"Sean Ali's stunning solo bass debut album My Tongue Crumbles After features eight improvisations for acoustic double bass. On a few selections Sean also makes use of tape collages which he assembled from field recordings and voice recordings. One of the most original and influential voices of his generation in the New York City improvised music scene, Sean Ali has developed a unique vocabulary employing preparations and extended techniques with which he creates riveting and visceral improvisations."-Niether/Nor Records

"Improvisational bassist Sean Ali began his musical life as a guitarist, studying sitar and oud along the way. The Ohio native has been in New York City for more than a decade now and performs as a solo bassist, an ensemble player, and a spoken-word artist. He is the founder of The Mudbath Orchestra, a large ensemble that has been performing in and around NYC since 2011. My Tongue Crumbles After is Ali's solo bass debut album and features eight improvisations augmented on several tracks with sound effects played on cassette tape.

On the opening track, "Salutations" the natural voice of the bass is obscured in a mix of nature sounds andÑbrieflyÑa disembodied spoken passage. The acoustic bass stands alone on "Fingerdeep," a brief exercise in abstract plucking that precedes "Missing Persons Report," where the bowed bass buzzes like a swarm of bees. "Beneath the Cobbles" features a long-sustained tone through industrial noise and "Heartstack" returns to natural field recordings interacting with low, resonant notes from the bass.

Among Ali's eight original pieces, there are none that would fit into conventional categories. Within the empirical program, he offers a wide range of sonic experiments. Whether the squeaky wheel sound of "Lime Works," the minimal percussion of "Queens Gothic" or the bowed drone of the closing piece, "Hunger," Ali-Ña student of global linguistics-Ñhas found a unique platform for his narratives on the eclectic label, Neither/Nor Records."-Karl Ackermann, All About Jazz