Half Seas Over_音乐专辑
Half Seas Over
表演者: Half Seas Over
专辑类型: Import
介质: Audio CD
发行时间: 2010-05-04
唱片数: 1
出版者: Brownswood Recordings
条形码: 5060180320652
专辑简介
A brand new project from acclaimed pianist Elan Mehler who, while
working together with singer-songwriter Adam McBride-Smith on
?The After Suite? (Brownswood, 2009) discovered a rich vein of
material in the melding of their compositional styles. Their
partnership flourished and the two have written an astonishing
batch of tender, richly cinematic songs, with moments of subtle
revelation that draw on folk and rock music as much as jazz.
?Half seas over? is an old maritime expression used to describe a
drunken sailor, and though the wiles of alcohol is a theme
running through some of these new songs, the name has a deeper
significance for Elan and Adam. ?To me, it?s about the midway
point?being halfway between here and there,? says McBride-Smith,
who left the US for France in 2007. ?We also wrote this record
with an ocean between us, so you could take the name pretty
literally as a description of our geography as we were composing
these songs.?
Half Seas Over also represents the midway point where two musical
styles converge. Brownswood mainstay Elan Mehler is an
| accomplished pianist and composer with a wistful, brooding air
and a sensitivity and lightness of touch that belie his lanky
frame and dry wit. He has cemented his reputation via two superb
albums of elegant, introspective modern jazz on Brownswood
Recordings: ?Scheme For Thought? and ?The After Suite?. Oklahoma
native Adam McBride-Smith, whose own recordings have ranged from
alt-country to folk-rock, initially caught Elan?s ear when the
two were living in the same neighbourhood of Brooklyn, NYC. ?Jazz
musicians and singer-songwriters don?t always seem to speak the
same language?, explains Elan. ?But in some ways this project was
a natural transition for both of us.? One of Adam?s songs, ?I
Want to Leave You,? proved so memorable to Elan that he later
caught up with Adam in Paris to re-record it. The resulting
track, a haunting, sparse duet of piano and vocals is featured on
Mehler?s ?The After Suite.?
From this collaboration a mutually inspiring working relationship
developed which brought the duo to a 5-day recording session with
Max Goldman (drums), Liam Robinson (accordian) and Tod Hedrick
(bass) at Brooklyn?s Gardentone Studio under the aegis of
engineer Steve Wall. The resulting record straddles the grey
areas between jazz, folk and rock music, but seems perfectly at
ease in its hybrid state, as described by Adam: ?I hope that
other people hear in this music what we do: something both
strange and strangely familiar; minimal and complex; the point on
the horizon between this shore and the other.?
曲目
01. Get Me To The Station 3:42
02. The New Breed 3:47
03. Sad Mona 4:18
04. Prelude 1:00
05. Evensong 4:57
06. Sunday's Empire 3:06
07. Into The Night 4:08
08. The Hathaways 3:32
09. Just To Clear My Head 5:32
10. Cypress Grove 3:47
11. Here On The Plains 3:46
12. Rake 3:21
13. Long Way Down 4:56
