Mixtape: Fractured Air – March 2019
This month’s mix features new music from the magnificent Berlin-based, Cork-raised producer ELLLL with the arrival of her essential “Febreeze” 12” last month, carving out multi-layered, seductive techno cuts. Irish songwriter Maria Somerville’s exceptional debut full length “All My People” we continue to fall for, with the record’s divine song cycles rooted in beautiful 50’s/60’s pop songs that are encapsulated in wondrous post punk/indie spheres of today. A wholly unique labyrinth of astral song cycles.
New music also from the imitable London-based, Australian songwriter and producer Carla dal Forno (and excitingly the first release for her newly established label, Kallista Records); Immix Ensemble’s Daniel Thorne’s magnificent debut solo album on Erased Tapes; Norwegian duo Deaf Center’s highly anticipated return on Sonic Pieces; Forma’s John Also Bennett’s wondrous solo LP (under the JAB psuedonym) on Shelter Press and two formidable new releases on the ever dependable North American label Constellation. Grouper’s sublime new project Nivhek (self-released), Italian composer Caterina Barbieri’s forthcoming Editions Mego-debut and Craig Leon’s forthcoming release on Brooklyn institution RVNG Intl are other highlights.
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Fractured Air – March 2019
01. William Basinski – “On Time Out Of Time 1.1” (Temporary Residence)
02. Nivhek – “Cloudmouth” (Self-released)
03. ELLLL – “Sunrise edit” (First Second Label)
04. Patricia – “No One Needs Nothing” (Opal Tapes)
05. JAB – “Jacob’s House” (Shelter Press)
06. Maria Somerville – “This Way” (Self-released)
07. Houston & Dorsey – “Ebb Tide” (Numero Group)
08. The Cryin’ Shames – “Please Stay” (Decca)
09. Rupie Edwards – “Buckshot Dub” (Spectrum Music)
10. Vivien Goldman – “Launderette” (Window)
11. Carla dal Forno – “So Much Better” (Kallista Records)
12. Oqbqbo – “All This Waiting” (Posh Isolation)
13. Antena – “Camino Del Sol” (Les Disques Du Crepuscule / Numero Group)
14. Khotin – “Water Soaked In Forever” (Ghostly)
15. Daniel Thorne – “From the Other Side of the World” (Erased Tapes)
16. June11 – “White Bird” (Stroom)
17. Craig Leon – “Standing Crosswise In The Square” (RVNG Intl)
18. Don Cherry – “Utopia and Visions” (Caprice Records)
19. Talk Talk – “New Grass” (Verve Records)
20. Deaf Center – “Far Between” (Sonic Pieces)
21. Poppy Ackroyd – “The Dream” (Penelope Trappes Remix) (One Little Indian)
22. Efrim Manuel Menuck & Kevin Doria – “We Will” (Constellation)
23. Light Conductor – “Chapel Of The Snows” (excerpt) (Constellation)
24. Carola Baer – “Golden Boy” (Concentric Circles)
25. Aponogeton – “Prologue” (Stroom)
26. Caterina Barbieri – “Fantas” (excerpt) (Editions Mego)
27. Laraaji – “I Can Only Bliss Out (F’Days)” (Numero Group)
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Chosen One: Andrew Wasylyk
“Performing, writing and listening to music’s a deep, rewarding privilege. An ongoing revelation, really.”
—Andrew Mitchell
Words: Mark Carry
My introduction to Scottish composer and multi-instrumentalist Andrew Mitchell (under the guise of Andrew Wasylyk) was the captivating instrumental ‘Journey to Inchcape’, played on Oliver Coates’s essential monthly NTS show.The piece begins with a gradual drum machine beat before immaculate instrumentation of harpsichord and a divine blend of strings and woodwind gently coalesce together, akin to the ebb and flow of the ocean waves. The arrangements are stunning: the carefully sculpted sonic elements feel somehow out of time as the hypnotic swirls of tape delays overlap with the pastoral splendor of flute passages. Music to truly savor.
This formidable composition serves a poignant moment to the Scottish musician’s enchanting third solo studio album ‘The Paralian’ – placed between the harp-based celestial pop lament ‘Greendrive #2’ and the gorgeously introspective neo-classical gem ‘Welter in the Haar’. ‘The Paralian’ is a collection of immersive soundscapes that feel at once steeped in tradition and buried in the past: a timelessness abounds at every pulse and endearing moment.
