Red Dog Ensemble, led by conductor Jesse Brault and composer Will Stackpole since 2019, is a pocket-orchestra obsessed with the cutting edge of concert music. Red Dog Ensemble is built on the sounds of the orchestral world but has the agility and power of a rock band. They often blend their kaleidoscopic acoustic colors with electronic processing, sampling, and other amplified sounds. The result is something both fresh and familiar. The musicians are a group of unparalleled players who don’t just perform the work of others but bring their own improvisation prowess and genre-hopping creativity to every performance. Neon & Oak is Red Dog Ensemble's premiere album. In keeping with their goal of breaking with as many classical music traditions as possible, the group's first creative endeavor was to commission and premiere four brand new pieces: not live, but on this recorded release. This gave the composers the freedom to write whatever inspiration brought their way regardless of scope. The result turned out to be four large pieces that each reflect in their own way the experience of life in an unsettled world.