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Guitarist, composer, painter, and producer
Bill Brovold was involved in early-'80s N.Y.C. no wave bands, including
Rhys Chatham groups, and later headed
Larval, a Michigan-based band signed to the Knitting Factory Works and
Cuneiform labels. Born in 1957 in Tacoma, Washington,
Brovold first began playing the guitar in the early '70s, initially focusing on country music. He moved to New York to attend the School of Visual Arts, graduated in 1982, and the following year became a guitarist for the Rhys Chatham Ensemble, a gig that would last the next five years. Throughout his involvement in this band, however,
Brovold also collaborated with many other downtown bands, including the East Village Orchestra,
Fast Forward, and the Zen Vikings with
Ernie Brooks and
James Lo. Through the 1980s,
Brovold also wrote music for performance artists and filmmakers.
Brovold left N.Y.C., eventually landing in the Detroit area, where he began the group
Larval in the mid-'90s. With this project,
Brovold released recordings on
John Zorn's Japanese label Avant and N.Y.C.'s Knitting Factory Works. By the late '90s,
Brovold had opened his own Koko Studios in Royal Oak, Michigan, where he produced and recorded not only
Larval's music but also recordings by ex-
Modern Lovers guitarist
John Felice,
John Lamb, and Poignant Plecostomus. He also paints, and his works have been shown at Detroit's C-Pop Gallery, among others. In 2000, Tzadik released an album by
Brovold as part of the label's modern composers series. Arriving in 2003, the Obedience LP marked
Larval's debut on
Cuneiform Records, which would also release the band's two-disc set
Surviving Death/Alive Why? in 2007.
Brovold remained active writing and recording over the next decade, playing occasional shows with
Larval and eventually resurfacing in 2017 with
The Serenity Knolls, a collaboration with experimental keyboardist
Jamie Saft released by RareNoise Records. A surprising turn for both musicians, the understated album featured
Saft on Dobro and
Brovold on electric guitar, presenting a minimalist and almost meditative folk-indebted style. ~ Joslyn Layne