Harold Budd Biography

Harold Budd, the American ambient/neo-classical composer most closely associated with the increasingly receptive independent rock underground (including collaborations with the Cocteau Twins' Robin Guthrie), is also one of the few few who can legitimately be labeled an ambient composer. His music, a minimalist and chromatic wash of piano textures, was inspired by a childhood spent listening to the hum of telephone lines near his home in Victorville, CA, in the Mojave Desert (though he was born in nearby Los Angeles). Budd had been interested in music since he was a youngster, but by the time he graduated from the University of Southern California with a degree in musical composition in 1966, he was 30 years old, married, and had children of his own. During the late 1960s, he gained a renowned figure in the group of minimalist and avant-garde composers located in Southern California, debuting his pieces The Candy-Apple Revision and Unspecified D-Flat Major Chord and Lirio in the area. He began teaching at the California Institute of Arts in 1970, but continued to compose while there, publishing Madrigals of the Rose Angel in 1972. Budd left the Institute in 1976 and signed with the Brian Eno-affiliated EG Records, releasing his debut album, The Pavilion of Dreams, in 1978. Two years later, he teamed with Eno on one of the ambient genre's seminal albums, Ambient 2: The Plateaux of Mirrors. Budd collaborated with Eno again on 1984's The Pearl, after releasing two albums for Cantil in 1981 (The Serpent [In Quicksilver] and 1984 (Abandoned Cities). Budd's deal with Eno's Opal Records culminated in The White Arcades, one of his most magnificent records, recorded in Edinburgh alongside Robin Guthrie of the Cocteau Twins. Budd left Opal after 1991's By the Dawn's Early Light and made two albums for Gyroscope: Music for Three Pianos (with Ruben Garcia and Daniel Lentz) and the acclaimed Through the Hill (with Andy Partridge of XTC). He recorded albums for New Albion and All Saints in the mid-1990s before joining with Atlantic for the release of The Room in the mid-2000s. Budd announced his retirement in 2004, stating that he had spoken what he wanted to say and that he didn't mind vanishing. His final release, Avalon Sutra/As Long as I Can See My Breath, was released as a double CD on David Sylvian's Samhadi Sound label. The CD included 14 new compositions, some of which were recorded solo, some with saxophone Jon Gibson, and some with a string quartet. Budd evidently changed his mind about retiring, and his collaboration with Eraldo Bernocchi, Fragments from the Inside, was released in the spring of 2005 on Sub Rosa. Budd returned to writing and recording in late 2007, signing with Darla. That same year, he began collaborating with producer Clive Wright. Song for Lost Blossoms was released in 2008, followed by Candylion in mid-2009; the duo later collaborated on 2010's Little Windows.

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