The broad palette of instrumentation dotted across Mitchell’s meticulously crafted song cycles is another hallmark of this great record. Jazz inflections of double bass slowly fade into the reflective ‘Dreamt The Breakers Spill’, combined with shimmering bliss of brass and percussion. Cosmic energy permeates throughout the utterly seductive groove of ‘Flight of the Cormorant’, emitting a catharsis of infinite depth.
The record opens with the soft rumblings of footsteps and birdsong – an array of field recordings that perfectly embodies ‘The Paralian’s empowering journey. The listener is taken on a voyage, and in the process becomes one of self-exploration in the deepest sense. The echo and reverb of euphonium resonates as the opening piece swells into the ether. The addition of vocals on ‘Adrift Below a Constellation’ creates a soul-stirring moment of the record’s heartfelt penultimate track. Images of a mariner lost at sea. Adrift and yearning to be found.
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‘The Paralian’ is out now on Athens Of The North.
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https://andrewwasylyk.bandcamp.com/
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Interview with Andrew Mitchell.
Congratulations on the utterly sublime latest full length album, ‘The Paralian’, a divine sonic journey across modern-classical and folk realms. Firstly, please take me back to the artist residency you were invited to in a historic house in Hospitalfield, Scotland. Can you trace the starting point or origins of what would become the inception of ‘The Paralian’?
Andrew Mitchell: When I arrived for the extended residency in Arbroath it quickly became apparent that there would be no shortage of inspiration. The history of Hospitalfield House, its Scots Baronial architecture and Arts & Crafts interior all fed in to the approach. Encouraged by the surroundings, I slowly began to recognize my relationship with the east coast and the north sea, and the bones of the album were laid.
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The inspiration you sought from your surroundings must have really tapped into the music. For instance, the looming North Sea horizon from your vantage point and the specific project to create new music for the restored 19th Century Erard Grecian harp. Would I be right to say these compositions all began with composing music for this harp instrument and for the remaining instrumentation to be added and interwoven later? Looking back on the residency, how do you feel the creative process developed (or evolved if want for a better word)?
AM: Partially, some of the harp pieces I wrote with minimal intentions that could weave in and out of piano progressions. The aim was delicate and ornate, to echo the building’s interior. The coastal environment infiltrated that process; at times fueling temptation to let areas evolve using drums, bass, brass, strings and synthesizers. “Greendrive #2” is an example of that initial intimacy that broadens on the journey. Other routes would start with a field recording or perhaps a title. For me, it’s important to have different doors in to a song. “Adrift Below A Constellation” arrived before a note had been played.
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The immaculate instrumentation – such a gorgeous range of sounds – is what one of the hallmarks of this great record. Please introduce to me your trusted ensemble and recount your memories of having these musicians together in a room (which I presume was the case?) and witnessing these pieces fully bloom into life?
AM: As a keen procrastinator, I’ll often chisel away at an idea until it gives way and trundles into life. The majority of the tracking was actually just myself in the studio on drums, percussion, bass, keyboards, piano, synthesizer, guitars and glockenspiel. However, I was lucky to work with a lot of talented, patient folk. The brilliant Sharron Griffiths played Concert and Grecian harp, Seth Bennett provided double bass, Rachel Simpson, Iain Robertson and Tony Sellars were the brass section, Paul Wright droned his tanpura, Carol O’Rourke was on oboe and Brighton’s Thomas White drummed on “Mariner’s Hymn”.
As I pulled the recordings together a few areas still felt a little light to me, in terms of depth and character. The wonderful arranger and cellist Pete Harvey kindly excepted an invite to write string arrangements for “Westway Nocturne”, “Mariner’s Hymn”, “Adrift Below A Constellation” and “Welter In The Haar”. I’m grateful he did, they may be my favourite tracks of the album. Violin, viola and cello were in the able hands of Simon Graham, Emma Connell-Smith and Harriet Davidson.
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‘Journey to Inchcape’ is a stunning cinematic voyage; and how the intricate layers meld together so effortlessly is quite something to behold. Can you talk me through the various layers and the moments-within-moments that seem to just happen throughout this piece?
