Photo: Christal Angelique
Saloli’s debut album The Deep End is excitingly nearing its release date. The pianist and composer first enticed us with the gorgeous and spellbinding opener ‘Barcarolle’, followed earlier this month by another gem called ‘Revolver’. Take a listen below and grab the album when it drops on October 26th through Kranky.
A firm favourite this year, Szun Waves‘ second album New Hymn To Freedom grabbed us by the heart and refuses to let go. The trio’s third single, the transcendent ‘Moon Runes’, has been laced with a gorgeous video by director/AV designer Sam Wiehl, who had this to say:
“The new visual continues the themes of deep space geography and landscape coupled with ideas around microbiology and microorganisms. Content in this video and the previous video for ‘Constellation’ were designed to be used in the band’s new live AV show.”
Watch the video below.
New Hymn To Freedom is out now on The Leaf Label.
Photo: Zen Sekizawa
Liars re-emerged last year in full force as the solo project of singer and guitarist Angus Andrew. Following the release of TFCF, Liars has just released its sequel Titles With The Word Fountain, digitally and on cassette, with a vinyl edition arriving on November 2nd through Mute.
We had already heard and loved the first single ‘Murdrum’, and now Liars unveiled a video for it directed by Australian filmmaker and photographer Riley Blakeway. Angus Andrew had this to say:
“Riley has made something beautifully cinematic and horrifyingly evocative here. Shot in the Australian bush, it brings to light the frightening qualities of the natural environment within which the song was written. The use of thermal footage to emphasize “Murdrum’s” haunting qualities really freaks me out.”
Watch the video below.
New music from sax super hero and composer Colin Stetson is always marvellous news. After composing the soundtrack for Hereditary last Spring, Stetson has scored a new series called The First, which debuted this month on Hulu. His music was crucial for the series as a creative element, as Executive Producer Beau Willimon explains:
“More than anything, it was Colin Stetson’s music that inspired the creation of The First. His compositions and performance style were unlike anything I had ever heard. They take you on a vast journey, both epic and intimate.”
Stetson also commented on it:
“The music of The First is built on a foundation of stark and intimate qualities as exemplified by much of my solo saxophone repertoire, enhanced and expanded upon in every direction, from the epic orchestral character of horn and low brass fanfare, to the fragility and humanly intimate nature of muted solo piano. The breadth and scope of the overall narrative, comprised of these many real and extremely human stories of ambition, of love, and of grief and loss, has made it possible for me to fully explore such a multitude of aural approaches, resulting in a score which is as sonically and stylistically disparate as the personal stories of each of our characters, woven together by the common thread and themes of this grand shared purpose and of the sacrifices made by all in it’s service.”
The soundtrack came out last Friday on New Deal/Record Collection, with a vinyl edition due out later this winter. The chilling and magnificent ‘The End’ is now available to stream. Take a listen below.
We’re getting excitingly close to the release of Typewritten, the debut solo album from Matt Calvert. The talented composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist first enticed us with the immensely beautiful ‘12051‘, followed by the intricately stunning and delicate second single ‘Mute Heart’, which has been paired with an accompanying video directed by Josh Renaut / child. Watch it below and grab the album when it drops on October 12th through Truant.
Calvert put together a wonderful all acoustic mixtape for us this month featuring a couple of unreleased tracks from Typewritten. If you haven’t yet, go listen to it now.
With Daqa’iq Tudaiq quickly nearing its release date on October 5th through Constellation, Jerusalem In My Heart have added to the anticipation by revealing another mesmerising single from the album, ‘Wa Ta’atalat Loughat Al Kalam Pt 3 & 4’. Appearing on side one, this is the second single to be released following the otherworldly and compelling ‘Thahab, Mish Roujou’, Thahab’. ‘Wa Ta’atalat Loughat Al Kalam’, which translates as ‘The Language Of Speech Has Broke Down’, is a modern orchestral-electronic re-interpretation of the popular Egyptian classic Ya Garat Al Wadi by Mohammad Abdel Wahab. The duo’s extraordinary composer and producer Radwan Ghazi Moumneh, who had envisioned it for a long time, enlisted Sam Shalabi as arranger and musical director and assembled a 15-piece orchestra in Beirut to bring this piece to life. “’Wa Ta’atalat Loughat Al Kalam’ is an expression of wordless love and transcendent communication between two lovers’ eyes in Shawqi’s poem”, describes the press release. “JIMH re-titles the song with this line, exploding the sentiment with more complexity, tragedy and socio-political meaning – also prefiguring the formal aesthetic ruptures JIMH bring to the piece itself.”
Now immerse yourself in the stunning sounds of ‘Wa Ta’atalat Loughat Al Kalam Pt 3 & 4’.
To celebrate the album’s release, the Montréal-Beirut contemporary Arabic audio-visual duo will embark on an extensive tour, with several stops in Canada and Europe, including a special performance at Le Guess Who? on November 8th, where they will present the project Don’t Say The Moon Has Set with an oriental orchestra from Beirut.
