Indie Stores Exclusive

Tracklist:

1. Phase I (04:19)
2. Phase II (04:33)
3. Phase III (08:58)
4. Phase IV (05:15)
5. Phase V (02:54)
6. Phase VI (04:51)
7. Phase VII (09:11)

The first release to document the solo cello work of musician and composer Lucy Railton, the 40-minute composition Blue Veil recorded at glise du Saint-Esprit in Paris invites listeners into the realm of precision-tuned states of resonance: states made manifest through Railtons careful traversal of her cellos most subtle acoustic characteristics as they harmonically interlock with minds embodied modalities of attention and imagination.

Blue Veil arises out of, is sustained in and finally dissolves back into Railtons momentary presence with her intimate connection to the cello, a way of hearing that allows for a deeper engagement with harmonic resonance, one that opens a space for immediate encounters of mind and sound.

Railtons exploratory practice of harmonic perception emerges from a focus on the physical qualities of intervallic and chordal sounds, their textural qualities, degrees of friction, and inner pulsations. Composing in the moment guided by resonances within the cellos body, her own, and their shared vibrational space, Railton moves through Blue Veil by giving sounds what they ask for: sounds of pure texture manifesting as a move through temporal transparency, sounds of rough texture marking regions of dimensionally dense space.

Railtons creative and highly refined use of just intonation harmony deforms sounds inner movements in ways that suggest a mode of listening that actively supplies imagery of sounds implied or completely absent rather than merely savouring those fully present. This active mode of listening-with, playfully and semi-metaphorically referred to by Railton as sing-along music, allows listening to reflexively participate in the musics movement as it gradually passes through richly saturated domains of harmonic imagination. And just as the precision-tuned tones of Blue Veil lose their individuality when fusing multifaceted uniformity, listenings structures of reference and recognition dissolve into nameless waves of intensity, continuously unfolding themselves upon and merging with the listener.

Blue Veil is the result of a deep exploration of the inner worlds of tuning, an undertaking in turn informed by and emerging out of Railtons realisations of the music of Catherine Lamb and Ellen Arkbro, her collaborative work with Kali Malone and Stephen OMalley as well as her interpretive practice in performing the work of Maryanne Amacher, Morton Feldman and others.