AM: That was developed after a boat trip out to Bellrock Lighthouse, eleven miles east of the Firth Of Tay. We arrived during a serene low tide to cormorants basking, and seals singing in crisp morning sunlight. There was some sort of brooding elegance I was reaching for, hence the brass and the pastoral-tinged Mellotron flute on the choruses. How well I achieved that is another matter. I was initially wary of the number counter melodies, to be honest. There’s a temptation to impose on an idea when there’s no vocal to curtail that fourth cascading harpsichord line, or that whim of triple-tracking the feedback delay. I’m often adding and subtracting in the effort to find the path.
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‘Adrift Below a Constellation’ is the only vocal track, which fades in towards the album’s final section – the looming horizon, in a way. The addition of the vocal/lyrics further heightens the experience, evoking the timeless spirit of Robert Wyatt or Talk Talk….can you discuss the reasoning for having the one vocal track (I wonder did you have more to choose from?) and the song-writing process itself?
AM: Being very fond of Robert Wyatt and Mark Hollis, that’s humbling to hear. Thank you. This was initially meant to be a brass arrangement for just euphonium, trombone, trumpet and flugel. I had this recurring image of a mariner dreaming of dry land, alone at sea with no one to share the sunset with. It seemed only fair to try and give him or her a voice.
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I absolutely love the psych/cosmic groove unleashed in the hypnotic ‘Flight of the Cormorant’, again revealing the endless and boundless nature of these sound worlds. This piece feels almost like a jam in the studio – was this the case? In this regard, I wonder were there many happy accidents, so to speak that happened during the making of ‘The Paralian’?
AM: There wasn’t the luxury, or time, for working a group up in the studio. While there were certainly things that fell in to place last-minute, this song was fairly established beforehand. I was striving for something hypnotic with its linear drone nature. If that alludes to spontaneity, then I suppose you might call that a ‘happy accident’.
‘Through The Field Beyond The Trees Lies The Ocean’ opens the album, but was one of the last things committed to tape. I was playing back some of the field recordings made during a study trip out to Seaton Cliffs and stumbled upon the motif while improvising on piano. It stuck, and struck me as an invite to ‘The Paralian’.
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The meaning of ‘The Paralian’ is a dweller by the sea, and this resonates powerfully throughout the record: there is a solitude or quiet bliss deep within the space of these recordings. At what point did you come up with the album title itself and the particular narrative that unfolded? Please discuss the inspiration of your homeplace – and the Scottish countryside and nature – that clearly seeps into your consciousness?
AM: It came to me about a quarter of the way in to the project. At that stage, I held it as more of a working title, a temporary focal point to see me through. There were others in contention, however, when my friend Matthew Marra heard the album he told me “The Paralian” was the one. Rarely is Matthew wrong about that kind of thing.
Scotland has many magical landscapes and shorelines. I’m very fortunate to live on the east coast by such gateway to the North Sea. It’s offered me a number of things; a great deal to consider and plenty to write about. It can soothe and provoke you in equal measures. It’s a curious thing, and I’m not sure where I’d be without its presence.
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Take me back to your earliest musical memories? Were there certain moments in time that were these eureka moments that you just knew that the musical path is destined to be the chosen one?
AM: When I was sixteen my uncle gave me an eighties Stratocaster. A kind gesture that would prove fairly pivotal in opening doors to the exotic world of music, books, film and art. I still use the guitar today. I don’t know if I’d subscribe to the idea of a single eureka moment. Performing, writing and listening to music’s a deep, rewarding privilege. An ongoing revelation, really. Naturally, there’s frustrations and disheartenment, but the decent days can be sublime. Providing it’ll have me, I’d like to traipse this path for longer and continue learning.
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Lastly, what books, music, films have you enjoyed recently? What’s next for you?
AM: I was just gifted “Devotions”, the selected poems of Mary Oliver and have been listening to the eagerly awaited vinyl reissue of Paddy McAloon’s “I Trawl The Megahertz” a lot, along with Josephine Foster’s “Faithfull Fairy Harmony”. The last film I saw was Aleksei German’s deliriously brilliant “Khrustalyov, My Car!” a couple of weeks ago at Dundee Contemporary Arts Centre.
