Published 2 July 2024 by DM
Laurence Pike returns with his most ambitious album project to date - The Undreamt-of Centre is an evocative, contemporary reimagining of the requiem mass.
The album draws on the sounds of modern classical music, Japanese environmental ambient music, fourth world electronics, free jazz and the choral traditions of Estonia, with particular influence from Tallinn-based composer Tonu Korvits. Featuring the VOX Sydney Philharmonia Choir, conducted by Pike’s childhood friend, composer Sam Lipman, the album was recorded in a 19th century Gothic church in Sydney.
Listen to first single ‘Introit’.
Laurence Pike on The Undreamt-of Centre:
I first had the thought of working with voices a number of years ago. I had the strange notion of making a requiem mass for drums, electronics and choir. It sat with me since then, until it felt the time was right to realise the idea.
Why a requiem? Initially I simply liked the idea of a structural format that had existed and been reimagined again and again over hundreds of years. Ultimately, it’s a ritual set to music. The processes and ecstatic outcomes of rituals, were something I had explored in making the Holy Spring album in 2019. I became interested in subverting the religious musical construct of a requiem into something far more contemporary, using language and sounds not readily associated with it. It also seemed a ready-made vehicle to explore the sound of a choir with my electro-acoustic drum kit performances.
Watch Pike explain the motivations behind The Undreamt-of Centre and see behind the scenes footage of the recording sessions:
Pike is launching the project with two performances at the Phoenix Central Park cultural centre in Sydney with the VOX Sydney Philharmonia Choir on Thursday 22nd August. If you’re in the area, get your name down on the ballot for free tickets.
The Undreamt-of Centre will be released September 6th and is available to pre-order now on limited edition Forest Green vinyl LP, CD and digital.
Bandcamp | Spotify | Apple Music
Matthew Bourne - This Is Not For You. out now
Published 12 July 2024 by DM
The wait is over: Matthew Bourne’s first full-length album for solo piano (plus bits of cello and Dulcitone) since 2017 is out now. This Is Not For You.
Anyone who has followed Bourne’s career will know he’s never been one to take the expected route. You may have preconceptions of an artist who first came to prominence as a virtuosic pianist and winner of the Perrier Jazz Award in 2001. Witnessing Bourne at the piano is a visceral thrill with the instrument becoming an extension of his body. It’s unclear where one ends and the other begins as he climbs inside a grand to pluck, strum and bend the notes to his will. There’s a rare physicality in his performances that sets him apart – unexpected in the world of concert halls and Steinways.
However, Bourne is driven to push that envelope with projects on Moogs, harmoniums, harpsicords and any number of old, broken or infirm instruments. His fingerprints are all over a huge number of diverse projects, having worked with the likes of Alabaster DePlume, Keith Tippett, Nils Frahm, MINING, Nightports and Mzlkypop, and playing a key role in Keeley Forsyth’s desolate and haunting works.
When he does return to solo piano, it’s certainly cause for celebration. Here’s to a restless and forward-thinking artist doing what he does best.
Put your feet up and listen to This Is Not For You. here. Once you’re finished, it is available to order on LP, CD and digital.
Bandcamp | Spotify | Apple Music
Welcome Malcolm Pardon
Published 23 July 2024 by DM
We’re delighted to welcome Stockholm’s Malcolm Pardon back into the Leaf fold. As one half of Roll The Dice, Pardon released two albums of brooding analogue electronic music on the label with his partner in crime Peder Mannerfelt. Now he’s back under his own steam, with his second solo album The Abyss.
For Pardon, there’s beauty in our universal, inescapable demise. Like the romantic notion of the orchestra on board the Titanic playing their repertoire as the ship went down, on The Abyss he looks past the bleak or macabre to observe death as a multi-layered, lifelong acquaintance.
“It’s not meant to be threatening or horrific in any way,” says Pardon of the album. “There’s this constant dialogue we have with ourselves about how we’re going to die at some point. It’s like a constant companion, so you might as well get to know it, and befriend it.”
In contrast to the bombast of later Roll The Dice material, Pardon’s 2021 solo debut Hello Death saw him take a much more stripped-down approach, placing the emphasis on plaintive piano composition with only the subtlest of sonic treatments in the space around the notes. Without intentionally setting out to record a conceptual follow up, as he developed the sketches which would become The Abyss, Pardon found himself contemplating unknown futures and the artists’ quest into unexplored territory.
The lilting romanticism of first single ‘Enter The Void’ serves as a perfect distillation of Pardon’s approach, balancing a delicate piano refrain with a low, rumbling blast of noise before being carried aloft by swooning strings that echo down a distant hall.
‘Enter The Void’ is accompanied by a cinematic and unsettling video by Swedish director Oskar Wrangö. “I have always been drawn to Malcolm’s music,” Wrangö explains. “It creates new images in my mind, and that’s a pretty rare thing. To me this track is a fine balance between real darkness and simple beauty. I wanted to create a unique visual experience in that landscape - when it comes to the end of things or the beginning of something unknown. It comes from a dark depressive past of my own and I think the strong contrasts are important. It’s taken me to new and interesting places. If ever a nightmare was poetic, this is my very personal interpretation of the title - Enter The Void.”
PLEASE NOTE: In keeping with the album’s themes, the video contains scenes some viewers may find disturbing.
The Abyss will be released September 20th. It is available to pre-order/pre-save on limited edition ‘Pool Party’ splatter vinyl LP (350 copies), black vinyl LP, limited CD (500 copies) and digital.
Bandcamp | Spotify | Apple Music
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