#4052: Art Songs or Pop Songs?
Hear music that falls somewhere between classical music & indie rock, and/or songs on the border of pop music & art music, by Gabriel Kahane, My Brightest Diamond (aka Shara Nova), Thor & Friends, The Staves & yMusic, & more.
Preview music from pianist, singer, and composer Gabriel Kahane’s project, “8980.” It’s an intimate music-theater piece brought about by a two-week trip traveling via Amtrak during which he met dozens of strangers. From dining car conversations to his own Unplugged railway isolation, Kahane sets these stories to music.
Hear the Swedish-Danish quartet David’s Angels, featuring Canadian trumpeter Ingrid Jensen from their record, Traces, which is inspired by the Hindu idea of karma, and how our actions leave traces in time. Also, hear percussion-driven post-minimalist ensemble music featuring wordless vocals from the group, Thor & Friends (no Ragnarok included), led by drummer Thor Harris, from The Subversive Nature of Kindness. Sample a simultaneously delicate yet also motoric chamber pop song from the English trio The Staves, together with NYC-based ensemble yMusic. There’s also a song from Andrew McKenna Lee’s electric chamber rock band with three vocalists, the Knells, which may have post-prog rock intentions.
Another band comfortable on the border of pop music and art song is My Brightest Diamond – aka Shara Nova (formerly Shara Worden.) Hear a work from her 2014 record, This Is My Hand. (A recent Instagram post reveals that she is currently in the studio in L.A.!) Then, listen to music by the chamber band, Clogs, composed by Padma Newsome, which features Shara Nova. Music by Emily Pinkerton, Patrick Burke, & NOW Ensemble from Rounder Songs rounds out the show.
ARTIST: My Brightest Diamond aka Shara Nova
WORK: Shape [1:00]
RECORDING: This Is My Hand
SOURCE: Asthmatic Kitty - #56103
INFO: asthmatickitty.com
ARTIST: Gabriel Kahane
WORK: Gabriel Kahane: NOVEMBER [3:54]
RECORDING: 8980: Book of Travelers / Zeitgeist Roughs
SOURCE: This version not yet available.
INFO: The work is available here: gabrielkahane.bandcamp.com
ARTIST: David's Angels
WORK: Traces [7:02]
RECORDING: Traces
SOURCE: Due out Dec. 15, 2017
INFO: davidsangels.se
ARTIST: Jon Balke, with vocalist Mouna Boutchebak + Bjarte Eike & Barokksolistene
WORK: Castigo [4:46]
RECORDING: Siwan: Nahnou Houm
SOURCE: ECM Records 2572
INFO: ecmrecords.com
ARTIST: Andrew McKenna Lee/The Knells
WORK: Andrew McKenna Lee: First Songs [4:41]
RECORDING: The Knells II
SOURCE: Still Sound Music
INFO: theknells.bandcamp.com
ARTIST: My Brightest Diamond aka Shara Nova
WORK: Shape [4:25]
RECORDING: This Is My Hand
SOURCE: Asthmatic Kitty - #56103
INFO: asthmatickitty.com
ARTIST: Thor & Friends
WORK: Carpet Creeps [2:44]
RECORDING: The Subversive Nature of Kindness
SOURCE: Living Music Duplication
INFO: lmduplication.com
ARTIST: Clogs (feat. Shara Worden)
WORK: On the Edge [4:01]
RECORDING: The Creatures in the Garden of Lady Walton
SOURCE: Brassland HWY 021
INFO: brassland.org | clogsmusic.com
ARTIST: Gabriel Kahane
WORK: Gabriel Kahane: JASON [3:34]
RECORDING: 8980: Book of Travelers / Zeitgeist Roughs
SOURCE/INFO: Not yet commercially released
ARTIST: The Staves & yMusic
WORK: the Year of the Dog [3:17]
RECORDING: The Way is Read
SOURCE: Nonesuch 564053
INFO: Due out Dec. 1 nonesuch.com
ARTIST: Emily Pinkerton and Patrick Burke with NOW Ensemble
WORK: Marcum and the Yankee [7:19]
RECORDING: Rounder Songs
SOURCE: New Amsterdam NWAM092
INFO: nowensemble.bandcamp.com
