LO-FI OR DIE SINCE 2004

Modern Silent Cinema makes soundtracks for imagined movies (and sometimes real ones). Lo-fi instrumental rock equally influenced by post-rock and modern classical/avant-garde music, the project began in 2004 as a side project for Cullen Gallagher and has evolved into a two-decade songwriting exploration. Gallagher currently resides in Brooklyn, NY, and works as a library cataloger when he is not making music. His other endeavors include the hardcore bands Demoted and steve carface, and playing lap steel in Hard Job.

To celebrate the 20th anniversary of the project, Modern Silent Cinema is planning to have its most prolific year yet, releasing six albums that explore its past, present, and future. These works—culled from both new and archival recordings—capture the breadth, eclecticism, and growth of MSC over the years. The albums will be released throughout 2024 by Bad Channels Records.
Passages X–XXI (for Solo Piano) (BCR-003, Jan. 2024)—MSC's second collection of impressionist lo-fi solo piano music.
The Cinema Detective (BCR-007, Mar. 2024)—A soundtrack to the 2024 Orwellian experimental essay-film by Matt Barry, primarily solo acoustic guitar or synth.
The Cabinet of Modern Silent Cinema (BCR-008, May 2024)—An archival mix of lo-fi experiments, micro-cassette demos, and three guitar duets with Boru from their project Siodmak.
Anemic Music (BCR-009, July 2024)—Another archival mix that includes several of MSC's soundtracks, including scores to silent classics like Anemic Cinema and Gertie on Tour.
Aphonia (BCR-010, Sept. 2024)—MSC's third collection of archival recordings, including a rare 12-string American primitive composition.
•Capping off the year will be a sixth album of classical guitar works (presently untitled) in December. 

Gallagher's personal statement: "I started Modern Silent Cinema in 2004 as a stop-gap between bands, intending just to record a few guitar chord progressions so I could practice bass. Outside of a few stray songs for bands where I wasn't the primary songwriter, this was the first time that I was truly in control of the music I was making. This is what made me realize that I not only love playing music—but that I love making it, from conception through performance all the way to the mixing and final release. There's a hand-made sensibility that is crucial to my practice as a musician and artist. The six albums being released in 2024 reflect who I've been as a musician, how I've grown, and where I'm going. There's no such thing as a typical Modern Silent Cinema album. The Anxiety of Indolence is more post-rock; Flesh Mother explores noise, feedback, and metal abstraction; The Passion Killer Whose Prison Romance Set Off a Scandal is sort of punk-surf; and Ghost even includes shoegaze ballads with vocals (even silent pictures learned to talk). The one constant in MSC is its growth. The December album will be my first collection of all classical guitar work—it feels great to culminate a year of new and old work with a fun challenge and fresh direction." 

 

CDs available from Bad Channels Records

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Listen to all the albums on Bandcamp

Visit MSC on Facebook @modernsilentcinemamusic

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Available to buy May 3, 2024.

SoundCloud / Bandcamp

Available March 25, 2024.

YouTube / Bandcamp

Ghost is a ten-song cycle that blends melancholic shoegaze influences (Galaxie 500, Damon and Naomi, Slowdive, and Red House Painters) with impressionist soundscapes (Erik Satie, Maurice Ravel). Six songs are solo piano, and four are vocal/synth/acoustic guitar. 

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