Jon Hassell’s First Posthumous Album to Arrive This Fall

The late avant-garde composer Jon Hassell's first album of new music since his death is set to be released this fall through Ndeya, the record label he founded. Music Is Invisible (Pentimento Volume Three) will conclude Hassell's final trilogy, following 2020's Seeing Through Sound and 2018's Listening to Pictures. The album features Hassell performing with Rick Cox and John von Seggern as a trio, recorded at London's St John at Hackney Church on May 23, 2015, which was Hassell's last live performance.

The four-song record, edited and mixed by Jeff Rona, incorporates themes, motifs, and riffs from Hassell's two final albums, making it a fitting conclusion to the late career renaissance of the Pentimento series. "Pentimento" refers to the appearance of earlier images, forms, or strokes in a painting that have been altered and repainted over, a method Hassell applied throughout his career, continually refining and developing his approach.

Hassell passed away on June 26, 2021, from natural causes after enduring long-term health issues at the age of 84. Apart from his music, he was also celebrated within the industry for inventing the "Fourth World" musical aesthetic, a unified primitive/futuristic sound that blended world ethnic styles with advanced electronic techniques.