…Qasim Naqvi built Endling as a kind of solo prequel to God Docks at Death Harbor, which the BBC Concert Orchestra premiered in 2023. With its title and concept inspired by a phrase his wife remembered from a dream, God Docks at Death Harbor imagines the Earth’s landscape long after humans have slipped off the planet.
Endling documents the tragic hero’s journey as the last of a species tries to hang on to humanity a bit longer. It is at once draining and uplifting, a terribly beautiful and beautifully terrible vision of self-made extinction.
For more than a decade, Naqvi has made grand tones feel subtle and suggestive. Inspired by his explorations of the ARP Odyssey, the voices on his 2014 choral album, Fjoloy, quiver…