Under the Sun is composed largely from field recordings made in the sweltering heat of the Vila Viçosa marble quarry in Portugal, an open scar digging 150 meters into the Earth. The title of the work is a wry reference to the famous declaration in the book of Ecclesiastes that there is nothing truly new under our star. Shenfeld draws our attention to how extraction is sculpting the planet, asking whether our moment in history may be an exception to the rabbinical observation, attuning us to the latent possibilities that lie within every scratch and hum.

Maya Shenfeld is a composer, artist and classically-trained guitarist whose symphonic ambient works have established her as a vital force in new music.