First time listening on vinyl:
Hmm, this sounded a little darker and weirder than expected.
First time listening in the car:
Oh f*** me, I'll never learn! Always falling for that damn 45rpm trap!
But now that we know the right speed, let's look what a beauty jumped into my merch bag at the Hafenklang last week!
JO QUAIL - Invocation / Supplication (Orange Crush & Sea Blue with Black Marble vinyl 2LP) (2023)
Following her phenomenal orchestral work "The Cartographer", a commissioned piece originally written for Roadburn 2020 (but then of course postponed for two years) Jo Quail now returns with a double release which was also very much informed by the circumstances of the pandemic and somehow became an exercise in how grand she could make her vision sound while recording it at home with no direct contact to guest musicians. This involved tinkering with smartphone recordings of specific syllables in different pitches to create a choir. But you really wouldn't guess it if the artist wouldn't so freely tell you about it.
"Invocation" and "Supplication" are two related, simoultanously written pieces, each forming an EP. While the digital releases are available seperately, for this physical edition the sleeves with the two beautifully coloured records come together in a brown slipcase, a presentation which seems especially familiar for classical works. Not that I'm an expert in that field at all, but I looked through enough flea market record bins to know it.
Most guest instrumentation can be found on the three tracks of "Invocation", which also contains the aforementioned choir and features the mystical Folk voice of Maria Franz as lead vocalist. Indeed during the opener "Macha" the combination of percussion, bass and Jo's cello drones sounds quite close to her band Heilung, while horn and trombone lean more towards the Contemporary Classical side. The latter becomes even more obvious via the structure of both the very Ambient "Willow of All", but also the finale "Baroscyre". That one features the return of the drums and a higher complexitiy that almost feels as if it was meant to directly score the crucial action scene of a fantasy flick.
Instrumentally the second EP "Supplication" is focussed much more on Jo's own electric and acoustic cello playing, which vibrates in deep dark waves and loops and also serves as the only percussive sound source. All vocals vocals are sung by Lorenzo Esposito Fornasari - and what this experimental singer does is hard to categorize. Is it a Rock singer successfully crossing Jazz, Folk and Operatic influences? Ultimately it's equally as outstanding and otherworldy as the performance of Maria Franz on the other side of this coin.
And like actually the whole body of Jo Quail's work there's just no neat convenient box (except the literal cardboard one) to put any aspect of this double EP / album into. (See, I can't even pin down the format!)
Even combined "Invocation / Supplication" is too short - and also partly too introverted - to truly call it epic as a whole. At least not in the immediately obvious way. On the other hand it undeniably exudes a grandeur of thought and idea, a rich inner profoundness. It feels like a brilliant idea and a huge emotion slowly and harmoniously swelling up together inside of you.
And if you flicker long enough with your eyes you might also find the vague shadow of a fairy or dragon here and there on your retina.
"Invocation" and "Supplication" are two related, simoultanously written pieces, each forming an EP. While the digital releases are available seperately, for this physical edition the sleeves with the two beautifully coloured records come together in a brown slipcase, a presentation which seems especially familiar for classical works. Not that I'm an expert in that field at all, but I looked through enough flea market record bins to know it.
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| Jo Quail live in Hamburg |
Instrumentally the second EP "Supplication" is focussed much more on Jo's own electric and acoustic cello playing, which vibrates in deep dark waves and loops and also serves as the only percussive sound source. All vocals vocals are sung by Lorenzo Esposito Fornasari - and what this experimental singer does is hard to categorize. Is it a Rock singer successfully crossing Jazz, Folk and Operatic influences? Ultimately it's equally as outstanding and otherworldy as the performance of Maria Franz on the other side of this coin.
And like actually the whole body of Jo Quail's work there's just no neat convenient box (except the literal cardboard one) to put any aspect of this double EP / album into. (See, I can't even pin down the format!)
Even combined "Invocation / Supplication" is too short - and also partly too introverted - to truly call it epic as a whole. At least not in the immediately obvious way. On the other hand it undeniably exudes a grandeur of thought and idea, a rich inner profoundness. It feels like a brilliant idea and a huge emotion slowly and harmoniously swelling up together inside of you.
And if you flicker long enough with your eyes you might also find the vague shadow of a fairy or dragon here and there on your retina.
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