Field Studies
Redshift, 2023
9/10
The inimitable chamber artist Emilie Cecilia LeBel makes quite an impression on this debut album that’s quite calm, precisely textured and abstract in very absorbing ways.
“evaporation, blue” opens the listen with Cheryl Duvall’s graceful piano and soothing harmonica that spreads out across 11+ minutes of intimate waves, and “and the higher leaves of the trees seemed to shimmer in the last of the sunlight’s lingering touch of them” follows with Roger Admiral’s eloquent piano alongside the strategic electronic processing that makes for much ambience.
“drift” arrives in the middle and welcomes Jane Berry’s powerful pipes to the Edmonton Ensemble that is Ultraviolet, who use Mark Segger’s precise percussion superbly, while “even if nothing but shapes and light reflected in the glass” highlights Ultraviolet’s Chenoa Anderson’s atypical flute and Balcetis’ moody sax in the album highlight.
The final track, “further migration (migration no. 1)”, then finds Ilana Waniuk on violin for the very unconventional string manipulation that’s cinematic, mysterious and expressive in very unique ways.
An artist who excels in chamber and orchestral moments and whose sonic palette is always unpredictable, the very harmonic shapes and structures from LeBel makes these 5 tracks highly captivating.
Travels well with: Joseph Petric- Seen; Instruments Of Happiness- Slow, Quiet Music In Search Of Electric Happiness