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A 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 create 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. Album Tracks 1. The Switch with Which One Switches Oneself 2. Love Is Like the Spark (Escoutatz!) 3. Seguin + Valensa 4. I Know a Lady 5. Judas 6. Nor 7. The Butterfly 8. (Find Yourself) a Fine Companion 9. D'aurenga
