Botanist - Cicatrix / Diamond Brush - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Photosynthesis is a concept album about how plants convert sunlight into energy, how they transform carbon dioxide into the oxygen that all fauna need to breathe. The album's eight tracks each deal with an aspect of photosynthesis, from the macro InchWaterInch to the micro InchPalisades,Inch which reflects the theme of botanical lungs on a microscopic level. The album culminates with InchOxygen,Inch holding high the imagery of InchVerdant Alveolus Diaspora,Inch the album's core visual theme, depicting the world's forests as a functioning lung system's individual cells, scattered throughout the globe. Photosynthesis is the fourth InchcollectiveInch album in Botanist's greater discography, meaning it is composed of a group of individuals. Band originator Otrebor (hammered dulcimers, vocals, keyboards) composed the music and lyrics to the drums of returning member Daturus (Botanist's live drummer since 2017, who played on 2019's Ecosystem) and new bassist Tony Thomas.Photosynthesis sees Botanist returning to The Flenser stable, whose partnership yielded three albums, including 2014's VI Flora, perhaps the project's most noteworthy work.This was recorded in the Verdant Realm in California. The album production was handled by Dan Swanö, a musician whose legend is equally for his enormous contributions to the Swedish melodic and progressive death metal scenes in the '90s and '00s, as he is for his output of top-shelf album productions from his Unisound studio. The application of Swanö's creative genius in more artistic, avant-garde areas of the metal spectrum is a match of dreams for Botanist, resulting in an album that achieves a new level of the project's expanding vision with production excellence.

San Francisco post-black metal outfit BOTANIST and Los Angeles based electronic project THIEF the split-album InchCicatrix/Diamond BrushInch. Despite their stylistic differences, both bands have much in common. They were both conceived and are mostly recording as solo-projects run by a single mastermind. Both multi-instrumentalists recruit live members to put their music on the stage. Yet the connection between BOTANIST's Otrebor aka Roberto Martinelli and Dylan Neal from THIEF runs deeper Dylan Neal played hammered dulcimer in the post-black metal outfit and even after officially departing from BOTANIST, he has continued to contribute as a InchsilentInch member, for example by writing the dulcimer and bass parts for the album InchCollective The Shape of He to ComeInch. This personal connection between both bands is reflected in the material of this split-album. BOTANIST's InchCicatrixInch contains previously unreleased tracks from the recording sessions of their acclaimed full-length InchVI FloraInch (2014), which is also the record that Dylan toured on, when the band went to Europe and delivered their legendary performance at the Roadburn Festival in 2015. The botanical term 'cicatrix' refers to the scarring that shows on a plant after it has been damaged and the title track points towards the damage that mankind has inflicted at the global flora. While the backbone of THIEF's sound has been formed by manipulated sacred chant and choral samples, InchDiamond BrushInch prominently features live drums and electric guitars for the first time on one of their records. Thematically, Dylan explores a spiritual pursuit of awakening through the experience of transgression and suffering with allusions to Joyce, Salinger, Nabokov, and Mobb Deep. InchDiamond BrushInch is also intended as a companion to the third THIEF full-length, InchThe 16 Deaths of My MasterInch, which i

This album features Sonatas by Robert Schumann, Clara Wieck Schumann, and George Enescu, transcribed for viola and piano by violist Elias Goldstein. Second Prize Winner of the 2015 Primrose Competition, prize winner if the Lionel Tertis International Competition, second prize winner at the Bashmet International Viola Competition, violist Elias Goldstein has performed all over the world. Important venues in North America include the Kennedy Center, Seattle Symphony's Benaroya Hall, Place des Arts - Montreal, and Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall where he was the first violist to perform all 24 Caprices by Paganini, programming them for his debut in 2016. Hailed by the New York Times as Inchspectacular and elegantInch, pianist Angela Draghicescu has quickly established a reputation as a much sought-after collaborative artist and chamber musician. She performs regularly in major centers throughout the world with many of this generation's most renowned musicians. Recent engagements have included performances at Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, Benaroya Hall, Rudolfinum Prague, George Enescu Philharmonic, Suntory Hall, Hindemith Institute, as well as many other venues in Europe, the US, and Asia.