SONIC EXPLORER DAVID TORN has conferred his exotic tones and textures on recordings by David Bowie, k.d. lang, John Legend, Madonna, Tori Amos, David Sylvian and Meshell Ndegeocello, among many others. His loops and compositional skills have been put to use in movies like Friday Night Lights, Velvet Goldmine, Adaptation, The Big Lebowski, Reversal of Fortune and Three Kings. He’s also recorded music under his own name and in largely free-improvisation ensembles like Prezens and Sun of Goldfinger.
But recording Sonar’s Vortex in 2018 was the first time Torn joined an existing group. He was originally hired to produce the Swiss instrumental quartet, but the band members — guitarists Stephan Thelen and Bernhard Wagner, bassist Christian Kuntner, and drummer Manuel Pasquinelli — dragooned him into playing on the whole record.…
