orphan fairytale / nico georis

orphan fairytale ~ tune in tree ears ((K-RAA-K)³, 2023)

"Eva Van Deuren has been wayfaring as Orphan Fairytale for the past 15 years and counting. With her electronic psychedelia that deftly teeters between the bubbly and the eerie, Van Deuren is a prolific presence in our spheres and her music is a constant which irrefutably touches and enchants all those who encounter it. Over the past few years she has integrated the Celtic harp into her repertoire, crafting new sounds that seamlessly meld into the narrative of her unique sonic trajectory.

Tune In Tree Ears, Orphan Fairytale’s first LP on KRAAK, presents these harp pieces that were first heard in the context of open air concerts in the summer, where the delicate melodies could float into the trees above and soar beyond to spaces unhindered. The ancestral character of the instrument adds new depths to an already complex musical universe that has always embraced tragedy and fantasy in equal measures. A bridge between the electronic elements that always defined her sound and a new direction born from a deep connection with earthly elements, Tune In Tree Ears brims with a wistfulness that uncovers new directions in Orphan Fairytale’s ever-unfolding dream world, allowing it to flourish through the natural extension of paths already paved. Released in tandem with Titania Moon, Orphan Fairytale’s latest hippietronic venture on Ultra Eczema!"

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nico georis - cloud suites (leaving records, 2003)

"California’s Nico Georis has always straddled (or, rather, negotiated) multiple dimensions. As a child, Georis flitted between the rigors of classical training and DIY experimentation—studying under a disciple of Franz Lizst (a mentorship that would enshrine the piano as his primary instrument), then squirreling away to the basement of his childhood home, strewn as it was with his father’s instruments and home-audio equipment, to play and record freely. Despite his evident virtuosity as a trained pianist, Georis has, across numerous projects, stints, incarnations, and chapters, persisted in this gentle and exploratory approach to music-making. Foregoing the pursuit of technical mastery and acclaim within the confines of the contemporary classical world, he has dedicated his talents to songcraft, broadly-defined — channeling unseen (or inaugurating altogether new) worlds through melody and repetition.

 

Conceived after an isolating, five-year struggle with a severe case of Lyme disease, Cloud Suites (out June 9th on Leaving Records) documents Georis’s initial return to experimental ambient keyboard compositions. Conceptually, there is little ambiguity here: the songs—the “suites”—are clouds, or, rather, reflections of clouds, each named after a particular formation. Track titles range from the meteorologically specific to the expressive: “Cumuloids,” “Sundog,” and “Soft Yellow Gazers.” Georis composed the suites in real-time, peering out the windows of his Big Sur cabin-home/recording studio (dubbed The Sky Shed), responding improvisationally to render specific clouds as music—in effect to pluck them from the sky. Georis has referred to this process as a kind of musical game, and, indeed, its end product conveys the recurring and joyful revelations of play."

 

 

me encantan estos dos discos. me encanta que nico georis sea al piano lo que orphan fairytale al harpa. me encanta los rosas y los azules algodonosos de las portadas y que la música encaje perfectamente con ellas (es música para levitar, literalmente). me encanta visualizar las delicadas melodías de 'tune in tree ears' flotando entre los árboles porque son grabaciones de conciertos al aire libre. incluso me encanta que 'cloud suites' esté agotado. y me encanta haber descubierto elmuelle1931, una pequeña tienda de santiago, y haber podido ver, tocar y llevarme a casa el disco de orphan fairytale. la voz etérea de eva van deuren, el harpa en cascada,  los sintes modulares, una guitarra, melodías absolutamente hermosas y melancólicas ('vlinder en vleermuis' no es de este mundo, 'aeolus', tan Miaux, tampoco), instrumentos destinados a evocar bosques mágicos. hay un profundo misterio y un gran cuidado en la composición y es, para mí, lo más bonito que ha hecho nunca Eva van Deuren.

escuchar el piano de Nico Georis me produce el mismo estado de ánimo que escuchar un disco de library music de los años 70, o a Norma Lyon...es una auténtica barbaridad. 'soft purple gazers'  suena como un extraño preludio instrumental. hay una calidad elemental y sobria en la música que, combinada con todo el ruido superficial del vinilo y las vocecillas folk de 'flight', le dan un tono pastoral e impresionista inexplicable. en 'ice crystals' las teclas del piano se acarician suavemente y me recuerdan las profundidades del océano, grupos de notas de nuevo en cascada, como un banco de peces en movimiento.

Georis, de formación musical clásica (cuenta la leyenda que estudió con un discípulo de Franz Lizst) compuso las suites en tiempo real, mirando por la ventana de su cabaña/estudio de grabación en Big Sur (llamado The Sky Shed), de forma improvisada, convirtiendo las formas de las nubes en música, como si las arrancase del cielo. para él, una especie de juego musical. para mí, un disco  flotante e ingrávido que siempre irá unido a 'tune in tree ears' de orphan fairytale.

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