Silo: Episodes for Speaking Drummer 

As the latest solo release, Silo draws inspiration from neo-primitivism, a movement that challenges traditional Western musical forms.  According to Henry Cowell, "nearly all primitive music" is sung with percussion accompaniment, creating a new polyphony in which each part is independent but must end together. Rapid rhythmic changes, syncopations, polyrhythms, and cross-rhythms are also common features of primitive music, which neo-primitivism embraces to create a wild and raucous style fused with the soft and soothing, ultimately resulting in a ritualistic musical experience.  

A speaking drummer and composer whose music enthusiastically defies category, Sean Noonan prefers the title rhythmic storyteller – an apt description for a modern-day sonic griot who spins imaginative yarns in the ancient tradition of wandering minstrels while weaving captivating narrative tapestries via his unique polyrhythmic language. Noonan merges the voice with the drum kit, providing a 'fifth limb' to the four-limbed practice that exists today. It steals and stretches the responsibilities of both the drummer and narrator into one. 

"Independence might be the ruling concept of this drummer/leader’s career. It defines a common relationship not only among his hands, feet, and voice, but between his art and almost everything else in drumland". Modern Drummer Magazine