Ice Choir

In the closing months of 2010, Brooklyn-based multi-instrumentalist Kurt Feldman divided his schedule between his drumming duties with the Pains of Being Pure at Heart and his role as frontman for the Depreciation Guild, whose sound leaned heavily into shoegaze territory. During October of that year he started sketching material and laying down rough takes while on what turned out to be the Depreciation Guild’s last tour. Although Feldman remained uncertain whether the new pieces aligned with the Depreciation Guild’s established aesthetic, the question lost relevance when the group disbanded in the opening weeks of 2011. He carried the unfinished recordings forward on his own, gradually expanding them into the earliest tracks released under the Ice Choir name. A pair of these tracks appeared online, after which Feldman spent the following twelve months shaping a full-length collection marked by its reliance on 1980s studio techniques, its fondness for classic synthesizer timbres, and Feldman’s distinctive flair for memorable pop melodies. Ice Choir’s first album, Afar, surfaced in summer 2012 and included a guest vocal from Chairlift’s Caroline Polachek.

Feldman stepped away from full-time involvement with the Pains soon afterward, yet he contributed substantial work to their 2014 release Days of Abandon. He stayed active as producer and engineer for projects by Anamanaguchi, Chairlift, and No Joy, joined forces with members of A Sunny Day in Glasgow to form Roman à Clef, and collaborated with Kristin of Dum Dum Girls on her electronic-pop endeavor Kristin Kontrol. Additional pursuits included composing scores for the 2016 video game Gunsport and the 2016 film Cruise, alongside industrial sound-design assignments undertaken for steady income. In late 2016 he issued Ice Choir’s sophomore effort, Designs in Rhythm, through Shelflife Records.