Harold Budd

Harold Budd established himself as a central presence within ambient music after forging deep connections to the independent rock underground via partnerships with Brian Eno, Robin Guthrie of the Cocteau Twins, Andy Partridge from XTC, and numerous additional figures. An American composer rooted in neo-classical traditions, he shaped his sound from economical, tonal keyboard textures that originated in his youthful encounters with the drone of telephone wires beside his Victorville home in the Mojave Desert of California, even though his birth occurred in nearby Los Angeles. His willingness to collaborate found early confirmation in the 1980 release Ambient 2: The Plateaux of Mirror, conceived and captured alongside Brian Eno, while the further Eno project The Pearl from 1984 marked another peak in his output; La Bella Vista in 2003 stood out as a notable improvisational statement, and After the Night Falls in 2006 ranked among his strongest efforts with Robin Guthrie.

Although drawn to music during childhood, Harold Budd reached the age of 30—already married and raising his own children—before completing a composition degree at the University of Southern California in 1966. He earned recognition among the minimalist and avant-garde composers active in Southern California through the late 1960s, introducing pieces such as “The Candy-Apple Revision” and “Unspecified D-Flat Major Chord and Lirio” in regional performances. He launched a teaching position at the California Institute of Arts in 1970 yet persisted in writing, completing “Madrigals of the Rose Angel” in 1972.

Departing the Institute in 1976, Budd secured a deal with EG Records, the label connected to Brian Eno, and issued his first album, The Pavilion of Dreams, in 1978. Two years afterward he joined Eno for the landmark ambient recording Ambient 2: The Plateaux of Mirrors. Following two Cantil releases—The Serpent (In Quicksilver) in 1981 and Abandoned Cities in 1984—he reunited with Eno for The Pearl in 1984. The Moon and the Melodies, credited to the full names of the Cocteau Twins, appeared on 4AD in 1986. A subsequent arrangement with Eno’s Opal Records yielded the acclaimed The White Arcades in 1988, tracked in Edinburgh alongside Cocteau Twins guitarist Robin Guthrie. After 1991’s By the Dawn’s Early Light he exited Opal and delivered two Gyroscope albums: Music for 3 Pianos, created with Ruben Garcia and Daniel Lentz, and the widely praised Through the Hill, a project with Andy Partridge. Mid-decade efforts surfaced on New Albion and All Saints before Atlantic issued The Room in mid-2000. John Foxx, formerly of Ultravox, entered the studio with Budd for the 2003 double set Translucence/Drift Music.

In 2004 Budd announced his retirement, stating he had expressed everything necessary and “didn’t mind disappearing.” The double-disc Avalon Sutra/As Long as I Can See My Breath, positioned as his final statement, emerged that year on David Sylvian’s Samadhi Sound label and contained fourteen new compositions, some solo, some featuring saxophonist Jon Gibson, and others realized with a string quartet. He soon reconsidered, and the 2005 Sub Rosa album Fragments from the Inside, recorded with Eraldo Bernocchi, appeared in spring. Returning to active composition and recording, Budd joined Darla late in 2007 and began working with producer Clive Wright. Song for Lost Blossoms arrived in 2008, Candylion followed in mid-2009, and the pair continued with Little Windows in 2010.

Robin Guthrie and Harold Budd reconvened for the 2010 album Bordeaux, after which Eraldo Bernocchi joined them for Winter Garden in 2011. The earlier Foxx collaboration was expanded with a third disc featuring pianist Ruben Garcia and reissued as Nighthawks, Translucence and Drift Music. Darla Records released the solo collection In the Mist in 2011. Budd recorded Bandits of Stature in 2012 with the Formalist Quartet and collaborated with visual artist Jane Maru on Jane 1-11, issued by Darla in 2013. The year 2014 brought Jane 12-21 along with the film score White Bird in a Blizzard, created jointly with Robin Guthrie, and The Little Glass, realized with Akira Rabelais. On December 4, 2020, Robin Guthrie released Another Flower, an album recorded with Harold Budd in 2013 that had remained unreleased until then. Four days later Budd succumbed to complications from COVID-19 at the age of 84.