It is an all video field journal edition this week featuring a truly wonderful collection of new music by Aukai, Balmorhea, Bruno Bavota, Deniz Cuylan, Eydís Evensen, Lost Horizons (feat. Karen Peris), Lorenzo Masotto, Masayoshi Fujita, and Simon Leoza wedded to entrancing visuals. Grab a pair of headphones and make yourself comfortable for a beautiful journey…
Aukai- “Entretanto”
from Entretanto
Order: https://aukai.bandcamp.com/album/entretanto
Entretanto [in the meantime] is a new EP from Aukai that presents six pieces written in the same time frame as his 2020 full-length Game Trails. Also featuring lovely pastoral artwork by Gregory Euclide, it offers a succinct, complementary journey similarly illuminated by the redolent sounds of the ronroco and other bright acoustic instruments. This video for the title track was filmed at the high plain around Mexico’s second & third highest volcanoes – Popocatépetl and Iztaccíhuatl. The EP is now available on Aukai’s Bandcamp site as well as on major streaming platforms.
Balmorhea – “The Myth”
from The Wind on Deutsche Grammaphon
Links: https://dg.lnk.to/Balmorhea
Featuring vocals by Lisa Morgenstern, “The Myth” is the second preview ofThe Wind by the duo of Rob Lowe and Michael A. Muller known as Balmorhea. The album, we are told, has various sources of inspiration ranging from meditations on the natural world and its fragility to an ancient tale about a saint who carried the wind to an airless French valley and thoughts of climate activist Greta Thunberg crossing the Atlantic on the catamaran. As highlighted in the video, the album even has its own scent in the form of a custom incense created in collaboration with Siela which can be ordered from the band’s website. The album will be available April 9 on LP, CD, and digital/streaming.
Bruno Bavota – “Hiraeth”
Links: https://backl.ink/143632067
Third in a series of twelve solo works he plans to release this year, “Hiraeth” is a tender new piece from Italian pianist & composer Bruno Bavota. Evoking a Welsh word that represents longing and nostalgia, his playing is as fluid as ever even as he invites a melancholic hush into the spaces around the melody. The song is complemented by a expressive choreography performed by dancer Alessandra Sorrentino and directed by Bruno’s wife Linda Russomanno.
Deniz Cuylan- “Object of Desire”
from No Such Thing As Free Will on Hush Hush Records
Order: https://hushhushrecords.bandcamp.com/album/no-such-thing-as-free-will
Composer and multi-instrumentalist Deniz Cuylan has been on an extensive musical journey from first hearing Beethoven as a child in Istanbul to touring the world as a musician and scoring award-winning films and major series for Netflix. On No Such Thing As Free Will, he centers a dazzling collection of introspective solo pieces centered around the first instrument he learned, the classical guitar. Here his piece “Object of Desire” is featured in a stunning video created by Idil Ergün. The album will be released later this month on LP, CD, and digital via Hush Hush Records curated by KEXP Seattle DJ Alex Ruder.
Eydís Evensen – “Wandering II”
from Bylur on XXIM Records
Order: https://eydisevensen.lnk.to/bylur
A classically-trained pianist and post-classical composer from the north of Iceland, Eydís Evensen will making her debut this spring as the first artist to appear on XXIM Records, a new imprint being launched by Sony Masterworks dedicated to “progressive, post-genre instrumental music”. Having soaked up the sheer beauty of the traveling inspired “Wandering II’ and the accompanying video, there is nothing but keen anticipation for what else is in store from both the artist and the label in the near future.
This piece is inspired by my journey in the past years; traveling from city to city with no specific destination in mind.
Eydís Evensen
Lorenzo Masotto – “i=r (reflection)”
from i=r on Whitelabrecs
Order: https://whitelabrecs.bandcamp.com/album/i-r
Composer and pianist Lorenzo Masotto began developing his latest album when the coronavirus pandemic broke out across northern Italy in the spring of 2020. Initially setting out to explore complete tonal possibilities of a Seiler upright piano restricted to just two microphones, he created a series of compositions thematically related to the law of refraction, or Snell’s Law, with each piece offering a different point of view as if reflected in an artificial or natural mirror. The album is slated for release in April on Whitelabrecs with hopes of a live tour later this year.
Lost Horizons – “This Is The Weather”
from In Quiet Moments on Bella Union
Order: https://losthorizonsband.bandcamp.com/album/in-quiet-moments
Working together as Lost Horizons, Simon Raymonde (Cocteau Twins) & Richie Thomas (Dif Juz) have created a sprawling, kaleidoscopic 16-track musical confection called “In Quiet Moments” that spans a dizzying array of tones and moods and an impressive list of collaborators. I have an especially soft spot for the sweetly meditative closing track “This Is The Weather” which features the dulcet voice and poetic lyrics of Karen Peris (The Innocence Mission), so apologies to readers for starting you at the end. I am sure you will want to circle back to the top and explore all of this intriguing release.
It is a joy for me to be part of another Lost Horizons album. There was a beautiful spaciousness in the track of piano that I received from Simon, that allowed for hearing and seeing a melody and a scene, with a melancholy that connected immediately with the feeling of missing someone very dear to me.
Karen Peris
Masayoshi Fujita – “Thunder”
from Bird Ambience on Erased Tapes
Links: https://idol.lnk.to/BirdAmbience
Vibraphonist and composer Masayoshi Fujita returns to Erased Tapes in May with a new album called Bird of Ambience with the promise of expanding his sound beyond the analog realm explored on his 2018 release Book of Life as he embraces electronics and experimental improvisations explored in other projects. A fascinating preview of this new direction is on display in the album’s first single inspired by the title of an Anna Akhmatova poem and set evocatively to video.
Simon Leoza – “Bloom”
from Albatross on Rosemarie Records
Links: https://simonleoza.lnk.to/Bloom
Featured here previously under the moniker of Tambour, Simon Leoza is self-taught neoclassical music composer based in Montreal who has developed a beautiful and expressive style of his own. This video presents a captivating live performance of ”Bloom” filmed during a February concert at Palais Montcalm in Quebec City. The song will appear on his new album Albatross due out in April. Performing on piano and glockenspiel, Simon is joined on stage by Gabrielle Richard (violin), Amanda Gibeau (violin), Marilou Lepage (viola), and Karine Bouchard (violincello).
Stationary Travels 