New Amsterdam Records is pleased to announce that David T. Little will release his new album Haunt of Last Nightfall on February 25, 2014. Performed and commissioned by acclaimed ensemble Third Coast Percussion, the piece looks to a tragic moment in El Salvadoran history, the massacre at El Mozote, El Salvador in December 1981.

The work of American composer David T. Little does not shy away from difficult topics. Whether it’s in his operas (a recent commission came from the Metropolitan Opera’s MET/LCT new works program) or with his Orwell-inspired ensemble Newspeak, Little uses the juxtaposition of blunt force and subtle textures to explore themes of power, truth, corruption, and desperation. Haunt of Last Nightfall is no different.

Of the piece, Little says, “I think a lot about ghosts…of things that remain behind as the fleeting evidence of what once was. Since reading about El Mozote, I have been unable to get it out of my mind: how this village, innocent by virtually every account, was wiped out. Caught in the crossfire of a stupid ideological battle, its people now ghosts. What we know shapes us, and whether I like it or not, I now know this.”

In addition to Third Coast Percussion, the album features instrumental contributions from Eileen Mack (Newspeak, Victoire), Mellissa Hughes (Newspeak, John Zorn), Andrew McKenna Lee (The Knells) and Toby Driver (Kayo Dot, Secret Chiefs 3). David T. Little himself provides snare drum, claps and Ableton Live programming on the record. Andrew McKenna Lee, who has previously worked with Daniel Wohl, William Brittelle and The Knells, mixed Haunt of Last Nightfall.