Eidolon by Nervous Doll Dancing is an album I have had for many years; one I've listened to dozens of times but which still pulls out that sense of beauty and newness for me.
It was 2013, I had the chance to spend the summer in a study abroad program in Prague. The Prague Fringe Festival was occurring during the first week or so of my time in the city and I tried to attend every musical performance I could. I met Francesca Mountfort at this event. With no prior knowledge of what to expect I was greeted by a cellist on stage, solo, with her instrument and a couple of guitar pedals. I, needless to say, was floored. On her website the tour, of which this performance would be part, is described as having an award winning cinematic show; but for the life of me, I only remember the music. All of the music for this album was composed, produced, or performed by Francesca unless otherwise noted.
Eidolon is defined as a phantom or an idol, and this album really holds true to that definition. The first track begins with a pizzicato bass line which is looped through out while above, the performer coaxes a beautiful singing voice from the cello. Much like the folk song later on this album, "sneaky" has a sense of almost but not quite repeating; lulling the listener into a serenity and bringing focus to the music.
"you are my eidolon," the second track introduces recurring sound themes, including clicking clockworks and a wisp-like singing voice. As the sounds are blended together a sense of incorporeality is felt; an almost timelessness where the passage of each tick of the clock is simultaneously too slow and too fast. The cello singingly returns to this aether, luring us forward, deeper into the mists.
The third track, "ederlezi" is my personal favorite track. Structured much like the first track, in that a pizzicato line is looped throughout the piece with arco cello played above, except each voice is enhanced and expanded through the use of reverb and delay effects. The cello sings the listener a beautiful but haunting tune, a traditional Roma folk song of the Balkans. The original song is tied to the celebration of the return of the spring, and this production by Francesca is beautifully and masterfully done.
"dreaming II" is a return of the clockwork noises and a drift back to the timelessness of the second track. Sounds that are almost but not quite bells chime an unknown, but not placable, pattern as the clicks and the whirls create a palate upon which a blend of nearly recognizable instruments builds a beautifully tuneless atmosphere.
We are greeted, not with the patterned pizzicato at the beginning of "meditation for coco" but instead with the beautiful depth of a full acro cello. The fifth track intertwines beautiful melodies in a gorgeous counterpoint. Each line braided into another. In a similar style "prelude no. 1 in G lydian" (the sixth track) floats on a contrapuntal sea of shifting lines expanding the beauty and ability of the instrument and performer. This polyphony is broken near the end of the track as electronic sounds, distortions of the clockworks, drift into the atmosphere as the cellos sighs its long, ending, drawn out notes.
"arial grace" presents a piano opening composed and performed by Will Tait, filtered to create what I would describe as a sound reminiscent of Vaudevillian films, however the minor key rings a somber toll of memory unlike the typical joyful chaos of Vaudeville. The cello enters without the filtered sound, as though fully in the here-and-now leaving the listener in a sense of simultaneously hearing music from the past and the present. The track has an AB form, striking in its ability to create a sense of being unfulfilled without the return to recognizable material. As though the music just drifts away into the fog.
The eighth track, aptly titled "solo," with its long slow notes at the beginning feels of the melancholy song of a wandering spirit. With an ABCBA nature to the form, the listener is pulled into the depths of music before being drawn back to the surface where they began.
The ticking clockworks introduce "lala land" and an arhythmic landscape of bowed and plucked strings, voice (performed by Kyla Mountfort), clockworks, birds, and a variety of other sounds lets us drift unfocused, never leaving or arriving but simply passing through. The track ends with the chimes and tunes of various clocks as though the spell of the spirit has broken and we are returning to normal time.
The final track, "changeling" I will leave you to enjoy without my commentary.
Until next time friends.
_____________________________This post will be releasing on a BandCamp Day where BandCamp waives their portion of any music purchased through their site. This means the artists get more of the profits from the sales of their music. If you have not picked up any of the music I have talked about, today is a great day to do that.
Artists work hard to create these albums. For many this is their primary source of income. If you can, spend a bit and get some amazing music today.
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