What is ~Nois - ~Nois

~Nois

What is ~Nois

On Friday, April 10, 2026, ~Nois, the “fiendishly good and fiendishly goofy” (Chicago Tribune), and “prolific, charismatic young ensemble that is swiftly becoming the American saxophone quartet du jour” (Musical America), announces their upcoming album What is ~Nois via New Amsterdam Records.

What is ~Nois shows the boundary-pushing saxophone quartet working in deep collaboration with composers Darian Donovan Thomas, Aeryn Jade Santillan, Francisco del Pino, and Travis Laplante and GRAMMY-Award-Winning producer/engineer, Mike Tierney. Unlike most chamber works, the four pieces on What is ~Nois were developed in the studio alongside the composers, and Tierney’s guidance, with the aim of capturing the most fully realized version of the pieces possible. The record features performances by composers Thomas, Santillan, and del Pino, core members Julian Velasco, Jordan Lulloff, János Csontos, Natalia Warthen, as well as guests Hunter Bockes, Ross D. Hamilton, Kendra Wheeler, Taimur Sullivan, and Nick Zoulek.

The pieces on What is ~Nois challenge what a saxophone quartet is capable of by introducing the ensemble into ambient dance floors, driving post-punk clubs, nostalgic guitar works, and mind-melting acoustic quartet settings.

“You can make your music however you want to, you just have to be vulnerable enough to take that leap.” This sentiment, shared by composer Darian Donovan Thomas with ~Nois’ Julian Velasco in 2023, spurred What is ~Nois to its beginning. “We wanted to make something that we really liked while not being limited by the traditional perceptions of the relationships between composers and performers,” says Lulloff. “This feeling really embodies the idea behind ~Nois…new music, new ideas, new sounds that all have the saxophone as a core part of it but it's not solely a capital ‘S’ sax, capital ‘Q’, quartet record.”
~Nois’ dedication to commissioning new music by living composers has brought them to the forefront of new chamber music, and the four powerful performances on What is ~Nois further solidify their footing as one of the most forward thinking chamber ensembles active today.
Darian Donovan Thomas’ “Sun Thrower” opens the album with an epic 10-minute piece that mixes shimmering ambient textures, soaring saxophone solos, and pumping electronic drums that coalesce into a dream-like memory of dancing. Thomas’s open compositional approach "created a platform for [~Nois] to generate music, be creative, and to do our own thing,” explains Lulloff. “This was one of the reasons we wanted to work with him. We had recorded pieces on previous albums that were heavily notated and hyperspecific, yet Darian’s compositional approach brought us to a new place. This new dimension became a place that we really enjoyed working in.” The openness of Thomas’ score and approach allowed the group to experiment with the studio as an instrument, which led to the piece developing in unexpected ways to both the composer and performers.
Lulloff adds: “We found ourselves at times wondering ‘wouldn't it be cool if this was in the piece?’ Originally, that thought always had a hesitation—oh, well, we can't do that because Darian didn't notate in the glockenspiel part—but then you hang out with Darian and realize he just wants it to sound good; that he’s excited about wherever the journey takes us.” Thus “Sun Thrower” grew into itself during the recording process. The piece features Thomas on live effects processing, Natalia Warthen on the opening alto solo, and special guest, and founding member of ~Nois, Hunter Bockes on alto saxophone.
“alternate endings.,” a piece expressing rage and frustration around climate change, by composer and guitarist Aeryn Jade “AJ” Santillan, casts the full quartet into the role of a guitar embedded within a post-punk band. Of working with Santillan, Luffof shares: “Aeryn is embedded in hardcore scene in New Jersey and in New York, and most of her music has elements of that. One of the reasons we enjoy her music so much is that it's so authentic to her experience and her aesthetics.” Santillan’s voice can be heard singing and screaming above a driving blastbeat, performed by Ross D. Hamilton. The piece had originally been composed for ~Nois and a backing track, under the constraints of making it tour friendly, but as the recording developed, Santillan said “I really wish I could just play this with my band and you guys—that would be the full experience.”
Francisco del Pino’s “Invisible” was born during a ~Nois residency at Princeton University in 2023. “Collaborating with Francisco stood out, not only because he's just the nicest individual in the entire world but, because he wanted to write a piece for guitar and sax quartet—which is already an obscure instrumentation—at the time there were maybe two pieces in the world that have guitar, electric guitar, and saxophone quartet,” says Lulloff. The original performance of this piece stuck with ~Nois as something to come back to, which made del Pino an easy choice for deeper collaboration on What is ~Nois.
Del Pino reimagined what “Invisible” could be for the album recording. The piece begins with patient and delicate-blooming saxophone pads that shift underneath del Pino’s crystal clear electric guitar. Producer Mike Tierney worked alongside del Pino to capture the guitar performance with all of its idiosyncrasies; from subtle picking attacks to the sound of the right hand strumming cascading chords, and the slight distorted breakup as he digs into the instrument. “Del Pino’s lead guitar rises higher and higher as “Invisible” kicks into overdrive for a finale filled with intersecting rhythms, pulsing saxophone chords, distorted guitar strums, and a melody that reaches towards the heavens before coming to a close. The ensemble needed to reimagine our own concept of sound to complement the guitar,” explains Lulloff.
The three movement album closer, “Running in a Field of Flowers” by saxophone quartet veteran Travis Laplante, reminisces on a time in his life when “he was consciously more connected to the Earth through listening.” His unmistakable command of emotion though music can be felt throughout every note of this piece. Velasco sees “Running in a Field of Flowers” as a love letter to the saxophone, "eliciting sound worlds that only technicians of the instrument can fully understand and unlock.”
The piece is filled with opportunities for improvising and self-expression. Warthen says of the opening solo, “there's so much freedom in the way that he's written it and yet his writing is also clearly and deeply inspired. It moves the player just as much as the audience.” The second movement, ‘Descent', invites the ensemble to improvise with multiphonics and harmonies provided by the composer but whose duration is dependent on the performance space, the audience, and the energy in that moment.This allows for the piece to be different every time it’s performed (ranging from 90 seconds to 10 minutes in live settings).
Album closer, ‘Searing Joy’ begins with a steady melody that’s accompanied by arpeggios, saxes, forging, melting, and solidifying again as the piece unfolds into a soprano solo where the composer asked Velasco to “soar like a comet.”