There’s various plans afoot. I’ve some writing to finish and other ideas that need started upon. I’m hoping to play some more shows this year, experimenting with the live set up and, if I can, go further afield than the UK. A duo I’m involved with, called Art Of The Memory Palace, are releasing a new record, “Dusk At Trellick Tower”, later this month too.
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‘The Paralian’ is out now on Athens Of The North.
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https://andrewwasylyk.bandcamp.com/
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First Listen: “Reliever” by Kuba Kapsa (Denovali Records)
We are delighted to premiere new music from Polish pianist and composer Kuba Kapsa, taken from his forthcoming album ‘Supersonic Moth’ released at the end of the month via Germany’s Denovali Records.
The world-renowned German independent label Denovali return with the first releases in 2019 coming at the end of March. “Supersonic Moth”, the wonderful new album by Kuba Kapsa, who is a Polish pianist and composer – also known as the leader of the avant-jazz combo Contemporary Noise Sextet. Beyond that he’s a renowned composer for film and theater plays.
“Supersonic Moth” is basically written for upright piano played through felt, programmed electronic sounds and processed piano recordings in order to create in-depth atmospheres and sonic landscapes with a wide range of stimulating moods.
“Supersonic Moth” is the musical realization of a specific trait in human existence, dealing with the disruptive contradiction of desiring something that might break one down or even kill. Everything that might be tempting. Everything that can push you down. And you know it. But you can’t resist it.” —Kuba Kapsa
We are delighted to premiere the album’s utterly spellbinding penultimate track ‘Reliever’, built upon hypnotic electronic soundscapes interwoven with sublime piano patterns. The towering crescendo serves one of the highlights of Kapsa’s latest master-work, creating a highly emotive modern classical exploration.
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‘Supersonic Moth’ is out on Denovali Records on 29th March 2019.
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https://www.denovali.com/kubakapsa/
https://www.facebook.com/kubakapsamusic
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Guest Mixtape: Machinefabriek (Western Vinyl)
We’re thrilled to present a very special mix compiled by the Rotterdam-based independent music treasure Rutger Zuydervelt, who has been amassing a considerable body of work for many years via his Machinefabriek guise. This year saw the release of the Dutch composer’s latest full-length “With Voices” (released by Western Vinyl), an album made with the voices of such artists as fellow luminaries: Peter Broderick, Marissa Nadler, Richard Youngs and Chantal Acda. The initial spark of With Voices was kindled while Zuydervelt was in Taipei creating music for a dance company. In the final days of his trip, a dancer named Wei-Yun Chen caught Zuydervelt’s ear with an instagram video featuring a voice that turned out to be Wei-Yun’s own (she would end up on the album’s seventh movement). “With Voices” is available now on Western Vinyl.
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Tracklist:
01. Gloria Coates – “String Quartet No. 6: Evanescence” (Naxos)
[Taken from Gloria Coates: String Quartets Nos. 1, 5 & 6]
02. Matthew Revert/Vanessa Rossetto – “Everyone Needs a Plan” (Erstwhile)
[Taken from Everyone Needs a Plan]
03. Eloïse Decazes & Eric Chenaux – “Quand Je Menais Mes Chevaux Boire” (three:four records)
[Taken from La Bride]
04. Puce Mary – “The Size of Our Desires” (PAN)
[Taken from The Drought]
05. Janek Schaefer – “Corah II” (Temporary Residence)
[Taken from What Light There Is Tells Us Nothing]
06. Michael Pisaro, Håkon Stene & Kristine Tjøgersen – “VI + VII” (Hubro)
[Taken from Asleep, Street, Pipes, Tones]
07. Tashi Wada With Yoshi Wada And Friends – “Litany” (RVNGIntl.)
[Taken from Nue]
08. Casey Anderson – “Possible Dust (Norrie)” (A Wave Press)
[Taken from Radios]
