A FINE COMPANION

album release concert

FINE COMPANION is an album of newly composed settings of troubadour songs and texts, written in a dream-pop /shoegaze/ psychedelic rock style for an amplified combination of medieval and new instruments. The texts of this project were chosen by Charles Mueller (composer) and the ensemble, with a focus on troubadour lyrics that expand or refute the standard tropes of chivalrous love by choosing poems from a feminine perspective, and by delving into the metaphysical and spiritual subsets of the genre. The unbridled sensuality of the arrangements creates space for a raw experience that inspires a visceral reaction in the listener. Mueller has used pre-existing troubadour music as a melodic and modal prompt on a number of pieces, with direct quotations organically morphing as if in an inspired game of telephone.

HILDEGARD REFRACTED

Music from 12th Century nun Hildegard von Bingen's visionary ecstasies seed a synth-rock odyssey. these experimental arrangements are sung & played on old and new instruments - including medieval winds, synthesizers & electric harp.

BLOOD, BOOZE, AND BETRAYAL

album release concert

Long Echo Records release party for: *** Blood, Booze & Betrayal *** by Freelance Nun + Chivalrous Crickets

“Blood, Booze & Betrayal” features features Freelance Nun’s forays into the delightful macabre with our likewise off-kilter Celtic friends from the band the Chivalrous Crickets. Hear traditional tunes about dark choices ("Three Ravens/Twa Corbies" and "Cruel Mother"), drinking songs (the American "Three Nights Drunk" and its much earlier Scottish predecessor "Ham Came Our Gudeman at E’en"), and a newly-composed cantata about the travels of the relic hand of Saint James...from the point of view of the hand. It's a neo-baroque/folk/old time/new music album with early instruments like recorders and viols rubbing frequencies with accordions, Irish whistle, and harmonica.This album

Blood, Booze & Betrayal is opened by SIBYL, a newly formed sister duo that performs original compositions and newly imagined arrangements of folk songs by setting intricate vocal harmonies over sparse string lines. Their sound is both intimate and intense, hopeful and haunting…BOO!

Doors at 7:30

Sybil at 8pm

Freelance Nun + Chivalrous Crickets at 8:30

Event location will be texted to all RSVP'd guests the day before the show. It is ~3 blocks from the Halsey L train.

HILDEGARD REFRACTED

Featuring experimental arrangements of the music of 12th-century mystic Hildegard von Bingen sung & played on old and new instruments - including medieval winds, synthesizers & electric harp. Pieces are juxtaposed with lighthearted video content created by the performers that explore Hildegard’s medical and mystical writings.

Other artists on the program include:

Aron Zelkowicz and Christina Wright-Ivanova
Todd Reynolds, violin
Aizuri String Quartet