Cordis (band)

Cordis is an American progressive chamber music group featuring "an original combination of custom-made and traditional ethnic instruments." The band's primary lineup consists of Richard Grimes on cimbalom, Jeremy Harman on cello, Jeremiah Cossa on keyboard, Hayes Cummings on guitar, and Andrew Beall on percussion. The band also makes use of ethnic instruments such as the electric mbira or African thumb piano, as well as household objects repurposed as musical instruments &mdash; for example, Beall utilized a Tibetan prayer bowl and "a big metal vase which looks like a space ship" as percussion instruments on the album "Seams."

Cordis has been variously described as sounding like "if Igor Stravinsky and Sigur Ros started a band together," being "hard to pin a genre label on," and having "a very very interesting, eclectic mix of sounds." Grimes cites Soul Asylum, Afghan Whigs, and "indigenous bluegrass" as musical inspirations, and Beall says that the band's members "all come from an indie and punk background."

"Here On Out" (2008)
Richard Grimes, Andrew Beall, and Jeremy Harman formed the contemporary ensemble, CORDIS, in Boston, MA in 2008. The group was created as a performance vehicle for Grimes' compositions. The ensemble's first album, Here On Out, recorded at Q Division Studios in Boston, MA later that year, was produced by Tom Durack and Grimes and released on Landspeed Records. The ensemble's debut was hailed as both a critical and commercial success. By 2010 the group evolved into a path that found them exploring more experimental timbres, with Grimes shifting his role in the ensemble solely on acoustic and electric cimbalom.

"Seams" (2016)
CORDIS' second album, Seams, released in September, 2016, was met with very strong commercial and critical reaction - thrusting them into a position of fan demand and anticipation. The album, produced by Sam Kassirer and Grimes, embraced a broad range of timbre and instrumentation. Grimes described his writing on the album as "a contest of patience versus efficiency."

"Condition Blue" (2020)
In fall 2020, CORDIS premiered Condition Blue, the first in a three-part performance series which incorporated elemental environments with sound. Condition Blue: The Acoustics of Aquatics offered an evocative journey into Earth's diverse water habitats, where life thrives in the most extraordinary conditions. The show featured CORDIS performing on traditional and non-traditional water-based instrumentation. CORDIS delivered its final performance of Condition Blue at West Virginia University in March 2023.

CORDIS announced their next live venture will feature "an artful infusion of sight and sound" - suggesting Grimes plans to explore the possibilities of sound through "found instrumentation" such as "timpani with typewriters, propellers with pianos, and chains with cellos."

Members

 * Richard Grimes – electric cimbalom, acoustic cimbalom, (since 2008)
 * Andrew Beall – percussion (since 2008)
 * Jeremy Harman – cello (since 2008)
 * Jeremiah Cossa – keyboards
 * Hayes Cummings - guitars

Discography

 * Here on Out (2008)
 * Seams (2016)
 * Suite is the Sound (2023)