09. Tashi Wada With Yoshi Wada And Friends – “Niagara” (RVNGIntl.)
[Taken from Nue]
10. Mariam Wallentin and Ben Frost – “Tainted Love (Soft Cell)” (Mute)
[Taken from Music From Fortitude]
11. The Sealed Knot – “And We Disappear” (Another Timbre)
[Taken from And We Disappear]
12. Burial – “UK” (Hyperdub)
[Taken from Untrue]
13. Giant Claw – “Soft Channel 003” (Orange Milk)
[Taken from Soft Channel]
14. Thom Yorke – “A Choir of One” (XL)
[Taken from Suspiria]
15. Nico Muhly – “Wonders Pt. 3: A Complaint Against Thomas Weelkes” (Bedroom Community)
[Taken from Mothertongue]
16. Peter Broderick – original voice recording used in ‘III’ by Machinefabriek (Western Vinyl)
[Taken from With Voices]
17. Sylvain Chauveau – “Find What You Love and Let It Kill You” (feat. Chantal Acda) (Broccoli)
[Taken from Post-Everything]
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‘With Voices’ is out now on Western Vinyl.
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http://www.machinefabriek.nu/
http://westernvinyl.com/
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Chosen One: Penelope Trappes
“… a lot of it is just piecing the puzzle together of these array of sounds that I can just create the emotion with.”
—Penelope Trappes
Words: Mark Carry
London-based artist Penelope Trappes’ sophomore full-length ‘Penelope Two’ – and follow-up to her essential debut ‘Penelope One’ for Optimo Music – casts a hypnotic, luminous spell through its stunningly beautiful song cycles: drenched in reverb that somehow drift into the ether of our innermost fears. The stark intimacy of the Australian-born composer’s compositions is what strikes you immediately; evoking the timeless spirit of early 4AD artists (This Mortal Coil, Cocteau Twins) and kindred spirits of Grouper’s Liz Harris and Tropic Of Cancer.
On the album’s gripping centrepiece ‘Maeve’, the chorus refrain of “let go” is repeated beneath delicate piano chords and lucid guitar haze. I feel ‘Penelope Two’ becomes a process of letting go: to allow the waves of anguish and pain wash over you and, in turn, to wrap your troubles up in dreams. The raw emotion distilled in Trappes’ soaring vocals casts infinite rays of solace and hope as light flickers from within the depths of darkness.
The way in which the drone infused ambient instrumentals (‘Silence’; ‘Kismet’; ‘Exodus’) are masterfully interwoven with the vocal-based song structures (‘Connector’; ‘Burn On’; ‘Maeve’) creates one cohesive whole of staggering beauty and emotional depth. The ethereal dream pop gem of ‘Connector’ possesses endurance to overcome the darkness. The immaculate production and divine soundscapes immerses the listener inside a wholly other realm. The chorus refrain “I am the connector” epitomizes the magical, far-reaching qualities of Trappes’ immense songwriting prowess.
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‘Penelope Two’ is out now on Houndstooth.
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https://penelopetrappes.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/penelopetrappes/
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We are delighted to welcome Penelope Trappes for a Cork show on Saturday 27th April 2019. The Australian-born artist’s sublime sophomore full-length ‘Penelope Two’ charted #3 on our best albums of 2018 list, so we are beyond thrilled to invite her to play a special live headline show in Cork, Ireland. All details are below.
Fractured Air & Plugd present:
Penelope Trappes & special guests
Saturday 27th April
Roundy (Upstairs)
1 Castle Street,
Cork
TICKETS: https://uticket.ie/event/fractured-air-present-penelope-trappes-special-guests
Interview with Penelope Trappes.
Please take me back to the making of ‘Penelope Two’ and if you had a starting point in mind and how the album came to be?
Penelope Trappes: The initial start was not that long after ‘Penelope One’. It was triggered by a dear friend of mine – who lives in Dublin actually – his wife had just passed away, who was a good friend of mine. And it was a very tumultuous, sad state of affairs because she had just given birth to a little kid – and I’ve mentioned it in my press release – it was really tragic and I strangely started feeling incredibly empathetic to his cause and I just sat down and I started to write this song called ‘Maeve’ (which was her name). So, I basically just picked up a guitar and played some chords and sang one take and recorded it: I don’t think I even sat down and wrote lyrics – it just came out of me. I had a few other songs that I may have been working on that were around but that was the one thing that triggered the whole album.
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The soundscapes and pristine instrumentation that you use is really striking and also, the intimacy of these songs and the rawness that can be felt throughout the album.
