About WilliamBuilding Sonic Journeys Beyond Genre
In a flurry of activity in recent years, Metropolis and William Brittelle have collaborated on many projects, including Forbidden Colors and Spiritual America. He won a Grammy for producer of Roomful of Teeth’s 2023 album, Rough Magic. William creates hyper-text and multimedia projects, including The Meta Simulacrum and Eternal September, with a constellation of collaborators across disciplines.Increasingly active as a producer, upcoming and recent projects include albums with Wye Oak, Alex Temple, Julia Holter, Spektral Quartet, Jodie Landau, Owls Ensemble, Aditya Prakash, Pieta Brown, Holland Andrews, Michi Wiancko, Erika Dohi, Paul Wiancko, Andrew Cyr, Brooklyn Youth Chorus, and Metropolis Ensemble.
Current Metropolis ProjectEternal September
William Brittelle is organizing a large-scale collaborative multimedia project exploring "internet" as medium. This ever-expanding alternate digital reality of music, text, animation, and film will be interwoven within its own discrete wiki system that is unconnected from the World Wide Web.“It’s like looking at the songs in a funhouse mirror. The songs on Shriek can be stripped down or embellished—this is maximal embellishment. William took the album and blew it to smithereens, looking at it in a weird, prismatic way.”
Andy Stack of Wye Oak shared his insights on their latest album, Shriek Variations.
Other Career Highlights
In 2023, Roomful of Teeth released "Rough Magic" produced by William Brittelle with recent works by Brittelle, Caroline Shaw, Eve Beglarian, and Peter S. Shin. The album received the 2024 Grammy for Best Chamber Music / Small Ensemble Performance.“In this massive electro-acoustic album collaboration, walls of genre are broken down as sounds morph and blend throughout Spiritual America.”
WNMU Public Radio named Brittelle's studio album, Spiritual America, one of the best of 2019.Previous Metropolis Projects
2024Shriek Variations
Seminal indie rock duo Wye Oak, Paul Wiancko, and Metropolis Ensemble released a reimagined version of the band's 2014 record, Shriek, to celebrate its 10-year anniversary. The album features a series of adventurous orchestral arrangements composed by Grammy-winning producer William Brittelle and performed by Wye Oak, Wiancko, and Metropolis artists.2024Alive in the Electric Snow Dream
Developed and recorded during the pandemic, from Grammy-winning producer and composer William Brittelle in collaboration with Metropolis Ensemble, Jenn Wasner, Holland Andrews, and Eliza Bagg. The album was tracked remotely with the guidance of mixing engineer Zach Hanson.
2021The Meta Simulacrum
This 90-minute film designed by William Brittelle, featured members of Metropolis Ensemble, and served as an introduction to Eternal September, an alternative digital multimedia project interwoven with music, text, animation, and film.
2020We Are Not Machines
Singer-songwriter Pieta Brown's EP featured "Meta Version,” a truly mind-bending other-side-of-the-sonic-coin version of her original "We Are Not Machines," masterminded and arranged by William Brittelle. The recording features Holland Andrews, Jenn Wasner, Metropolis Ensemble, and Erika Dohi.
2019Eaux Claires Hiver
An immersive weekend of performance and improvisation in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, featured performances by Ani DiFranco, Pieta Brown, Jon Hopkins, Aaron Dessner, Justin Vernon, William Brittelle, David Leon, Erika Dohi, Shelley Washington, and Metropolis Ensemble.
2019Sounds from a Safe Harbour
William Brittelle's electro-acoustic song cycle, Spiritual America, received its European premiere at "Sounds from a Safe Harbour" Festival at CIT Cork School of Music, Ireland, featuring Metropolis Ensemble, Andy Stack, Arone Dyer, and Sam Amidon.
2019Spiritual America
New Amsterdam and Nonesuch Records released William Brittelle’s Spiritual America with acclaimed American rock duo Wye Oak, Brooklyn Youth Chorus, and Metropolis Ensemble. The album was written over a seven year period and mixed by Brittelle and Zach Hanson over the course of over 250 hours at April Base Studio.
2019Forbidden Colors
The release of William Brittelle's "Spiritual America" was celebrated at a walk-about concert and listening party in the style of a roving electro-acoustic music mini-festival. Performances and hard-wired installations were hand-crafted to take advantage of the "profoundly high-fidelity" (New York Times) custom-built sound system at Gowanus’ newest venue, Public Records.
2018Bon Iver and TU Dance
Wye Oak and Metropolis Ensemble performed "Spiritual America" at Hollywood Bowl to open for Bon Iver and TU Dance's West Coast premiere of "Come Through," a collaborative indie-rock dance performance, choreographed by Uri Sands and music by Justin Vernon.
2018Spiritual America World Premiere
Metropolis presented the world premiere of Brittelle's song cycle, Spiritual America, a stunning mix of classical, electronic, and rock music performed by Wye Oak, Metropolis Ensemble, and Brooklyn Youth Chorus. New arrangements by Brittelle of Wye Oak's 2014 album, Shriek, also debuted.