The Violencestring (CD)

13,00

In stock

SKU: UMCD0007 Category:

Description

Download available on Bandcamp.

Shelly Blake-Plock and musical director Joel Grip assembled an international cast featuring Parisian phenom Eve Risser, Stockholm-based trumpeter Niklas Barnö, reedman John Dierker, violinist Ryan Dorsey, drummers Lyle Kissack and Ben McConnell, and Jessica Riefler, Carly Ptak, Twig Harper, Lawrence Lanahan as well as others in voice roles to record an album that merges radical 21st century experiments in free improvisation and concrete studio manipulation with traditional 19th century storytelling and character acting. It is produced by Shelly Blake-Plock and Matthew H. Welch.

An eclectic work comprised of styles ranging from free drones tosch maltzy quasi-jazz to improvised chamber pieces to noisy art rock, ‘The Violencestring’ is based on a Victorian short story by Sabine Baring-Gould. It tells the story of a young boy whose only desire lies in learning to play the violin. Alas, when one’s parents are werewolves, music lessons just aren’t in the cards.

Blake-Plock and Welch recorded the album in an abandoned mansion in West Baltimore. Shelly’s lo-fi roots and unique take on sound editing come through especially strong on the project. He has called his process ‘reductive sound’, whereby a wall of instruments is recorded live – some through a small army of microphones and some direct to the board. Decisions are then made in the editing room to ‘chip away’ at the recording in an attempt to find the music and sound most essential to drive the narrative forward. Rather than smooth out the edits, Shelly leaves the edges hard and allows fields of sound and space to emerge and disappear in a very blunt and raw way. Residue and hidden scraps of sound therefore emerge as if from a palimpsest.

Additional information

Année

2007

Artiste

Eve Risser, Joel Grip, Niklas Barnö, Shelly Blake-Plock

Artist(s)

Shelly Blake-Plock
Niklas Barnö
John Dierker
Emir Sze
Ryan Dorsay
Jenny Graf Sheppard
Joel Grip
Twig Harper
Jessica Riefler
Aaron Henkin
Mike Apichella
Lyle Kissack
Lawrence Lanahan
Carly Ptak
Ben McConnell
Eve Risser
MJ Wojewodzki
Johanna Wojewodzki

Band(s)

Tracklist

  1. Prologue
  2. Town and Country
  3. River Folk
  4. Narration 1
  5. Whack Him As You Will
  6. Heather and Fern
  7. Narration 2
  8. Beatings
  9. Cream and Butter
  10. Narration 3
  11. Roger Gale
  12. The Old Box Violin
  13. Battered Apple
  14. Intercession
  15. Narration 4
  16. The Butcher
  17. You Alone
  18. The Pact
  19. Narration 5
  20. Miss Amory
  21. The Toy Store/The Broken Violin
  22. Full Moon
  23. O, My Father; O, My Mother
  24. Lycanthropy
  25. Winter Song
  26. The Night Tavern and the Old Cemetery
  27. 2Serendipity

Credits

Shelly Blake-Plock : voice, keys, guitars
Niklas Barnö : trumpet, choral voice
John Dierker : bass clarinet, tenor sax
Emir Sze : no-attack guitar
Ryan Dorsey : violin, choral voice
Jenny Graf Sheppard : voice
Joel Grip : double bass, cowhorn, voice
Twig Harper : voice, recorder, jaw harp
Jessica Riefler : voice
Aaron Henkin : banjo
Mike Apichella : electronics
Lyle Kissack : percussion
Lawrence Lanahan : prepared slide guitar
Carly Ptak : voice, soprano recorder, reeds
Ben McConnell : drums
Eve Risser : piano, synth, flute, theremin,
MJ Wojewodzki : voice
Johanna Wojewodzki : voice

Recording : an old house in West Baltimore . December 2006-January 2007
Engineering : Shelly-Blake Plock and Matthew H. Welch
Mastering : Audio Siteworks