PT: It’s wonderful that it gets received that way. I suppose you have to dive into the intimacy when you listen to it and people feel that because I was writing stuff and then there was another dear friend of mine who again the same thing: she lost family members in a tragic accident. And it was weird because you don’t ever want to feel like you’re capitalizing in any way shape or form of other people’s grief but I think the intimacy and the addressing of such feelings is something that just started to infiltrate the whole album; that it was important to discuss – whether it be in just sound or with words, to open up: discussing things that may not necessarily be always the most comfortable things to talk about and bearing witness to certain things. And by working as a solo artist on this stuff I was able to be very much ‘in the zone’ and try to put those feelings into sound.
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How long was the process itself from – as you say – writing the song ‘Maeve’ to finding that you had the album done because it almost feels as if the songs are flooding out of you (and becomes almost like one long piece of music)?
PT: Well, it didn’t happen rapidly. I reckon it was probably around eight months, from beginning to end of compiling it all. But I guess that eight months became for me a very transformative time since it was inceptions about how I felt about things too.
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The production element as well is another wonderful hallmark of ‘Penelope Two’, I’d love to gain an insight into your studio set-up?
PT: It started with ‘Maeve’ on the guitar and then I’ve explored and had on my first album [‘Penelope One’] using traditional upright piano. My first album I had done in like a small piano studio and I really hadn’t gone too far out of that realm (with piano and voice). I’ve always added lots of field recordings and usually just from my I-phone (things where I’ve been in places where I’ve heard things that just stand out). Three tracks were written in New York at a friend’s house using his piano that correlate to my other friend’s moments. And then obviously I doused it in reverb – I love lots of reverb – and a lot of it is just piecing the puzzle together of these array of sounds that I can just create the emotion with. I’m working in Logic software but I try to keep the actual instrumentation for the most part – apart from things like field recordings – to hardware. I have a little analog synth that I like for droning sounds and things like that.
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I love the series of photographs that comes with the narrative of the album itself. I wonder was that happening in tandem with the music?
PT: Well I work as part of a collective called Agnes Haus; these photos had been co-directed and shot over a period of time – not necessarily in correlation to when I was writing the songs. But again on ‘Penelope One’ I did a photobook for that as well so the visuals have always been part of the mood and general aesthetic of what I have been working on. I always knew I was going to do a photobook for this album because I had done it before. So they didn’t exactly line up in the calendar of the months being written and produced.
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I was introduced to your other projects – like the duo Golden Filter and your more electronic projects – after first discovering your solo album ‘Penelope One’. I suppose each one is independent of the other but would you find that it has its own set of challenges?
PT: Yeah I mean it’s interesting, The Golden Filter is vastly different to what I’m doing as solo. I tend to likening it to – like on an energy level – the Golden Filter stuff is very yang (it’s got very high energy and live it’s very intense) but this is the yin; both going solo and having my own time and being able to be introspective and more emotionally in touch with the yin side (which in Darwinism is more feminine and less energetic). It’s a tricky balance but I feel like that’s like life as you have low energy times and the high energy times and it’s all about for me to find the balance – I mean The Golden Filter still exists but not as busy; it’s out there and it’s doing its thing – between the two projects and it’s quite a nice way to be able to express all sides of yourself.
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For the live setting, how do you find your solo songs translated into the live setting because as you say it’s deeply personal music? It must be an experience in itself to be able to perform these songs live?
PT: On the how to translate these deeply personal moments into the live thing, for example, I’ve been known to tear up a little when I do ‘Maeve’ but as far as the instrumentation of it all goes because there are these amorphous levels in the record (with all these sounds), I have to strip it back because it’s just me on stage. I mean in a perfect case – maybe in a year or so – I could have a few musicians onstage with me but I keep it pretty simple live. I have a keyboard, a sample – again it’s all hardware, I don’t bring a laptop up on stage with me – and then a loop pedal for vocals. I have done a couple of shows not with guitar but I’m thinking I’ll start bringing that along as well. So it’s more minimal but I feel like in that space I’m able to access the more emotional element because a lot of the whole project for me – being solo – is the minimal element so I suppose in the end my voice is the main instrument that is able to convey that. And then I have these spatial times in the set which is almost like meditation time [laughs] between these raw emotional moments.
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As a listener I was immediately likening the music to Grouper whose like a kindred spirit in many ways.
