Keen listeners who have dug below the surface of Oren Ambarchi’s triple-digit discography know that alongside hypnotic minimalism, veins of irreverent and joyously wayward exploration run deep. Cooked, out September 25, might just be the wildest ride he's taken us on yet. Listen to an excerpt of the first side, "Hidden Tableau," out today.

 

Beginning with piano ripples from Eiko Ishibashi, after only a few seconds “Hidden Tableau” takes an unexpected turn with the entrance of a groaning synthetic voice (created by Konrad Sprenger, production mastermind at the helm for Shebang and this piece). The excerpt is an oddly moving concerto where piano and the ghost in the machine are eventfully overtaken by swarms of intricate guitar and synth arpeggios; it might be Jim O’Rourke on synth, but who knows? If we learned anything from Simian Angel and Shebang, it’s that almost anything we hear could come from Oren’s guitar.

 

Cooked is something of a landmark in Oren’s work, bringing this gloriously cuckoo sensibility right into the heart of his most high-profile solo work. Carrying on the grand Ambarchi tradition of meticulously constructed all-star studio jams (which reached new heights with Shebang, his 2022 Drag City debut), Cooked brings together international collaborators Joe Talia, Johan Berthling, Will Guthrie, Eiko Ishibashi, Jim O’Rourke, Michiko Ogawa, Marcus Pal, Fredrik Rasten, James Rushford, Isak Hedtjärn, Andreas Werliin & Konrad Sprenger for two side-long epics where the foot keeps tapping even as the mind boggles. Like 10cc in their prime, it layers a dizzying number of elements through intricate studio processes, yet somehow remains open, spontaneous, and intuitive.

 

It’s certainly Cooked, but not overcooked! Cooked comes out September 25, 2026 with transcendent and trenchant flow from Oren Ambarchi.