New Amsterdam Records is proud to share “Wayward Free Radical Dreams” from Vespers For A New Dark Age, the new record from composer Missy Mazzoli, in collaboration with her ensembleVictoire, Glenn Kotche (of Wilco), synth producer Lorna Dune and virtuosic vocalists Mellissa Hughes, Martha Cluver and Virginia Warnken (of Roomful of Teeth). Pitchfork shared the track, noting that “the singers add an entirely new psychological dimension — music that once sounded like the lonely movement of your own thoughts now calls out to you in a voice of its own.” Vespers will see its release on March 31, 2015. The track is available to stream or embed HERE:
Over two years in the making, Vespers For A New Dark Age reimagines the traditional vespers prayer service and replaces the customary sacred verses with poems by Matthew Zapruder that contend with themes like technology, God and more. Mazzoli set out to create a more modern version of the vespers service, on her own terms, to explore the intersection of our modern technological age with the archaic formality of religious services. Vespers is meant to beg questions of its listeners — What haunts us in this “new dark age”? What role does ritual play in our lives? Is there room for the supernatural in an increasingly technological world?
On Vespers, acoustic movements that feature timbres spanning the sonic spectrum — from delicate violin runs and lush synth pads to soaring operatic vocals and pulsating percussion — alternate with three purely electronic interludes, where Mazzoli combines her compositional skills with forward-thinking remixing and sampling techniques. These interludes, finessed by electronic producer Lorna Dune, are meant to capture the elements of the compositions that came before them on the record as well as hint at themes to come, solidifying the tracks into a singular, streamlined body of work.Vespers also includes “A Thousand Tongues, feat. Deidre Muro of Savoir Adore (Lorna Dune Remix)“, a re-imagining of a Mazzoli composition that was recently deemed “the most striking and uncanny music Victoire has ever made” by Pitchfork.
The group’s eclectic instrumentation of strings, clarinet and synthesizers has been expanded to include a large pallet of electronic sounds and junk percussion, complemented by Kotche, whose massive drumset included three sets of crotales, glockenspiel, and a seemingly endless battery of cymbals. The vocalists often sing in quasi-baroque harmonies that glided over this landscape of percussion and synths, only to collapse into a haunting solo line.
Victoire is: Olivia De Prato (violin), Eileen Mack (clarinet), Lorna “Dune” Krier and Missy Mazzoli (keyboards, electronics), Eleonore Oppenheim (double bass), Mellissa Hughes (voice). Vespers was commissioned by Carnegie Hall and premiered there by Victoire, Glenn Kotche and Lorna Dune in February 2014.
Mazzoli drew on her experience writing operas, vocal and chamber music to create Vespers, while also expanding on the singular musical territory of Victoire’s debut release Cathedral City, deemed one of 2010’s best classical albums by NPR, The New Yorker and Time Out New York.
Vespers For A New Dark Age tracklist:
2. Hello Lord
3. Interlude 1
4. Come On All You
5. New Dark Age
6. Interlude 2
7. Machine
8. Postlude
Upcoming shows:
3/22 – Meredith Monk & Friends @ Carnegie Hall – New York, NY #
5/7 – Le Poisson Rouge (CD Release Party) – New York, NY %
5/9 – Walker Arts Center (Liquid Music Series) – Minneapolis, MN %
5/10 – Cincinnati Contemporary Art Center – Cincinnati, OH %
# – Missy Mazzoli & Victoire
% – Missy Mazzoli & Victoire w/Glasser & Noveller
