Setting, the trio of multi-instrumentalists and esteemed collaborative artists Jaime Fennelly, Nathan Bowles and Joe Westerlund, have shared the new single “Gum Bump, taken from their debut, self-titeld Thrill Jockey album Setting, out April 24th. The piece’s syncopated grooves dance across the stereo spectrum in oozing fits before synthesizers erupt into heaps of magma, the ensemble crafting their own singular dynamic funk.
Setting will appearing at a number of festivals and playing special select shows throughout North America in 2026, including sets at Big Ears Festival this month, Nelsonville Music Fest, Suoni Per Il Popolo, Solid Sound, and Pickathon.
Setting harnesses the euphoria of communal creation. “This is one of the most joyous albums I’ve made with other musicians. It felt like we were all in the slipstream,” notes Fennelly. Bowles adds: “Making this is maybe the easiest thing in my life; it’s not struggle music. This collaboration feels like it’s just coming out of the air, like it’s breathing.” Built on long exploratory sessions, the trio developed their own syntax and an ability to shift in new directions with finer and finer grains of detail. The pieces of Setting use that shared understanding of each other as players and the electric spontaneity of improvisation as a framework for more elaborate, impactful compositions in the studio. Westerlund elaborates, “When you keep playing together show after show, things take a different shape. The elements can be subtler and more specific, and there are more references of past performances and past discoveries to draw from.”
The eponymous album from Setting is the product of three intuitive players and deep listeners, artists who use those skills to create transformative music. The trio shirk any broader categorizations, as their unique dynamic pieces are alight with arrangements urgent and smoldering, patient and emotive.
Setting tour dates:
Mar. 2 – Durham, NC – Shadowbox Studio (March Residency)
Mar. 9 – Durham, NC – Shadowbox Studio (March Residency)
Mar. 16 – Durham, NC – Shadowbox Studio (March Residency)
Mar. 23 – Durham, NC – Shadowbox Studio (March Residency)
Mar. 28 – Knoxville, TN – Big Ears Festival
May 12 – Charlotte, NC – Snugs Harbor
May 13 – Athens, GA @ Flicker Theater
May 14 – Atlanta, GA @ The Earl
May 15 – Saxapahaw, NC – Haw River Ballroom *
May 16 – Asheville, NC – AyurPrana Listening Room
Jun 18-20 – Nelsonville, OH – Nelsonville Music Festival [tickets]
Jun. 22 – Yellow Springs, OH – Foundry Theater @ Antioch College – The Outside Presents
Jun. 23 – Detroit, MI – Trinosophes
Jun. 24 – Toronto, ON – TONE Toronto @ TBA
Jun. 25, 2026 – Montreal, QC – Suoni Per Il Popolo
Jun 27 – North Adams, MA – Solid Sound Music and Arts Festival (MASS MoCA)
Jul. 30 – Happy Valley, OR – Pickathon
* Setting album release show – w/ Walt McClements