PT: Grouper is wonderful, I suppose there are a lot of similarities there. In the beginning when I started the whole thing I was thinking a lot about early 4AD artists like This Mortal Coil and that sort of feel and acts like Grouper definitely feel like a kindred spirit. And then perhaps that’s just tying into what I was saying about the balance of energies in society – the very aggressive fast, full-on energy and the quiet, contemplative and more emotional stuff. And maybe it is just wonderful to know that there are other women – and men too, let’s not be sexist here [laughs] – there are people making this music you can have a very quiet contemplative and perhaps emotional reaction to. I saw her recently play in London and it was like being in church or something [laughs]: you could hear a pin drop; she didn’t say one word to anybody. She was even so humble when the people started arriving at the venue she was actually doing her own sound check still with people who were arriving and she was just sitting there and I mean she’s telling her story I guess – I think that’s what it’s about isn’t it; about finding a quiet place to be able to tell people a story.
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Thinking back on growing up in Australia, would you have early musical memories, how soon did you realize how important music would be for you?
PT: I feel like music was always one of those things that was around my house growing up. I grew up in a rural town called Lismore, Australia – funnily enough it’s not far from you in County Waterford there’s a Lismore up there – which is near Byron Bay, it’s a very beautiful part of the world; I generally tell people Byron Bay because people when they travel to the Northern Rivers of Australia, they go there – they don’t go to the town where I grew up in [laughs] because it’s a boring town. And so I was quite isolated from the rest of the world, pre-Internet and Australia is always a bit behind the times due to location and definitely pre-Internet for sure. So I just used whatever I could get my hands on like whatever my parents had on around the house, so a bit of jazz and classical but not as much as I would have liked to have had (but I had to make do with what was around for listening). I studied piano between when I was seven and fourteen and then after that, by high school I was just trying to get my hands on as much music that I could. And then it continued after high school, I was actually studying folk and classical vocals and then I moved into opera for a bit – just to push my voice but I didn’t really resonate personally with the opera singing [laughs]; it wasn’t really my cup of tea, although I do like it now, more. So it started with piano and I taught myself how to play guitar and the vocals was always the thing but I guess as a child I always loved the concept of performing, in some way shape or form.
Would you have plans or future projects for the new year?
PT: I have already started formulating ideas for ‘Penelope Three’ like lyrical ideas, singing and things that I feel like are happening around me – I’ve already started documenting it and this time of the year is a great time with the close of the year and that time of the year where you get contemplative. I’m hoping that this winter – once I get through the madness of christmas – that January, February, March I’ll hole myself up and really start coming up with actually releasing these ideas into music. So that’s definitely going to be for the first half of the year and I’m not entirely sure where it will exist but hopefully I’ve got a few things up my sleeve where it will come out into the world.
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‘Penelope Two’ is out now on Houndstooth.
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https://penelopetrappes.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/penelopetrappes/
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Fractured Air & Plugd present:
Penelope Trappes & special guests
Saturday 27th April
Roundy (Upstairs)
1 Castle Street,
Cork
TICKETS: https://uticket.ie/event/fractured-air-present-penelope-trappes-special-guests
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ANNOUNCEMENT: Penelope Trappes (AUS, Houndstooth/Optimo Music) / Roundy (Upstairs), Cork / Sat. 27th April 2019
We are honoured to welcome London-based songwriter and musician Penelope Trappes for a Cork show on Saturday 27th April 2019. The Australian-born artist’s sublime sophomore full-length ‘Penelope Two’ charted #3 on our best albums of 2018 list, so we are beyond thrilled to invite her to play a special live headline show in Cork, Ireland. All details are below.
Fractured Air & Plugd present:
Penelope Trappes & special guests
Saturday 27th April
Roundy (Upstairs)
1 Castle Street,
Cork
TICKETS: https://uticket.ie/event/fractured-air-present-penelope-trappes-special-guests
Following her debut album ‘Penelope One’ for Optimo Music, antipodean vocalist, musician and soundscaper Penelope Trappes presents sophomore longplayer ‘Penelope Two’, for Houndstooth.
Elements from multiple sources are subsumed by Trappes’ sonic presence; one hears Badalamenti and Julee Cruise’s work for ‘Blue Velvet’ and ‘Twin Peaks’, Slowdive’s dreampop, the scorched comedowns of early Primal Scream, Colin Newman’s dark melancholia, plus contemporaries like Tropic Of Cancer and Sky H1.
