“WINTER DAWN” REHEARSAL AND LONDON SHOW CHANGE OF DATE!
August 30, 2017 § Leave a comment
Today while the rain was pouring outside and just before thunder stopped my rehearsal short, I was able to shoot this little video of the middle section of my song “Winter dawn”, one of my favorite songs from the new album, everything going through my new Soundcraft Signature12MTK mixing desk – 24 hours with it so far and I’m already so happy about it, the change in sound is so noticeable compared to my old Behringer!
In live-related news, please note: MY LONDON SHOW IS NOW ON 9TH DECEMBER, not 8th December as previously announced. If you have bought tickets already, your ticket will automatically be transferred to the new date, or you can of course get a refund if you cannot make it on 9th December. For those of you who didn’t know about the show, it takes place at St John Bethnal Green and is organised by Baba Yaga’s Hut – I really can’t wait, I love playing in London sooo much! :-)
LONDON SHOW 8TH DECEMBER 2017
August 24, 2017 § Leave a comment
So pleased to finally be able to announce a London show for 8th December at St John on Bethnal Green, presented by Baba Yaga’s Hut! Tickets available here.
There will also be a few more shows in Europe which I’ll be able to announce next month!
LEAF ALBUMS 2, 3 AND EP ON TAPE + BLACK VINYL, CANADIAN DATES AND TEMPORARY LIVE SETUP BEFORE UPGRADE!
August 19, 2017 § Leave a comment
I’m thrilled to let you know that you can now preorder my second album “The Golden Morning Breaks”, my third album “Les Ondes Silencieuses” and the EP “Colleen et les Boîtes à Musique” for the first time on tape via Beacon Sound, either individually (100 copy limited edition) or in a package featuring an exclusive print by Iker Spozio (50 copy ultra limited edition). Beacon Sound reissued my first album on tape last year and the packaging is not only beautiful but also friendly to the earth, and the Iker Spozio print even more so (more info in the link above).
Important: 1) Please note this is a preorder, release date is 14th October for Cassette Store Day. 2) We advise European customers to order directly from my Bandcamp as we have a limited number of copies (15 of each) shipping from the UK . If you are based elsewhere please support Beacon Sound and order directly from them. 3) The print edition package is available only from the Beacon Sound shop.
And talking of these albums, The Leaf Label is also accepting preorders for a limited 300 copy run on black vinyl of those same albums that also got reissued on coloured vinyl earlier this year. A 4-album black vinyl bundle is also available. Release date is October 6th. Head over to my Bandcamp to preorder!
I’m also really excited to be playing Montreal and Toronto again after last year’s concerts! I’ll be at La Sala Rossa, Montreal, on 10th November with support by the great Khôra and Ylang Ylang, and Arraymusic (promoted by Invocation), Toronto, on 12th November, with support once again by Khôra. And remember that even if you were at one of the shows last year, this is an entirely new setup with brand new songs from the forthcoming album!
In live-related news, I’ve finally rough-rehearsed all of the songs on a temporary setup made up of my old Behringer UB1204PRO, a Line 6 DL4 Delay, TC Mini Hall of Fame reverb, and of course the two Critter and Guitari synths and the two Moogerfoogers.
There was a certain amount of troubleshooting-without-results involved (for instance not being able to use the beam-with-your-smartphone custom reverbs of the TC reverb), but the really positive thing is that I’ve finally learnt how to operate a mixing desk: so far I’d used the Behringer only for rehearsals on my studio PA and basically just connected the Stereo Outs of the last DL4 in my pedal chain to 2 mono channel strips and then applied my favorite pan, 50% Left / 50% Right. However, performing the new music involves using external effects , so I’ve finally learnt how to use Aux Sends, and not only that: I now understand what Pre-fader and Post-fader mean and do, and have also learnt how to use the desk’s spare inputs for the FX returns instead of the dedicated Stereo returns.
If you are still following what I’m saying and are also of the I-try-to-do-everything-on-my-own-without -any-training school, then you’ll probably know that there are few things more satisfying than finally understanding something you’ve wondered about for years, and being able to apply this newly acquired knowledge in a practical musical project. In any case, it’s time to upgrade to a better mixing desk: the one I’m going for is supposed to have better preamps, better EQ, and great internal FX, as well as multiple Aux Sends, so I just can’t wait to receive it and work on the new *real* setup for the shows, and of course I’ll be sure to update you on that, keeping a special thought for those of you who are also interested in the gear aspect.
As always thanks for reading!
TELLING YOU MORE ABOUT A FLAME MY LOVE, A FREQUENCY
August 8, 2017 § 1 Comment
Even though you still can’t hear the album apart from “Separating”, I thought I would show you pictures of the vinyl and CD featuring the incredible artwork created by Iker Spozio and would let you know more about what is “behind” this album, which is as close to a concept album as I’ve ever come. Musically, it’s my first fully electronic and keyboard-based album (next month I will write a series of posts dedicated to my relationship with keyboard instruments). But just as crucially, this album was composed over the course of a very peculiar year for me, a year marked by the constant presence of death on my mind. Some of you may remember I posted a very melancholy mix on 4th November 2015, mentioning sad circumstances in my family. A very close family member had become suddenly very ill, and shortly after posting that mix, I went to France to visit my family, who live in a small town in the province. Right before the trip the horsehair on my viola da gamba bow came undone, and as I didn’t like the thought of sending such an expensive bow to the bow maker via mail, I decided to do as she suggested: I would drop the bow at a colleague of hers in the Republique area of Paris, so she could later pick it up. Paris is on the way to and back from my family’s home, but ever since I left it back in 2010, I rarely spend any time there. In 2015, I had spent only the night the show I gave on the Captain of None tour in April.
So I decided that at the end of my family visit I would go to Paris just for one afternoon and night, that way I would see some friends, drop the bow, and leave for San Sebastian the next day. I chose Friday 13th November, and at about 5 pm I walked back from the luthier and past the terraces of the Rue de la Fontaine au Roi. The afternoon was beautiful and sunny and Paris even seemed to regain some of the attraction that 11 years of living there had taken from it in my eyes. In the evening, as we sat having dinner with my friends in their living room, my boyfriend called us to tell us that there were terrorist attacks happening. We stayed glued to the news late into the night, sirens blaring outside, shaking in fear and disbelief at the thought of what was happening a mere 2 kilometres away. As the news unfolded, I also realised that some of the terraces that had been shot at were those very same terraces I had walked past a few hours earlier.
I was not able to sleep at all, and in the morning, after some hesitation, decided to take my train as planned. I could not believe that of all the days I could have been in Paris, it had to be *that* day, and I thanked destiny/chance/whatever you want to call it that I went past thoses terraces at 5 pm and not later on.
I spent the next two weeks pretty much like everyone else I know – trying to make sense of what had happened. The combination of those events and the illness of my beloved family member meant that for the next months, all I could think about – especially at night – was death: my own death, the death of people I love, the death of complete strangers. A couple of weeks after the events, though, I managed to shake myself out of inaction and started working on the record. The music and lyrics it contains served as my therapy, and I cannot wait to share this music with you as it means so much to me.
More information (on the technical side of things too) in the press release on the preorder page on my Bandcamp and Thrill Jockey’s page.
colleen 