As a kick off and preview to her forthcoming album project: Nodding Terms, Los Angeles composer and producer Shruti Kumar releases the record’s first single: SALT, on December 18th, 2021, on streaming platforms worldwide including Apple Music/iTunes and Spotify. The full album boasts a top-tier, all-women technical team, self-produced by Kumar, engineered by Fiona Cruikshank (Dot Allison, Marc Shaiman, Jacob Collier), mixed by Eva Reistad (Hans Zimmer, Britney Spears, Miley Cyrus), and mastered by Heba Kadry (Björk, Big Thief, Animal Collective, Beach House, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Garbage, Japanese Breakfast).

Inspired by the Joan Didion quote, “I think we are well advised to keep on nodding terms with the people we used to be, whether we find them attractive company or not,” Kumar’s Nodding Terms in its entirety is slated for self-release by Kumar in Spring 2022. The album centers on the notion of allowing influences and musical sensibilities from all stages, experiences, and memories to coexist. It aims to counter the convention that one needs just one sound or story—that a conversation of ideas is far more fulfilling.

Lead single SALT (7 minutes, 43 seconds) explores nuance and delivery with cinematic flair. With bends, flutters, and smart dynamics, this instrumental work finds the artist asking how many ways can a single idea be expressed. Recorded at Church Studios in London by the London Contemporary Orchestra, conducted by Hugh Brunt (Radiohead, Foals), SALT weaves strings, synths, and innovative production to get the most of an emotional arc. Kumar observes, “A simple idea delivered with slight differences can provide entirely different meanings to those listening.”

Kumar’s concept is driven by many takes on defining ‘salt’: as an abundant edible crystal compound; an adjective once used to mean lustful or lascivious, now taken as down-to-earth, coarse, embittered, or sassy; and with gravity, the 1930 Salt March (also known as the Salt Satyagraha or Dandi March), which was an act of nonviolent civil disobedience in colonial India led by Mohandas Gandhi — a moment in time that directly inspired this piece’s presentation and form.

While SALT delves into the expressions that suggest varying meanings from the same thought, LAST CALL (its counterpart featuring Zimbabwean-American singer-songwriter Shungudzo, to be released shortly) delves into the parallel obsession with searching for meaning in every thought.

“I find it an exciting way to introduce many musical elements to a potentially wider audience,” adds Kumar. “Making this record over lockdown with people all over the world and such an incredible group of collaborators — it’s been really unique in the sense of its aim to completely mix/eliminate genre.” Kumar will release these works in couples until the full album is released in the Spring. 

In addition to the innovative and highly respected London Contemporary Orchestra, this first installation will feature artists Shungudzo, Def Sound, Brandon Walters (Lord Huron), Seema Hari, BISHI, Drum & Lace, Aaron Steele (Portugal, The Man, Hayley Williams, Natalie Prass), Lara Somogyi, Stephanie Matthews (Adele, Lauryn Hill, We Are King), Ro Rowan, Marta Honer (Fleet Foxes, Angel Olsen), Emily Retsas (Phoebe Bridgers, Kim Gordon), Hal Rosenfeld, with other artists to be revealed.

For more information about Shruti, please visit shrutikumar.com

Irish composer/guitarist Dave Flynn, Artistic Director of the Irish Memory Orchestra (IMO), has just released a new album — IRISH MINIMALISM through the UK label First Hand Records. Featuring Mick O’Brien (uilleann pipes), Breanndán Begley (voice), ConTempo Quartet, and IMO Quartet, the album was produced by 11-time GRAMMY award winner Judith Sherman, and has liner notes from WNYC’s John Schaefer. 

Available directly from firsthandrecords.com, and at all major online outlets.

No other ensemble in the world has the mix of instrumentation, repertoire, and performance style of the Irish Memory Orchestra — a unique ensemble that pioneered performing from memory as an orchestra — a trend that has caught fire among orchestras in the UK and in Ireland. Poised on the brink of wide international recognition, Flynn’s music, and the Irish Memory Orchestra have a wide appeal as indicated by successes from London to New York, Moscow to Japan.

Comprising 14 tracks, Irish Minimalism features two works for string quartet: The Cranning (String Quartet No. 2) and The Keening (String Quartet No. 3) — both performed by ConTempo Quartet. The two other pieces represented on the album, both featuring the IMO Quartet, are The Cutting (Quintet No. 1 for Uilleann Pipes and String Quartet) featuring Mick O’Brien uilleann pipes; and Stories from the Old World, where O’Brien is joined by the beautiful voice of Breanndán Begley.

With the title Irish Minimalism, composer Dave Flynn has laid down a marker. Minimalism is associated with America, and specifically with composers like Steve Reich and Philip Glass (both of whom have spent a good portion of their careers disavowing the term).

But the hallmarks of the style — repetition; gradual, incremental changes that accrue over time; steady rhythms, often drawn from popular or traditional music; and a restrained sense of harmonic movement — are all compatible with Irish traditional music.

And after years spent as both a composer and performer working in the dual worlds of contemporary classical music and traditional song, By acknowledging the differences, and celebrating the similarities, Flynn has fashioned a personal musical language.

For more about Dave Flynn, please visit daveflynn.com
For more about the Irish Memory Orchestra, visit irishmemoryorchestra.com

Chicago Soprano Michelle Areyzaga and pianist Dana Brown are thrilled to present their new 4Tay Records release, Were I With Thee, showcasing a crystalline voice, masterful piano, and words penned by women and set by American composers.

“Were I With Thee” is a line from the Emily Dickinson poem “Wild Nights – Wild Nights,” and this album contains three settings of that poem. The album continues to celebrate Dickinson, featuring cover art by Emily’s living relative Kandice Dickinson.

Produced by Atlas Arts’ Aaron Gottl, this album comes together as an intelligently curated and performed body of work; a gorgeous piano and voice record that presents a unique vision, fusing women’s words from around the world to American song.

Areyzaga and Brown add, “This album will serve to introduce these works to young artists with the hope that they will be programmed on future recitals or albums. This is a female-uplifting project in all possible ways.”

Composers include Gwyneth Walker, Patrice Michaels, Richard Pearson Thomas, Lee Hoiby, Wayland Rogers, John Duke, Edouard Lippé, and Leonard Bernstein.

World premiere recordings are Walker’s Emily (complete cycle); Rogers’ Tres Poemas de Gabriela Mistral (two of which were composed for Areyzaga); Walker’s La Luz (from La Ternura, also composed for Michelle), and Duke’s standalone art song “What Lips My Lips Have Kissed”.

These songs are all based on texts written by women authors from a variety of English and Spanish speaking  countries, including:

• USA: Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Emily Dickinson, Dorothy Parker, Edna St. Vincent Millay

• England: Anne Bradstreet, Elizabeth Barrett Browning

• Chile: Gabriela Mistral

• Puerto Rico: Julia de Burgos

Visit wereiwiththee.com for more information or to order CDs which are $20 (standard) or $30 (autographed) — both feature a free digital download link. (Buying directly from the artists ensures that 100% of the fees will go to the artists.)

For more about Michelle Areyzaga, visit michelleareyzaga.com
And for more about Dana Brown, visit danabrownmusic.com

This project is partially funded by
Roosevelt University Professional Development Fund
and by the Musicians Club of Women.