Tracklist
1. Sun Thrower
2. alternate endings. ft. Aeryn Jade Santillan
3. Invisible ft. Francisco del Pino
4. Running in a Field of Flowers I. Meditation
5. Running in a Field of Flowers II. Descent
6. Running in a Field of Flowers III. Searing Joy
Credits
Performers:
Julian Velasco - Soprano Saxophone (1, 3–6); EWI (1); Alto Saxophone (2)
Natalia Warthen - Alto Saxophone (1)
Hunter Bockes - Alto Saxophone (1)
Jordan Lulloff - Tenor Saxophone (1, 3–6); Keyboards (1); Alto Saxophone (2)
János Csontos - Baritone Saxophone (1–6)
Taimur Sullivan - Baritone Saxophone (2)
Aeryn Jade Santillan - Vocals, Bass Guitar (2)
Ross D. Hamilton - Drums (2)
Kendra Wheeler - Alto Saxophone (3)
Francisco del Pino - Guitar (3)
Nick Zoulek - Alto Saxophone (4–6)

Compositions by:
Darian Donovan Thomas (1)
Aeryn Jade Santillan (2)
Francisco del Pino (3)
Travis Laplante (4-6)

Recorded by Mike Tierney
Produced by Julian Velasco, Mike Tierney, and Jordan Lulloff (1-2)
Mixed by Mike Tierney
Mastered by Mike Tierney