Composer and pianist David Moore has announced Graze the Bell, a new album of solo piano works set for release on 30 January via RVNG Intl. Best known as the creative force behind Bing & Ruth, as well as his collaborations with Steve Gunn and the “ambient country” trio Cowboy Sadness, the album marks Moore’s first widely shared solo piano release.
Described as his most distilled artistic statement to date, Graze the Bell gathers a collection of meditative, emotionally resonant solo piano compositions. Like the album’s artwork – a photograph embroidered by Moore – the music filters deeply personal experience into abstract, transcendent forms. Across the record, Moore uses piano as a contemplative vessel, creating what he calls a “sanctuary of sound.”
The album’s first single, “Rush Creek,” sets the tone. Gentle yet persistent, the piece moves with what Moore describes as a “sweet relentlessness,” inspired by a mountain creek in Black Mountain, North Carolina, where he lived during the early pandemic. The creek – later damaged by Hurricane Helene – became a constant sonic presence in his life, echoing through the composition’s flowing motion and sense of impermanence.
“For about a year, I lived just next to a mountain creek,” Moore recalls. “The sound of it was a constant presence in my life and must’ve found a home inside of me, because as soon as I left this song was the first thing I wrote.” The track arrives with an immersive performance video directed by longtime collaborator Derrick Belcham.
Graze the Bell also represents a kind of homecoming for Moore and RVNG Intl., who previously released Bing & Ruth’s Tomorrow Was the Golden Age in 2014 and reissued the ensemble’s debut City Lake the following year. The two paths diverged when Moore later signed to 4AD, but their creative relationship resumed with his collaborative album with Steve Gunn, Let the Moon Be a Planet, in 2023. Now, that connection deepens again with Moore’s return to pure solo piano music – a form he hasn’t released at this scale in nearly two decades.
The album also continues a long-running refinement in Moore’s work, from the large ensemble format of early Bing & Ruth records to the increasingly intimate textures explored in recent years. Here, the piano stands entirely alone – quiet, searching, and unembellished. To celebrate the release, Moore will perform at Roulette in Brooklyn, New York, on 12 February 2026.
‘Graze the Bell’ is scheduled for release on 30 January via RVNG Intl. Buy a vinyl copy from Inverted Audio Record Store.
TRACKLIST
A1. Then a Valley
A2. Graze the Bell
A3. No Deeper
A4. Offering
A5. Will We Be There
B1. All This Has to Give
B2. Rush Creek
B3. Being Flowers