Apollo are proud to present a stunning new project from NYC / Berlin based artists Soundwalk Collective AKA the trio of Stephan Crasneanscki, Simone Merli and Kamran Sadeghi. Formed in Manhattan to produce concept albums, sound installations and live performances, they create immersive audio excursions from field recordings which they gather from all over the globe - previous works have seen them collaborate with Berghain, Nan Goldin, the films of Jean-Luc Godard and Patti Smith. For ‘Before Music There Is Blood’ they have collaborated with the world’s most prestigious music conservatories (the Shanghai Conservatory of Music (China), The N. A. Rimsky-Korsakov Saint Petersburg State Conservatory (Russia) and the Conservatorio di Musica S. Pietro A Majella in Napoli (Italy), They entered the hallowed courtyards, corridors and classrooms of these three academies, recorded hundreds of hours of these elite students practicing and rehearsing to the highest standards of virtuosity. “The piece questions what is music, composition, and ultimately what is harmony,” they explain. “It is an attempt to capture notes out of their context - bleeding into each other through the walls, windows, courtyards and alleyway of the conservatory.” These unexpected melodies are the result of an impromptu, anarchic musical composition of all instruments, where composers, centuries and civilisations are echoing each other in one acoustic space - ghostly fragments of conversation, skittering percussive stabs, burbling synthesis, oscillating swathes of droning strings and hushed, gauzy ambiance. Max Loderbauer supplies a stunning rework that lets the sunshine into the hallowed academic halls a percolating iridescent odyssey - A fitting return to Apollo Records for Max Loderbauer who produced a series of classics for the label in the nineties as half of Sun Electric. To give Soundwalk Collective the last word on the topic “Our microphones wondering through the architecture were the silent spectators of the music left behind.”