Setting is the trio of Nathan Bowles (Pelt, Black Twig Pickers), Jaime Fennelly (Mind Over Mirrors, Peeesseye), and Joe Westerlund (Califone, Sylvan Esso, Jake Xerxes Fussell), bringing together strings, synthesizers, harmonium, percussion, tapes, zither, and more into hypnotic, deeply textured instrumental music. Following their acclaimed 2023 debut Shone a Rainbow Light On on Paradise of Bachelors, the group developed its improvisational approach through extensive live performances, culminating in their self-titled second studio album and debut for Thrill Jockey—a meeting of spontaneous creation, compositional rigor, polyrhythmic grooves, and richly layered sound. Setting has been presented by Big Ears, Black Mountain College Museum, The Lab, Public Records, Solar Myth, and others, with 2026 appearances including Solid Sound at MASS MoCA, Pickathon, Sound & Gravity, and Suoni Per Il Popolo.

Wednesday Knudsen is a multi instrumentalist experimental musician living in upstate New York. Her work engages an interplay between compositional and improvisational approaches, exploring interactions of environmental context and notions of occasion with given sets of dynamic parameters. She has performed and recorded both as a solo artist and with many groups including Pigeons, Weeping Bong Band, Willie Lane, Stella Kola, Kryssi Battalene, P.G. Six and Sunburned Hand of the Man.