Graze the Bell is a collection of soul-stirring, mesmerizing solo piano pieces, and the most distilled offering of David Moore’s artistry to date. Known for his atmospheric compositions with Bing & Ruth, as well as his collaborations with guitarist Steve Gunn and Cowboy Sadness, this marks Moore’s first widely shared solo piano album. Like the album’s cover–a photograph that Moore embroidered by hand–the music abstracts personal experiences into transcendent impressions. Using his piano to meditatively inquire into the human condition, Moore’s Graze the Bell is a sanctuary of sound. Across their numerous releases, Bing & Ruth frequently changed shape and sound, swelling to a fifteen-piece group and holistically arriving at a trio configuration. Their most recent album Species foregrounded Moore’s Farfisa playing, while a subsequent EP of the same name featured his solo interpretations of the record. This long arc of distillation has always centered on Moore’s composition for, and comprehension of, the piano. After two decades of acclaimed ensemble work, Graze the Bell’s appearance is a full circle moment, a coming home—not simply to a place or time, but to a luminous center that transcends both.

Some of the material on Graze the Bell was originally planned for a Bing & Ruth album, but it was ultimately reimagined as a solo undertaking. Using only the piano, Moore sought to expand upon the reliable methods he developed over the years. “I want to keep growing,” he says, “and challenge dogmatic ways of thinking.” Actively embracing experimentation and seeking a deeper presence in his playing, he reassessed his relationship to the piano and to life. While Moore’s music is based on composed notations and draws from life experiences, the source of his inspiration remains more ineffable. Consciously nurturing the latter, he developed a natural ability to tune into a trance-like state. Moore can sit down with that intention, “and within a few seconds,” he is “totally there.”

From the first note to the last, the album is grounded in the breathtaking tone of a “beastly” 1987 Hamburg Steinway Model D. This is partly to do with his subtle playing style, which at times touches upon silence. Moore’s graceful approach gives space to the sound, revealing hues of the piano that many players would habitually ignore. Such nuances were nurtured in the process of recording the album at the renowned Oktaven Audio in Mt. Vernon, New York. The tone of the studio’s Steinway was vividly captured by the production guidance of Grammy Award-winning Ben Kane with assistance from Owen Mulholland. Reinforcing Moore’s experimental approach, they creatively misused pitch-correcting software to orchestrate the different registers of the piano’s tonal profile.

The phrase “graze the bell” came to Moore out of the blue years ago. It poetically resonated and stuck with him. Having long believed yet increasingly questioned life’s journey as being one of eventual attainment or arrival, Moore has grown to find stronger assurance in being present where he is. “There is no mountaintop—and no path to it,” he writes “Only a hope that we may, if we’re lucky, occasionally graze the bell.” And he’s brought this awareness into his pianism. With this album there was a conscious decision to fully embrace idiosyncrasies, both his own and those of the instrument. Grace presiding, subtle sounds, raw gestures, and fortunate accidents are treasured here.

The embroidery on the cover depicts his wife flying a kite on the North Carolina coast. It was methodically cross-stitched over ten months while the album was being mixed, and many personal life events—sorrowful and hopeful—are woven into his craftsmanship. Also struggling with bi-polar disorder, both the album and the embroidery served as cathartic tools of meditation for Moore.

Moore’s piano playing contains a hidden map of personal experiences, the entrancing repetition of his melodies navigating his way, and ours, through its scales of space. Moore’s music stirs hidden feelings, awakening and recalling us to our shared center. In an era where our humanity is being routinely distracted and compromised, Graze the Bell sounds the heart we know to be our true home. 

1. Then a Valley
2. Graze the Bell
3. No Deeper
4. Offering
5. Will We Be There
6. All This Has to Give
7. Rush Creek
8. Being Flowers