Whether celebrating the new season or extending a feeling of peace, composing works about the color blue or new parenthood, or addressing our current societal crisis, these composers create a feeling that maybe everything will turn out all right. Connected by a remarkable unanimity of mood despite different approaches, these artists help us to relax, gather our strength and soldier on. Their music sings of life and sounds like spring. We can only hope that a spring of new hope will wash across the earth as well as we awaken from winter’s socio-political slumber.
Our wistful cover image is taken from Goldmund‘s Layers of Afternoon, which makes us look forward to open windows and is listed below.
Halvcirkel and Anders Lauge Meldgaard team up for Spirit, combining electronics and a string quartet to produce a bright and colorful sound. Appropriately released on the first day of spring, the album sounds like new life sprouting and bursting slowly through the soil (År & Dag, March 20). In related fashion, “Spring Becomes You, Spring Becomes New” is the first single from Macie Stewart‘s When the Distance Is Blue, which takes its title from an essay in Rebecca Solnit’s A Field Guide to Getting Lost. The limited edition vinyl is a fried blue egg, and the music shimmers in shades of sky and sea. Lia Kohl guest stars on the opening track (International Anthem, March 21). Cello, self-made synthesizer and string quartet feature on the self-titled album from Peter Gregson. Ritual is the premiere single, the visualizer awash in shades of verdant green (Decca, April 11).
Fresh from the hard work of putting together the massive For LA fundraiser, Keith Kenniff returns as Goldmund, teaming with violinist Scott Moore on Layers of Afternoon. The album is meant to reflect “a certain experience of time,” and does so with pure, reflective beauty (Western Vinyl, June 13). Yann Tiersen‘s Rathlin from a Distance | The Liquid Hour is split into two parts: one piano, one rhythmic and electronic. Tiersen contrasts the quietude of storm-free sailing with the chaos of political unrest, making the set into far more than the sum of its parts (Mute, April 4). Joan Arnau Pàmies takes a variety of approaches on a single album, from jazz to pop to modern composition, acoustic to electronic, instrumental to vocal. Guidelines/Fonaments is out April 4 on Arnau’s own Protomaterial Records.
World Piano Day is March 28, and to celebrate, ad21 is releasing the massive Piano Whispers 01, featuring tracks from 51 pianists around the world. Familiar names include Bruno Sanfilippo, Hior Chronik and Lorenzo Masotto, with many new names to discover as well! Those of us who are a bit older remember making mixtapes, and wishing for a selection of one-minute tracks that could fill the voids at the end of tapes. Bigo & Twigetti‘s compilation Shorts offers the perfect solution: nine miniatures, each under a minute, full and complete despite their length (March 21). After this, the label’s next release will be Curve Ensemble‘s Towards the Light, which pairs the string ensemble with various composers, including Rael Jones and label founder Jim Perkins. The songs, inspired by the words of the title, encompass a myriad of moods (April 4). Also upcoming: EPs from Chris Green-Armytage (Four Slow Pieces, April 4), Andrew Land (Machine Learning, April 11) and Jonathan Hannau, Sleeping Streets & Jeff Roy (Sundial, April 11) and the album Mirage from Blurstem & Eijah Bisbee (April 11).
First came Indermundia, then Intercosmia Vol. 1, and now Olivia Belli completes the trilogy with Intercosmia Vol. 2.. On this EP, the pianist shifts from the material to the spiritual, celebrating the grace that leads to joy. “Respire 6” is the first single (Sony/XXIM, April 18). New parents will be delighted with Elliot Jack Sansom‘s Night Light, the piano pieces recorded “in real time” as the artist became a father. Unsurprisingly, three songs are about sleep (Decca, May 23). Pianist Jing Yang plays the music of Nils Vigeland on Perfect Happiness, whose title communicates its tone and whose cover conveys its connection to childhood, family and home (New Focus, March 28). Springtime the perfect time to be named The Vernon Spring. On Under a Familiar Sun, Sam Beste’s piano compositions are fleshed out by electronics, spoken word and the occasional vocal line, all in the service of a new and sparkling season (RVNG Intl., May 9). Joan Arnau Pàmies pays tribute to Ryuichi Sakamoto on AN+RS, one of the early singles from Guidelines/Fonaments. The album blends piano with pensive electronics, and is released April 4 on Promaterial. Clay Pipe Music continues to go from strength to strength with its CD3″ series. The latest installment comes from Micro Moon, whose Figure in a Landscape honors geographic locations such as the “light factories” of Spain (March 21).
Glacis returns with Exuberance, the third part of the four part Borders series, with the fourth expected in the fall. A deluxe edition featuring all four parts is also available (oscarson, April 4). Music by Angèle David-Guillou‘s Music for PAN TO MIME is a collection of pieces written for Michel S’ Zumpf’s impressionistic film. The artist switches between tones and instruments as the direction switches between scenes, while retaining an essential fluidity (Akrotiri, April 1). After achieving success in film scoring, Graham Reynolds returns home to construct his own narrative on Mountain, a dramatic, multi-faceted album that yes, sounds like a film. The difference is that no incidental music is necessary (March 21).
The title The Hemphill Stringtet Plays the Music of Julian Hemphill is fairly self-explanatory, so we’ll add that the strings sound yearning and reflective in equal measure and that the music was originally written for saxophone quartet. The transition from sax to strings is exquisite (Out of Your Head Records, April 4). Anzû Quartet perform the music of Anna Webber and Ken Thomson on adjust, alternating between modern composition and avant jazz (Cantaloupe Music, April 25). Catherine Lamb x Ghost Ensemble operate in interior and exterior directions on interius/exterius, as the chamber nonet experiments with form and function while retaining an essential approachability (greyfade, May 9). Rumpistol‘s Nebula has the form of modern composition, featuring ten musicians on pianette, strings, brass and Celtic harp, but the tone of electronic music. The clubworthy, space-themed album is out May 13 on The Rust Music.
Multiple composers converge on Clare O’Connell‘s Light Flowing, their work performed by the cellist along with guests on harp and double bass. The set is intended to “transport listeners to a place of peace,” and from what we’ve heard so far, it succeeds (NMC Recordings, April 25). Also forthcoming on NMC: Martin Iddon‘s spacious Hesperides, performed by quiet ensemble with Jack Adler-McKean on tuba. Glissandos and extended notes create a feeling of vast open spaces, extending an invitation to become lost in sound (April 4). An amazing 22 artists perform on Áshira, by Gamelan Salukat x Jan Kadereit. The gamelan orchestra is in fine form and the name of the label – One World Records – is apt (April 4). Third Coast Percussion celebrates their twentieth anniversary with Standard Stoppages, which includes works from a wide variety of composers, including Jlin. Murmurs in Time: II is the first single (Cedille, April 11).
Richard Allen