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2LP
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BT 077LP
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Black Truffle present Sylva Sylvarum, an epic new work from Ora Clementi, the collaborative project of crys cole and James Rushford. Primarily conceived and recorded over several months together in Melbourne, Sylva Sylvarum is a stunning step forward from the mumbled, creaking sound world of the duo's debut, Cover You Will Softer Me (PP 011LP, 2014). From the opening "Peach of Immortality", which takes an unpredictable journey from layers of chiming bells, vocal harmonies and lush synth pads to a desolate landscape of half-animal, half-digital wooshes and cries, it is immediately clear that cole and Rushford are working here with an entirely unique sound palette. Throughout the record's four sides, you hear a large array of carefully detailed synthesizer sounds (many of them recorded at the remarkable Melbourne Electronic Sound Studio), sparse drum machine hits, wind instruments and field recordings of animals, often with a twistedly late '80s/early '90s flavor that at various points calls up new age references, Robert Ashley's later operas or the thinned-out textures of early digital GRM. Threaded through this distinctive array of sounds are the two musicians' voices, sometimes singing, sometimes speaking through varying degrees of manipulation. A guiding thread through the pair's collaboration, beginning with their initial experiments with lip-readings, the presence of these two voices -- cole's crisp and sibilant, Rushford's rich and low -- reinforces the sense that the music is immersed in itself, less performed by two people than occurring between them. On Sylva Sylvarum, these voices first come to the forefront on the third piece, "Dialogue Between a Grandmaster of the Knights Hospitaller and a Genoese Sea Captain", where in unison they intone fragments of a description of an imaginary space taken from a 17th century utopian text. The two voices resurface periodically thereafter, most stunningly in the unexpected turn into cushiony dream pop on "Magic Mountain". Like the album's title, these textual elements are drawn from various literary descriptions of utopias, a theme that also informed the pair's musical approachThe uncanny sweep of the album's fifteen pieces is expansive enough to take in stretches of crackling austerity, warped microtonal keyboard etudes and moments of stunning beauty, the latter most strikingly when cole and Rushford are joined by Callum G'Froerer on trumpet and Joe O'Connor on trombone for a series of dream-like moments moving from growling overtones to poignant lyricism. Mint green vinyl; gatefold sleeve. Artwork by Sabrina Ratté. Mixed and mastered by Joe Talia at Good Mixture, Berlin.
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LP
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PP 011LP
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2014 release. Ora Clementi is the pen name of Canadian sound artist and improviser crys cole and Australian performer and composer James Rushford. crys has previously collaborated with Keith Rowe and Oren Ambarchi while James worked alongside Joe Talia on the highly acclaimed Manhunter LP (Kye, 2013). Penultimate Press presents this duo's hermetic world of sound, song, and speech. Employing farfisa, contact mics, percussion, viola, recordings of James's pet chickens, ocarinas, piano, and miscellaneous junk, Cover you will softer me slides from the sublime to the startling, with individual elements delicately folding and falling among an unnerving tableaux of failed lip readings, haunted hiss, piano motifs, and glistening debris. The unique combination of sound and voice lends itself to an air ripe with mystery and magic as our humble practitioners invoke images of childhood, as, when half asleep, you can hear your parents watching TV in the other room, mumbling moving through walls. Recorded in Melbourne throughout 2013 and 2014 with additional recordings made at No Recording Studio in Essex under the guidance of John Hannon. Cover you will softer me was mixed and mastered by Joe Talia and presents itself in a beautiful full-color sleeve designed by Matthew Revert as a limited edition of 400 copies.
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