Colleen - The Tunnel and the Clearing - COMPACT DISCS [CD]

Colleen's mastery of the art of sound sculpting is fully displayed on Le jour et la nuit du réel, a beautiful 21 song double album that manages to explore the intersections of the material and the imagined, a sonic odyssey unearthing soul from synthesis. The album is organized into several movements. Each movement employs different synthesis settings, but with distinctive chords and motifs that provide a through line, guiding the listener through gorgeous sonic landscapes. Schott elaborates InchTo me, the capacity of synthesis to alter - subtly or radically - the physical embodiment in sound of the same series of notes is akin to how, when given new information about a person or a situation, we can reevaluate our initial perception of what we thought was the InchrealityInch of that person or situation, sometimes drastically soInch.Le jour et la nuit du réel's astounding breadth of texture and emotion were sculpted from a surprisingly minimal setup even for Schott - an all-analog combination of one monophonic semi-modular synth, the Moog Grandmother, and two delays, the Roland RE-201 Space Echo and her trusted Moogerfooger Analog Delay. A kaleidoscopic range of sounds speckle the album's seven suites which mimic the range and nuance of emotions, both deeply personal and communal, parsed into two distinctive halves that represent day and night and the contrasting feelings each encompasses. One of the most consistently exciting voices in contemporary music, French composer Cécile Schott aka Colleen's new album Le jour et la nuit du réel, is a gorgeous wellspring of sonic delights. It is a double album filled with gorgeous details that rewards the listener with constant revelations and sonic delights.1. Subterranean - Movement I2. Subterranean - Movement II3. Subterranean - Movement III4. The long wait - Movement I5. The long wait - Movement II6. To hold and to be held -

French artist Colleen is fearless in her willingness to explore new sounds and new ways of creating music as a solo performer. On her new album A Flame My Love, A Frequency she introduces the most drastic change to her music since she began singing on her fourth album. Words used to describe her muse Arthur Russell are equally applicable to Colleen (multi-instrumentalist Cécile Schott). Schott's compositions can be in turn pop or experimental, vocal or instrumental, and acoustic or electronic. She has drawn on baroque sounds of a classical instrument using the most modern pedals and looping techniques. Shape shifting as she does, the pieces are always distinctly her strong and utterly unique musical voice.

The compositions of Colleen, aka multi-instrumentalist Cécile Schott, are as richly varied as they are precise. Each of Colleen's albums are shaped by her predetermined distinct instrumentation and parameters, including works composed entirely of music boxes, pocket synthesizers, and antiquated stringed instruments. The connective essence of Schott's music is in her ability to create pieces within this transcendent specificity that are both expansive and imbued with profound emotions. Libres antes del final is an album that reaches for the hope and desire to be truly freed from unnecessary suffering and harmful thoughts before reaching the end of one's life cycle.Schott composed and performed Libres on the Moog Matriarch, centering the record on a pulse-driven, bubbling energy with constant momentum. She then reamped the music in one of her favorite spaces in Barcelona, Casa Montjuic, accentuating the album's sense of movement. The reamping process adds a literal physicality to the album, as carefully chosen and placed microphones (including the famous Neumann KU100 binaural head) capture both the venue's PA sound itself and the venue's acoustics. Colleen's music translates snapshots of Schott's life into singular pieces, often instrumentally transmuting a dense web of sensations into wondrous sonic terrain.1. Mis armas se habían caído al suelo2. Puertas de mi cuerpo3. Antídoto4. Aguas abiertas5. Libres antes del final