Sara-Jane Summers - Kalopsia
by Nicky Crewe
published: 28 / 4 / 2019
Label:
Eighth Nerve Audio
Format: CD
intro
Intriguing adventure in sound on instrumental new album from classically-trained violinist Sarah-Jane Summers
One of my favourite radio programmes is ‘Late Junction’ on Radio 3. Over the years that I’ve listened to it, I’ve been introduced to many kinds of music. Some of you reading this will know that it is under threat of being reduced to one night only. There’s a petition you can sign. During the years I have been listening, the way in which we access music has changed in ways that would have been hard to predict. It’s so much easier to access what we know we like. ‘Late Junction’ provides the excitement of the unpredictable and unexpected. Sarah-Jane Summer’s compositions have been part of that adventure for me when her ‘VIRR’ album of improvisations was presenter Fiona Talkington’s Album of the Year in 2017, Sarah-Jane Summers is a classically trained musician, specialising in viola and violin. She has a masters in Norwegian folk music and plays the Hardanger fiddle. She also plays fiddle in the old Scottish Highland style. Using these traditions as a starting point, she uses contemporary and extended violin techniques in her compositions, taking them beyond music as we recognise it and into a sonic experience. Working with Juhani Silvola, a folk musician and composer based in Oslo, she has created an eerie and atmospheric series of instrumental pieces that are intriguing and mysterious. I am very aware that these will not be to everyone’s taste. There’s a vibration to them that has to have a personal resonance and connection. This is a strange and terrible beauty. Perhaps there’s a message in the title of the album. ‘Kalopsia’ is defined as the delusion of things being more beautiful than they are, and if you as a listener surrender to that thought you’ll enjoy a rich sonic experience. Each track takes its name from from a word that describes a feeling, a sensation, a sound, a state of mind, and the sleeve notes and the definitions are an education in themselves. ‘Petrichor’ (Greek) describes the scent of rain after a long period of dry weather, ‘Hiraeth’ (Welsh) is about homesickness and exile and longing, ‘Widdendream’ (Old Scots/Old English) is a frenzied nightmare. There are fourteen tracks, fourteen words and definitions to consider alongside the sounds they inspire. There’s something spell binding, even Gothic about the experience of listening to this album. I found myself transported to abandoned buildings and old industrial spaces, with waterwheels not waterfalls. Deserted landscapes with crows and gulls crying, not the sweet song of the thrush or blackbird. This is adventurous listening. Take the risk.
Track Listing:-
1 Lypophrenia2 Scintilla
3 Oneirataxia
4 Widdendream
5 Petrichor
6 Susurrus
7 Meraki
8 Hiraeth
9 Reveille
10 Sciamachy
11 Phosphenes
12 Kenopsia
13 Lethophobia
14 Tacenda
most viewed articles
current edition
The Church - Interview with Steve KilbeySimon Heavisides - Destiny Stopped Screaming: The Life and Times of Adrian Borland
In Dreams Begin Responsibilities - #15- On Being Dignified and Old aka Ten Tips From Jah Wobble On How To Be Happy.
Secret Shine - Interview
Vetchinsky Settings - Interview
Repomen - Ten Songs That Made Me Love...
Jack Roscoe - Interview
Sami Sumner - Interview
Near Jazz Experience - Interview
Flaming Stars - Interview
most viewed reviews
current edition
Lewis 'Burner' Pugh - Bullets for BreadIan Hunter - Defiance Part 2: Fiction
Inutili - A Love Supreme
Kula Shaker - Natural Magick
Smalltown Tigers - Crush On You
David Cross Band - Ice Blue Silver Sky
Hillbilly Moon Explosion - Back in Time
My Life Story - Loving You is Killing Me
Beyonce - Cowboy Carter
Ty Segall - Three Bells
Pennyblackmusic Regular Contributors
Adrian Janes
Amanda J. Window
Andrew Twambley
Anthony Dhanendran
Benjamin Howarth
Cila Warncke
Daniel Cressey
Darren Aston
Dastardly
Dave Goodwin
Denzil Watson
Dominic B. Simpson
Eoghan Lyng
Fiona Hutchings
Harry Sherriff
Helen Tipping
Jamie Rowland
John Clarkson
Julie Cruickshank
Kimberly Bright
Lisa Torem
Maarten Schiethart