Tense Life by Kid Millions & Sarah Bernstein

Sarah Bernstein and Kid Millions started playing together in 2014 when Sarah asked Kid to improvise with her at a show at JACK in Brooklyn. The two quickly established a strong musical rapport and were eager to collaborate further.

Tense Life is the first studio recording for the duo. It came out of an incredible recording session at the historic Gowanus Old American Can Factory, in Brooklyn, that managed to capture the magic the musicians have been generating since they first played together onstage.

The atmosphere of Tense Life is raw, intense and somehow celestial. The sound of Sarah's violin is sharp like a knife and her voice is at times haunting. Kid Million’s drums roll like an army of ants biting flesh and this is punctuated by the occasional beat of doom. These are sounds to shake your feelings and they leave you with the sense that you just can’t get enough.

The duo started playing together regularly in 2014. Their early performances were surprising, suggesting new avenues of spontaneous composition. They gradually developed an approach that utilizes an extreme range of dynamics and note density, from pin-drop violin pizzicato and cymbal scraping to powerful electronics, wild vocalizations, and unrelenting drum textures.