Monica Pearce
Zeena Parkins. Lace Multi-instrumentalist, composer, and improviser Zeena Parkins was not initially inspired by lace, finding it “too ornate, too bourgeois, not [her] thing.” Despite this, she would collect bits of lace, among other textile treasures, from fabric stores on her travels. In 2008, on a[...] Read more
Hope Lee. Across the Veiled Distances. Covering almost four decades of Hope Lee’s writing for the piano, Across the Veiled Distances encompasses a wide musical investigation in a retrospective album of her evolving relationship to the instrument. Through five works, Lee layers foreground and background piano gestures, balancing[...] Read more
Joyfultalk. A Separation of Being. From the musical mind of Nova Scotia-based Jay Crocker (aka Joyfultalk), A Separation of Being is a colourful, sophisticated, tripartite composition rooted in his unique brand of minimalism. The album’s incredibly striking artwork is based on Crocker’s own system for visualized[...] Read more
Zosha di Castri. Tachitipo. New York–based Canadian composer Zosha di Castri’s Tachitipo is a striking, rigorous debut album of solo and chamber works. Comprising interpretations by a veritable who’s who of contemporary performers—International Contemporary Ensemble, Yarn/Wire, and the Jack[...] Read more
NakedEye Ensemble. Toy. The electroacoustic chamber group NakedEye Ensemble, based in Lancaster, Pennsylvannia, includes electric guitar, saxophone, flute, cello, electric bass, percussion, piano, and often toy piano. The ensemble walks a line between experimental classical music, avant jazz, and classic rock. On[...] Read more
Kathryn Ladano. Masked. Kathryn Ladano studied with Montreal free-improv VIP Lori Freedman, is based in Kitchener, Ontario, and focuses her practice on improvisation. She explores the multiple identities of the bass clarinet on her latest album Masked, which is framed by the idea of how an instrument serves as a[...] Read more
Bekah Simms. Impurity Chains. Gilded from the depths of the underworld of the Internet age, Toronto-based Bekah Simms’ corrosive debut album Impurity Chains is an eclectic collection of her chamber works, many of which involve deeply intertwined electronics. Performed by various artists, Simms’ works here are[...] Read more
Ida Toninato / Jennifer Thiessen. The Space Between Us. The debut duo album of rising improvising stars Ida Toninato and Jennifer Thiessen, The Space Between Us, is an intimate, nuanced dialogue between baritone sax and viola d’amore. The players weave around each other in a sophisticated conversation, often overlapping, in agreement,[...] Read more