Beaufort Scales
Cold Blue, 2024
9/10
The Brooklyn composer Christopher Cerrone presents a platform for women’s voices and electronics, where the Lorelei Ensemble flesh out these 11 adventurous pieces.
“Prelude” starts the listen with much attention to tonality via the harmonic voices and stirring backdrop, and “Step 1” follows with wordless voices providing ambience before the pretty singing enters a cinematic climate.
Further along, “Interlude 2” features vivid storytelling alongside a backdrop of mystery, while “Interlude 3” recruits some of the most lovely vocals amid the echoes and whispers.
Close to the end, the fuller “Steps 10 & 11” uses repetition to its advantage via the rich singing and ominous instrumentation, and "Postlude” exits with radiant droning that employs mouths like an instrument and builds into a emotional high before an abrupt exit.
A very precise effort that focuses on the 8 females, the chilling electronics, strategic distortion, and well timed intensity, Cerrone draws us in from the beginning, and fill us with wonder and awe.
Travels well with: Kris Bowers- For A Younger Self; Scott Wollschleger- Between Breath