The latest in a brilliant run of releases from 130701 this year (including albums from Resina, Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch, Maarja Nuut & Ruum, Shida Shahabi and Ian William Craig), ‘The Sea at The End of Her String’ is a seven-track EP that highlights three adventurous, hugely talented female artists from the current roster of FatCat’s pioneering 130701 imprint. Featuring seven exclusive new tracks, the EP is available both digitally and in a limited edition, one-time-only vinyl pressing of 300 copies to be sold alongside a short, triple-bill UK tour this Autumn. Both tour and EP feature the same three artists – French pianist / composer Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch, Polish cellist Resina and Swedish-Iranian pianist Shida Shahabi, whose debut LP, ‘Homes’, will be released in mid-October. Taking in three church shows, the dates run as follows:
27 Sep – Church Of The Annunciation, Brighton, UK
28 sep – Rough Trade Bristol, Bristol, UK
29 Sep – Union Chapel, London, UK – **LUNCHTIME Show for Daylight Music
30 Sep – The Hot Tin Faversham, UK
Founded way back in 2001, 130701 was set up (long before it became popular or even recognised as a genre) as an outlet for music based around artists using classical instrumentation in expansive, non-traditional ways, and became a home to some of the most recognisable names in the now broad-reaching post-classical field, introducing the likes of Max Richter and Hauschka, as well as releases from pianist / composers Dustin O’Halloran and Johann Johannsson. In the last few years, the imprint has renewed itself and expanded its scope, signing a number of new artists and becoming a full-time concern. In a territory that remains predominantly male, we’re proud to have a roster with such strong female representation. The first four albums this year have all been female-lead projects. All three on this EP take very different approaches to their art, yet all share a common a high quality and a fluid, expansive sensibility.
Resina is the alias of Karolina Rec, a Warsaw-based cellist and composer and a compelling live artist whose music is characterized by a personal language of improvisation and an alternative approach to melody, using non-obvious characteristics of the instrument alongside electronics and her stunning voice. Looped, processed and layered, her cello moves from discrete chamber intimacy to shimmering ambient miasmas and more urgent, full-blooded tracks that reach out and grab the listener. She has played throughout Europe, developing into an increasingly powerful performer supporting the likes of Sarah Neufeld, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Owen Pallett, Hauschka and labelmate Ian William Craig. Resina’s music has been described as “haunting” by The Guardian and “ineffably beautiful” by Tiny Mix Tapes, whilst Self-Titled recently described her as offering a “mesmerizing take on post-classical music… that’ll leave the hairs on your neck standing straight up.”
An award-winning French pianist/ composer currently based in London, Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch‘s musical practice also spans film score and sound design. Her work is connected both by its high quality and its evocative, meticulous craft – a common sensibility of elegant, instinctual composition. Having studied a Masters degree in composition at Goldsmiths whilst working for three years at online electronic store Bleep, these experiences show through in Emilie’s music, described by Tiny Mix Tapes as “stunning…. rich in reverb and resonance, sublime in the language its piano articulates, limned beautifully by orchestral and electronic ambience… melodic, graceful, eloquent, compelling.” Exclaim! Described Emilie as “quickly establishing herself as an important new voice in contemporary music. Her compositions for piano, viola, cello and electronics combine tender solo performances with rousing arrangements… Her exacting style produces a fully formed, gorgeously crafted result.”
Based in Stockholm, Shida Shahabi is a Swedish-Iranian pianist / composer, whose debut album is set for release this October. Shida studied piano from the age of 9 and began writing melodies on the instrument as soon as she could compose with two hands. Since finishing her studies at The Royal institute of Art in Stockholm in 2013, Shida has made site-specific sound installations, played in numerous different bands/ constellations and written music both solo and for dance, film, theatre and fine art contexts. She signed to 130701 earlier this year, having blown the label away with the dreamy, homespun charm of her album. Revealing a wonderfully fluid sense of touch and melody, her recordings make audible intimate acoustic details and imperfections – creaking and hissing; tiny distortions; the pressure exerted by fingers and feet against the piano’s pedals and keys. Fans of the likes of Nils Frahm, Goldmund, Dustin O’Halloran and Erik Satie should find something to fall for.
The EP’s title is taken from a line in Sylvia Plath’s poem, ‘Three Women’ and, whilst taken somewhat out of context, is used here to indicate both the instrumental rooting of the three artists’ music (bound to the resonating strings of the piano or cello) and to offer some suggestion of the fluidity and vastness it either draws from or expresses. Each of the three artists contributes two new tracks, and all tracks are exclusive to this EP. The track-list is completed with a field recording collage from 130701’s founder / label head, Dave Howell. Captured on wasteland at Severn Beach on the estuary of the River Severn, onto which a number of pianos were fly-tipped amongst other junk, it reveals a very different end of the string.