These distilled, rarefied creations take echoes as their starting point, with Trappes summoning swathes of tones, textures and emotions into something ethereal but also powerful, like an evocation of spirits. It’s also deeply melodic, with her intimate, maternally-tender voice floating in the middle of each three dimensional, womb-like sonic space.
Originally from the Northern Rivers of NSW, Australia before moving to New York and developing experimental electronic projects Locke and Priscilla Sharp, plus her best-known incarnation with partner Stephen –The Golden Filter.
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“Referencing Scott Walker and This Mortal Coil, Trappes uses a minimal palette to frame her spellbinding, spectral songs in a starkly beautiful sound, suggesting a collaboration between Mazzy Star and Leyland Kirby, or Felicia Atkinson writing for Lynch. Truly remarkable” BOOMKAT
“A shiver inducing introspective work, drawing influence from Nick Cave and Grouper” The FADER
“Sounds like Scott Walker collaborating with Julee Cruise” FACT Magazine
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Fractured Air & Plugd present:
Penelope Trappes & special guests
Saturday 27th April
Roundy (Upstairs)
1 Castle Street,
Cork
TICKETS: https://uticket.ie/event/fractured-air-present-penelope-trappes-special-guests
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https://penelopetrappes.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/penelopetrappes/
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Mixtape: Fractured Air – February 2019
Our February mix features two tracks from Dublin-based singer-songwriter Maria Somerville’s eagerly awaited debut album “All My People” (released on 1st March). The album’s title-track is an enthralling post-punk exploration immersed in ethereal pop dimensions, while “Eyes Don’t Say It” unfolds a sublime, brooding and highly immersive sound world.
The cherished U.S. songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Heather Woods Broderick delivers her most captivating and innovative work to date with her highly anticipated third full-length solo studio album “Invitation” (pre-order available via Western Vinyl). The album’s lead single “Where I Lay” emits a fragile beauty amidst anguish and doubt but ultimately becomes a deeply cathartic experience from the depths of the human heart.
February’s mix also features new releases from Scottish composer Andrew Wasylyk’s exceptional third studio album “The Paralian” (via the ever dependable Athens Of The North imprint); New York-based cellist and composer Julia Kent’s newest sonic marvel “Temporal”; new Ghostly signing Khotin and Portand Oregon’s Dolphin Midwives.
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Fractured Air – February 2019
01. Dolphin Midwives – “Grass Grow” (Beacon Sound)
02. Mary Lattimore – “Baltic Birch” (Paul Corley Remix) (Ghostly)
03. Margie Jean Lewis – “Malamuut” (Soundcloud)
04. Maria Somerville – “Eyes Don’t Say It” (Self-released)
05. Narwal – “Track 01” (Ongehoord)
06. Stano – “A Dead Rose” (AllChival)
07. Michael O’ Shea – “Kerry” (AllChival)
08. Andrew Wasylyk – “Journey to Inchcape” (Athens Of The North)
09. Rustin Man – “Vanishing Heart” (Domino)
10. Oliver Coates – “Norrin Radd Dreaming” (RVNG Intl)
11. Julia Kent – “Conditional Futures” (Leaf Label)
12. Khotin – “Dwellberry” (Ghostly)
13. Panda Bear – “Master” (Domino)
14. Augustus Pablo – “King Tubby Meets Rockers Uptown” (Yard Music)
15. Lee ‘Scratch’ Perry – “The Upsetter” (Motion)
16. Helado Negro – “Running” (RVNG Intl)
17. Deerhunter – “What Happens To People?” (4AD)
18. Chasms – “Shadow” (Felte)
19. 101 Beats Per Minute – “I Cried And Cried And Cried” (Countersunk)
20. Maria Somerville – “All My People” (Self-released)
21. Ela Orleans – “Something Higher” (Night School)
22. Kali Malone – “Bondage to Formula” (Hallow Ground)
23. Heather Woods Broderick – “Where I Lay” (Western Vinyl)
24. Penelope Trappes – “Burn On” (Houndstooth)
25. Nils Frahm – “Sweet Little Lie” (Erased Tapes)
26. Landless – “Lassie Lie Near Me” (Humble Serpent)
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