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| Composer, Violinist, and NYC Impresario David Handler Releases Life Like Violence Composer, violinist, and NYC impresario David Handler has released Life Like Violence – his debut album – on Cantaloupe Music. Handler composes acoustic and electronic music that has been described by the New York Times as "eerie and superbly wrought… exploring polarities of light and dark, the sacred and the profane." This attraction to juxtaposition is also evident in Handler's role as co-founder of (Le) Poisson Rouge (LPR), the boundary-breaking venue in New York, NY that has opened doors for his fellow performers and connected audiences with unheard music since 2008. Life Like Violence explores the everyday tumult of the mind: fear, whim, rage, pain, fancy. As Handler puts it: "this is the sound of my psyche." It is music that attacks itself, eating itself from the inside out. Ideas invade and gnaw at each other. They undermine, taunt, assault, exalt, and tease. Physical gestures disrupt long narratives whose melodies are obscured, revealed, decayed, destroyed, and mourned. What emerges is a broken beauty of spirit that has endured. Handler plays most or all instruments on all tracks, save for the album's sole orchestral work, and his inner dialogue permeates each piece–tangibly, in the form of spoken word on the album's title track. "The music is not intended to accompany, but rather to arrest, " the composer says. It is meant to take over, not allowing the listener to do anything else. In this respect, as Handler explains: "it invites presence through overload.". The release schedule includes four singles with accompanying videos – one a month starting on January 24 with the title track Life Like Violence circa 2003, or: Untitled Caprice. In 2007, disillusioned with the conservatory setting — and recognizing the art world's need for popularity and nightlife's need for substance — Handler founded LPR. However, playing and writing music has always been central to Handler. As a composer, Handler has collaborated with leading classical performers and popular artists alike, and has received premieres and commissions from Lincoln Center, BAM, and Central Park's Naumburg Orchestral Concerts. He explains: "I've been engaged with music, the closest thing I have to a religion, for my whole life. I started playing (the violin) when I was a young boy, reading and writing it as I learned English. So this is not an impresario trying his hand at an instrument, or a club owner moonlighting as a producer or composer. This is a return to my first and greatest love. I've always been an artist first and a businessman second. And my business at that, I have always approached more as a method of delivery - to expand and diversify listenership - than simply doing business for business' sake. Now it's time to integrate my own voice, to align my spirit with my output and bring these endeavors together." David Handler LIFE LIKE VIOLENCE Release Date: May 16, 2025 TRACKS 1. Ever After [5:16] 2. Solstice [12:22] 3. Lullaby for Piano & Electronics [4:43] 4. Life Like Violence Circa 2003, OR: Untitled Caprice [5:31] 5. Sunbled Sky [4:07] write your comments about the article :: © 2025 Jazz News :: home page |