Opus Klassik, Germany’s prestigious juried classical music prize, announced nominees for the 2023 awards, with two nominations for Metropolis Ensemble’s 2022 studio album, Telekinesis.
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Chris Cerrone talks about the adaptation process, his favorite Billie Eilish song, the influence of his wife, and how he built an entire opera out of two chords.
“A mesmerizing debut… In A Grove benefits from the meticulous playing of Metropolis… and imbues the album with a sense of fidelity to its creator’s vision.”
“Entering Telekinesis’ sound world, one feels like an explorer discovering a planet located at the far reaches of a distant galaxy… a journey that is at once exhilarating, terrifying and alienating.”
“A work that pursues not only the strangeness of electronic instruments and acoustic instruments, but also creates an environment where you can coexist in a place where you can feel organically.”
“I don't think there's a more exciting contemporary composer than Tyondai Braxton… The electroacoustic action ebbs and flows, clashing with operatic drama one moment before crocheting a finely-textured silence with Braxton's ominous electronics… The eighty-seven players at work crafted a tremendous sonic adventure.”
Telekinesis has a unique tonal quality characterised by thrilling juxtapositions between electronic and acoustic sounds. An astonishing tour de force that gives new meaning to the word epic. Four stars.
Metamorphosis is quite lyrical and beautiful, gathering steam and lusciousness until self-infatuated Narcissus disappears into the void.
Samora Pinderhughes’ Grief mixes gospel harmonies, simmering post-hip-hop instrumentals and wounded balladry, the music shudders with outrage and vision.
Phong Tran’s “The Computer Room” transports us back to the days of dial-up through the sounds of early synthesizers, which range from melancholic to ecstatic to warm, heartfelt nostalgia, even in the complete absence of acoustic sound.
The picture Pinderhughes is painting on Grief is a sullen one, calling out the sufferings caused by racial capitalism; policing and prison systems; and oppressive ideologies.
Grief aims to evoke feeling through texture and harmony by underlining the human voice as a bonding agent.
Pinderhughes' album, Grief, is at the core of the project. The song "Holding Cell," which vividly explores the two questions, imagines letters written by three inmates.
It's fascinating listening to this record from Samora Pinderhughes, like how much softness there is to it at the same time. There's real grandeur and range and reach. Grief is a fantastic record.
Pinderhughes has become a virtuoso at turning the experience of living in community inside-out, revealing all its personal detail and tension, and giving voice to registers of pain that are commonly shared but not often articulated.
There's an uncompromising beauty to these works in “The Strange Highway” by the Iranian-born American composer, Gity Razaz. The closing “Metamorphosis of Narcissus” offers some fantastic musical storytelling. Impressive. Four stars.
A symphonic work that sounds like a lost sci-fi film soundtrack. It has the clustered, hovering awe of György Ligeti’s Atmosphères and the eerie arpeggiated angles of Hermann soundtracks like Vertigo and The Day The Earth Stood Still. It’s a hoot.
Telekinesis ascends like sharp blades and stairs to madness or wide-ranging, dismay and illusory quiet, generating swirls in a closed circle of sensations.
Fans of this electronic and orchestral specialist have been waiting for the next big statement. And here it is... Tyondai Braxton in full command of his art.
Seth Colter Walls reviews our new studio album, Telekinesis: “And here it is... Tyondai Braxton in full command of his art…”