Coil Sea is a collaborative and mostly improvised recording project featuring David Heumann (Arbouretum, Human Bell), Matthew Pierce (Arbouretum) and Michael Lowry (both of Lake Trout and Big in Japan) and Walker David Teret (ex-Arbouretum, Anomoanon).
The project began when Lowry and Pierce invited Heumann to sit in with their long-running instrumental project Big in Japan for one performance of a month-long residency at Baltimore’s Windup Space. Heumann and Arbouretum had recently finished a European tour, and the show with Big in Japan enlivened his idea to record improvised performances with a loose group of familiar but unaffiliated musicians. Heumann’s goal was to record with few set ideas and little editorial input, allowing the music to develop naturally as the group coalesced. Heumann’s performance with Big in Japan had also included percussionist Michael Kuhl (Red Headed Temper, Jenny Boyle and the Drivers), so Heumann invited Kuhl, childhood friend Jimmy Wallace (guitar), and his former Arbouretum and Anomoanon bandmate Walker Teret (bass) to join the session.