unfolds across three acts as a continuous soundscape. It serves as a companion work rather than a soundtrack that tackles themes of ecological crisis, technological acceleration, and human connection. "I took the material apart and created a trajectory that makes sense just through listening," Richter explains. "It's a different way to reach the same destination."
While The Flood Rages artwork
While The Flood Rages is released on 16 October via Decca Records
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