Passing the Cup of Sorrows CD

Passing the Cup of Sorrows is William Basinski's first solo studio album since 2020's Lamentations, a single continuous piano piece running about forty minutes with a few electronics worked in underneath. Basinski made his name on the tape decay of The Disintegration Loops; here the concept is a past-life regression exercise where two people trade painful memories, played out in sparse, asymmetrical piano writing that owes more to Morton Feldman than to melody. It's out on Temporary Residence Limited, and at forty minutes of one idea, it either rewards the patience or it doesn't.