Saxophonist Colin Stetson’s performance style is breathtaking, literally

There may be no better way to describe Colin Stetson‘s art than as “breathtaking.” The Montreal-based saxophonist, multireedist and composer makes music that is visceral and moving. He is able to tell rich stories without a single lyric, but his music is also “breathtaking” in a literal sense.

When you hear Stetson play, it is a barrage of sound, created entirely by him, in real time, with no overdubs. The sound of the saxophone often never stops thanks to his mastery of circular breathing. There’s the sound of his vocals, screamed through his throat into a microphone while he plays.

Microphones are set up to record every element of his performance: the vocals, the sax, but also the keys of the saxophone, which become percussive elements.

There is a chance you’ve seen Stetson before — he’s performed and recorded with dozens of artists, including Tom Waits, Arcade Fire, TV on the Radio, Bon Iver and Feist. You may have also heard his work scoring movies like Hereditary and The Menu.

In this session, Stetson explains how he does what he does, plus he’ll talk about his latest album, The love it took to leave you.

This episode of World Cafe was produced and edited by Miguel Perez. Our senior producer is Kimberly Junod and our engineer is Chris Williams. Our programming and booking coordinator is Chelsea Johnson and our line producer is Will Loftus.