Fred Lonberg-Holm’s Flying Aspidistra Label

By Eyal Hareuveni

Aspidistra elatior is a worldwide common house plant that is very tolerant of neglect. A fitting image to the life of a globetrotting free improviser like the American cellist Fred Lonberg-Holm, who has collaborated with many great improvisers on both sides of the Atlantic like Peter Brötzmann, Joe McPhee, Ken Vandermark, Jim O’Rourke, Mats Gustafsson, John Butcher, and many more. Lonberg-Holm’s Flying Aspidistra is a CDR label that enjoys his vast archive of free improvised meetings. 

Gary Lindorff and Fred Lonberg-Holm - Sandblasted Poems (Flying Aspidistra, 2025) 

Lonberg-Holm was introduced to fellow American, Vermont-based poet, dreamworker, and Jungian therapist Gary Lindorff, through Lindorff’s son, the founder of cassette-only Notice Recordings (which released four albums with Lonberg-Holm), Evan Lindorff-Ellery. After hearing each other’s work, they decided to collaborate, and Sandblasted Poems was recorded at Lone Pine Road Studio in Kingston, New York, in May 2024.

Lindorff says that the six poems of Sandblasted Poems “are comprised of stacked fragments that tell a story that isn’t all there, but enough of it is there for our imaginations to stitch together a dreamlike narrative”. His chance-like poetry is based on pulling ten random books on diverse subjects from his library, opening each book at a random page, and selecting approximately ten fragments per book without controlling the selection process. Then he shrinks the font so he can not distinguish any of the words, and shuffles the list so that no three phrases are in the original order. And then he divides the list into stanzas of three or four lines. Only then does he read what he has to, usually a story or more than one story. He picks an evocative line to serve as the title and call it finished. “The story or stories of Sandblasted Poems are not my invention, any more than dreams are the invention of my conscious mind”, he concludes. Lonberg-Holm is the perfect partner for a kind of John Cage’s chance music-like meeting with William Burroughs' cut-up technique poetry. His free improvised cello intensifies the subversive, poetic spirit of Lindorff’s delivery, exploring different aspects of both the meaning and the sound of the evocative readings.

The Maneri Lonberg-Holm Symphony Orchestra (Flying Aspidistra, 2024) 

 

The Maneri Lonberg-Holm Symphony Orchestra consists of only violist Mat Maneri and Lonberg-Holm, but they do sound like a much bigger ensemble. Maneri and Lonberg-Holm took part in 2022 in the recording of Seven Skies Orchestra (Fundacja Słuchaj!, 2023), with Ivo Perelman, Nate Wooley, Matt Moran, and Joe Morris, and recorded their debut duo album at Ivy Leeg Studios in Hudson, New York, in July 2023. Lonberg-Holm did the cover artwork. The five “Symphony” pieces show two like-minded masters in free improvised action, bursting with endless, captivating ideas, sketching complex, inspired string conversations that cleverly employ extended bowing techniques, using the studio space with their resonating overtones, and searching for enigmatic microtonal timbres.

Helena Espvall & Fred Lonberg-Holm - Borboletas Andarilhas (Flying Aspidistra, 2021) 

Borboletas Andarilhas is the debut duo album of two old friends, Swedish-born, Lisbon-based cellist Helena Espvall and Lonberg-Holm (who also did the cover artwork), a frequent visitor in Lisbon. The album was recorded at Studio Mereotopologia in Lisbon in December 2019. The album offers two extended improvisations, both titled after colorful butterflies, and, indeed, these gifted improvisers sound like restless butterflies who communicate in highly expressive and colorful lingo, floating all over the place, and sharing many stories, insights, and experiences. 

Honsinger / Lonberg-Holm / Zubot - A Meeting Inside The Brain (Flying Aspidistra, 2021) 

A Meeting Inside The Brain documents an ad-hoc string trio of the Canadian violinist Josh Zubot, late American, Amsterdam-based cellist Tristan Honsinger (who also did the cover artwork), and Lonberg-Holm, performing a 17-minute free improvisation at The Hungry Brain in Chicago during the Chicago String Summit in May 2019. It was the first-ever meeting of this trio, and its musicians were picked by chance from the festival lineup. “the one and only” piece is informed by the eccentric, Dadaist antics of Honsinger that cements its playful and openly emotional interplay.

Lonberg-Holm / Rosso / Zingaro (Flying Aspidistra, 2020)

Lonberg-Holm’s string trio with Portuguese pioneer free improviser violinist Carlos “Zingaro” Alves (who have collaborated with Lonberg-Holm before and after thai recording, including in a self-titled duo, Flying Aspidistra, 2066) and double bass player Alvaro Rosso (in his first recorded collaboration with Lonberg-Holm, but a frequent collaborator of “Zingaro”) was recorded at Studio Namouche in Lisbon in November 2018. “Zingaro” did the cover artwork. This session produced four extended “Mammoth” improvisations and two short “Mammoth” ones, all highlighting the immediate affinity of these fearless improvisers, flowing with irresistible creative energy. These improvisations focused on resonating conventional and extended bowing techniques, free-associative timbral searches and rhythmic, percussive inventions, and intense dynamics even in the most sparse and quiet moments. As can be expected, often it is impossible to know who is playing what, and the trio sounds like a three-headed, mammoth-like powerful sonic entity.

https://flyingaspidistra.bandcamp.com/album/flying-aspidistra-10-lonberg-holm-rosso-zingaro