Artist : Julia Kent
Album : Character
Year : 2013
Genre : Classical
Quality : 218kbps / 44.1KHz / Joint Stereo
Source : CD
Playtime : 0h 40m
Size : 66.98mb
Label : Leaf
Catalognr : BAY 80CD
Tracklist:
01. Ebb 2:52
02. Transportation 4:38
03. Flicker 3:39
04. Tourbillon 3:16
05. Fall 4:29
06. Kingdom 4:53
07. Only Child 4:24
08. Intent 4:21
09. Salute 4:28
10. Nina And Oscar 3:44
Releasenotes:
Opportunities for introspection have come few and far between for Canadian-born,
New York City-based cellist Julia Kent. After coming to prominence as a member
of the cello-driven group Rasputina in the '90s, she went on to arrange and play
on numerous recordings and tour extensively as a member of Antony and the
Johnsons, among other projects.
The opportunity to explore her own emotional and creative world came with her
solo LPs, Delay (2007) and Green and Grey (2011), and it is something she
appropriates fully on her captivating debut for The Leaf Label, Character.
Recorded alone in her home studio, Character develops the layering techniques
Kent brought to the fore on her previous solo material, the flow of intertwining
cello motifs working as an external representation of competing internal
meditations. "I ended up thinking about the process of life," explains Kent.
"How sometimes a narrative in fiction is meant to mirror the chronology of human
life, and how our lives, in a way, can resemble works of fiction, but without
the possibility of controlling the outcome the way an author can." Thus, she
called the album Character, a reference to the notion of humans being characters
in their own narrative.
In the past the cellist has adopted field recordings to accompany her playing;
Delay saw recordings taken from various airports as Kent became fascinated by
their ambience, whilst samples were taken from nature as she explored boundaries
between electronic and organic sounds on Green and Grey. In Character, their
somewhat hidden nature is just as important, reflecting the need for
introspection that drives the album.
"Incorporated sounds are important," Kent explains. "They contrast and
complement the cello, my primary instrument, and also evoke the concept of a
voice without being, literally, a voice. So I used a lot of found and processed
sounds to try to achieve that: from matches being struck, to wineglasses, to the
sound of pen on paper, to an ancient autoharp that, over time, ended up being
detuned in a way that created an amazing sonority."
Underpinning it all is the Canadian's love and attention to detail for recording
and looping; she's an artist who derives pleasure from the familiarity of
recurring patterns, yet also sees each revolution as a chance to adjust and
alter, and so subtly moving a soundscape onto a different plane altogether. A
loop, too, means that no mistake is truly an error, more a facet that can be
expanded upon when the next cycle comes round. "I love that events within a loop
can become integral through repetition," she enthuses, "So you learn to embrace
the accident, or the serendipitous sound that takes the music in an unexpected
direction."
If her first two albums saw Kent developing her individuality, Character is
perhaps the first time she's had the courage to take what she's learnt and
deliver an album of such depth and contemplative beauty. "It's a privilege to
have the opportunity to enter other people's musical worlds and discover how
they communicate their ideas," she insists, "But I love the autonomy of creating
and performing entirely alone." It's all too easy to forget that, in a world of
unprecedented access to information, advice, opinion and influence, the most
important voice to anyone is their own. It's something Julia Kent knows, though,
and has sought to hear over the din of her surroundings, in doing so producing
her most confident solo statement yet.
http://www.theleaflabel.com/en/releases/view/197/Julia%20Kent/Character/BAY%2080