The latest in a brilliant run of releases from 130701 this year (including albums from Resina, Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch, Maarja Nuut & Ruum, Shida Shahabi and Ian William Craig), ‘The Sea at The End of Her String’ is a seven-track EP that highlights three adventurous, hugely talented female artists from the current roster of FatCat’s pioneering 130701 imprint. Featuring seven exclusive new tracks, the EP is available both digitally and in a limited edition, one-time-only vinyl pressing of 300 copies to be sold alongside a short, triple-bill UK tour this Autumn. Both tour and EP feature the same three artists – French pianist / composer Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch, Polish cellist Resina and Swedish-Iranian pianist Shida Shahabi, whose debut LP, ‘Homes’, will be released in mid-October. Taking in three church shows, the dates run as follows:
27 Sep – Church Of The Annunciation, Brighton, UK
28 sep – Rough Trade Bristol, Bristol, UK
29 Sep – Union Chapel, London, UK – **LUNCHTIME Show for Daylight Music
30 Sep – The Hot Tin Faversham, UK
Founded way back in 2001, 130701 was set up (long before it became popular or even recognised as a genre) as an outlet for music based around artists using classical instrumentation in expansive, non-traditional ways, and became a home to some of the most recognisable names in the now broad-reaching post-classical field, introducing the likes of Max Richter and Hauschka, as well as releases from pianist / composers Dustin O’Halloran and Johann Johannsson. In the last few years, the imprint has renewed itself and expanded its scope, signing a number of new artists and becoming a full-time concern. In a territory that remains predominantly male, we’re proud to have a roster with such strong female representation. The first four albums this year have all been female-lead projects. All three on this EP take very different approaches to their art, yet all share a common a high quality and a fluid, expansive sensibility.
Resina is the alias of Karolina Rec, a Warsaw-based cellist and composer and a compelling live artist whose music is characterized by a personal language of improvisation and an alternative approach to melody, using non-obvious characteristics of the instrument alongside electronics and her stunning voice. Looped, processed and layered, her cello moves from discrete chamber intimacy to shimmering ambient miasmas and more urgent, full-blooded tracks that reach out and grab the listener. She has played throughout Europe, developing into an increasingly powerful performer supporting the likes of Sarah Neufeld, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Owen Pallett, Hauschka and labelmate Ian William Craig. Resina’s music has been described as “haunting” by The Guardian and “ineffably beautiful” by Tiny Mix Tapes, whilst Self-Titled recently described her as offering a “mesmerizing take on post-classical music… that’ll leave the hairs on your neck standing straight up.”
An award-winning French pianist/ composer currently based in London, Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch‘s musical practice also spans film score and sound design. Her work is connected both by its high quality and its evocative, meticulous craft – a common sensibility of elegant, instinctual composition. Having studied a Masters degree in composition at Goldsmiths whilst working for three years at online electronic store Bleep, these experiences show through in Emilie’s music, described by Tiny Mix Tapes as “stunning…. rich in reverb and resonance, sublime in the language its piano articulates, limned beautifully by orchestral and electronic ambience… melodic, graceful, eloquent, compelling.” Exclaim! Described Emilie as “quickly establishing herself as an important new voice in contemporary music. Her compositions for piano, viola, cello and electronics combine tender solo performances with rousing arrangements… Her exacting style produces a fully formed, gorgeously crafted result.”
Based in Stockholm, Shida Shahabi is a Swedish-Iranian pianist / composer, whose debut album is set for release this October. Shida studied piano from the age of 9 and began writing melodies on the instrument as soon as she could compose with two hands. Since finishing her studies at The Royal institute of Art in Stockholm in 2013, Shida has made site-specific sound installations, played in numerous different bands/ constellations and written music both solo and for dance, film, theatre and fine art contexts. She signed to 130701 earlier this year, having blown the label away with the dreamy, homespun charm of her album. Revealing a wonderfully fluid sense of touch and melody, her recordings make audible intimate acoustic details and imperfections – creaking and hissing; tiny distortions; the pressure exerted by fingers and feet against the piano’s pedals and keys. Fans of the likes of Nils Frahm, Goldmund, Dustin O’Halloran and Erik Satie should find something to fall for.
The EP’s title is taken from a line in Sylvia Plath’s poem, ‘Three Women’ and, whilst taken somewhat out of context, is used here to indicate both the instrumental rooting of the three artists’ music (bound to the resonating strings of the piano or cello) and to offer some suggestion of the fluidity and vastness it either draws from or expresses. Each of the three artists contributes two new tracks, and all tracks are exclusive to this EP. The track-list is completed with a field recording collage from 130701’s founder / label head, Dave Howell. Captured on wasteland at Severn Beach on the estuary of the River Severn, onto which a number of pianos were fly-tipped amongst other junk, it reveals a very different end of the string.