Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Purchasable with gift card
$1USD or more
about
“[Wieselman has] absolute command of his instrument”
Musically Speaking
Following the beautiful “Hope For The Trees”, seminal NYC multi-reedist Doug Wieselman releases his second standalone single in December 2020, “Blodeuwedd”, via figureight records.
Wieselman has performed with superlative greats (including the Lounge Lizards, Lou Reed, Yoko Ono, Bill Frisell, Iron & Wine, Laurie Anderson, Tricky, Martha Wainwright, Antony and the Johnsons, CocoRosie) and contributed significantly to the NYC Downtown scene over the past three decades. He is described, by NYC Jazz Record, as “a vital force in the New York music scene”.
Similarly to “Hope For The Trees”, “Blodeuwedd” is based in Wieselman’s patch-writing on a borrowed OP-1 synthesiser, a departure from his usual instrumentation of acoustic wind instruments. However, unlike the earlier single, “Blodeuwedd” treks a more challenging path. Where “Hope For The Trees” lives in a word of wonder and shimmering prettiness, “Blodeuwedd” is deeper and darker. Its churning, droning sonics yearn and strain against the fabric of the piece.
“This track came out of experimenting with an OP-1 synthesizer that a friend had leant to me. I was playing with its virtual 4-track recorder and found a loop that I liked which I captured on a portable digital recorder. What sometimes happens when sounds are combined, other unintentional sounds occur, which I find interesting. I began to articulate those “ghost” melodies, recording them onto Pro-Tools with various instruments, along with some processing with Ableton. I wanted to make something with a longer arc than I’d generally done. I then separated the individual four tracks, layering them over time and combining them with the “ghost” melodies as well with the original 4-track loop. I added a few more elements in the process, once the form emerged.
Blodeuwedd - “flowered face” in Welsh - is the name of an ancient Welsh flower goddess, conjured by two wizards. Hers is a long and twisted story of beauty, coercion, love, rebellion and transformation, which ends with her being turned into an owl. I came across a reference to her in my reading of Robert Graves’ The White Goddess. It seemed an appropriate title to this track.
My attraction to ghost melodies is along the lines of my interest in the barely perceptible water melodies that I’ve worked with on my solo clarinet record From Water.”
credits
released December 18, 2020
Zitherine Music (BMI)
Image - Lucie Jansch
This stunning two-part work from classical guitarist Kevin Daniel Cahill is suffusive ambient that aims for transcendence. Bandcamp New & Notable Jul 18, 2023
From harpist Sarah Pagé comes an album that feels like a fairy tale, full of mystic beauty and gentle, fluttering melodies. Bandcamp New & Notable Jul 1, 2023
The 17 mindbending songs on this compilation represent minimalist experimental music at its best, a collage of blips and static. Bandcamp New & Notable Dec 3, 2022
Shards of static & distortion crash against disarmingly beautiful piano & synth melodies on this riveting new record from Carbon and Prose. Bandcamp New & Notable Oct 30, 2022
Inspired by the Welsh notion of “cynefin,” which is thematically similar to the LP’s title, “Notes on Belonging” is both warm and wistful. Bandcamp New & Notable Oct 16, 2017