colleen

Special versions – Live at ACCA, Brighton is out today, which is Bandcamp Friday, meaning the platform doesn’t take its commission, making it an ideal day for fundraising! There are still 19 hours to go (it ends at midnight Pacific Time, 9 am on Saturday in mainland Europe) and so far it’s going really well, 320$ in just 3 hours!!! I would be overjoyed if you helped the initiative either through donating directly and/or sharing it around you!

This fundraising #1 is for @thepcrf PALESTINE CHILDREN’S RELIEF FUND‘S Urgent Gaza Relief Fund.

… + REFLECTIONS ON REAMPING AND RECORDING LIVE

Will you believe me if I say this version of “Les parenthèses” is one of my favourite things that I’ve done *ever*? Will you also believe me if I tell you I believe this is probably the best sound I’ve ever had on any recording of mine, courtesy of the stunning PA-and-room capture by sound engineer @kanearis at @attenboroughctr (put on your fav headphones or connect to your amp and speakers and hopefully you will agree)?

I couldn’t be more excited about the ramifications of this recording, because it ties in so neatly with my plans for LP9 and came at the *exact right moment*. Indeed, the older I grow, the more I believe (because I’ve experienced it first hand over and over again) that certain experiences come to us to show us that the seed of an idea is meant to grow and bear fruit. Reamping was already on my radar thanks to giving a hand to @molero___a on his beautiful second album Destellos del Extasis, on which the depth and richness of sound achieved through reamping is evident (in his case, in an empty swimming pool! I helped with the microphone placement). But also, one of the albums that has touched me the most this year is @colinstetson The love it took to leave you, which was recorded in live conditions: I heard it right after listening to Kane’s recording of my show, which had already sealed my decision I would reamp LP9 in a live space, so the timing of hearing Colin’s album couldn’t have been more perfect, like a voice saying “This is it, no room for doubt”. Believe me, for someone who has recorded their entire output in small spaces, this is such a super exciting decision for me, and even makes me feel like I’m starting all over again.

SPECIAL VERSIONS – LIVE AT ACCA, BRIGHTON: 6th DECEMBER BANDCAMP FRIDAY, FUNDRAISING #1 FOR @thepcrf PALESTINE CHILDREN’S RELIEF FUND
A lot of love went into this music and this release, so I sincerely hope you will like these new versions of the songs from my last album Le jour et la nuit du réel @thrilljockey as much as I do, and that you will join me tomorrow on this first fundraising for @thepcrf‘s Urgent Gaza Relief fund 🙏🙏🙏
This is a Bandcamp exclusive release in both audio and video (the entire show was filmed), with 100% of proceeds going to humanitarian causes in perpetuity (FULL TRACKLISTING AND CREDITS BELOW). LINK WILL BE ACTIVE WHEN BANDCAMP FRIDAY STARTS: midnight to midnight Pacific Time, 9 am Friday to 9 am Saturday mainland Europe.

When I developed those versions, I decided I would record them, just wasn’t sure where and when.
On that night at @attenboroughctr I actually didn’t know the show was being recorded, and the more I played, the more moved I felt by how the music sounded on the PA and in the room, even from the stage. If you perform live regularly, you will know what a special feeling that is, because not every concert is like that: you may be just concentrating on the “mechanics” of getting it right, you could be having issues related to yourself (your state of mind, stress, tiredness, health…), your instruments or a venue technical issue… but there are times when the miracle of feeling a deep emotion through the music while playing it happens, and on that night, on which I was exceptionally relaxed, I definitely felt it.
“I really wish this had been recorded”, I told the audience at the end of “Les parenthèses enchantées – Mvt IV – Swimming version”, so when sound engineer @kanearis told me, after the show, “It *was* recorded, with several mikes too”, I literally gave him a hug! So what you will hear is the sound from my mixing desk (where I mix the Grandmother and 2 delays), mixed with the sound from Kane’s desk and 2 ambiant mikes capturing the sound of the PA in the venue from 2 different locations.
I invite you to read @thepcrf home and FAQ pages to see how they are working on the ground to provide medical aid in many different ways to the country’s children.
🙏🙏🙏 @attenboroughctr @la_ducceschi @gomez_servin_andres for the artwork; extra special 🙏🙏🙏 @kanearis

SPECIAL VERSIONS LIVE AT ACCA, BRIGHTON: 6TH DECEMBER BANDCAMP FRIDAY FUNDRAISING FOR PALESTINE + THE HISTORY OF “MON COEUR”

Even though I didn’t technically make a “special version” of “Mon coeur”, I have decided to include it in this release, as I have played it live only for the past 8 shows or so, and the way it builds up until it reaches the actual album synthesis settings still feels magical to me, with the added PA and ambiant room sounds of ACCA taking it to another level soundwise (🙏🙏🙏 @kanearis )… the spring reverb kicking in every time I’m patching is an acquired taste I suppose!😅

The song feels extra special to me as it is a symbol of what synthesis has meant for me on a personal and musical level. I originally wrote it on the Yamaha Reface YC in 2020 and it was going to be the last song on my previous album The Tunnel and the Clearing (2021), until I made a last minute decision to ditch it in favor of making the album shorter and ending it with “Hidden in the Current”, so that both the record and its ending would be more impactful given its main theme (the end of a relationship and the necessary rebirth that has to come from it).

When I started work on Le jour et la nuit du réel, right after The Tunnel was released, I didn’t know yet I was going to end up focusing purely on synthesis, with only the Moog Grandmother and 2 delays as my tools, but in a very natural way, it was the melody of “Mon coeur” that I first recreated on the Grandmother, with some necessary changes due to the shorter keyboard, and it was this song that served as my main playground for synthesis experiments in the early stages of the album. I probably ended with about 12 different versions, and in the end settled on this gentle version which, weirdly enough, is also (in my opinion) the only song on the whole album that has a “classical Moog sound”, especially when the moodulation enterss in.

Can’t wait to share the whole project with you, in both audio and video, next week, fundraising for Palestine.

SPECIAL VERSIONS LIVE IN ACCA, BRIGHTON: BANDCAMP EXCLUSIVE RELEASE FOR HUMANITARIAN CAUSES – 6th DECEMBER LAUNCH FOR PALESTINE.
Yesterday on my Instagram, when posting the below video as a reel, I wrote “I am usually a woman of many words, but for once I will use my words sparingly.” Well, given that this website is the one platform that I use that is not controlled by social media giants, I will have to add a few more words than in my initial post: my reel has clearly been hidden /censored (call it whatever you will) from Instagram, and this morning when I uploaded the video on Youtube, the same thing happened. So in the end, I removed the offending word – “Palestine” – from my text, in the hope that this won’t be censored as much. The word “Palestine” is still in the video itself, and I don’t know if whatever technology it is that verifies content is also able to scan words embedded within a video, and frankly, I am not even sure I want to know, as I find the whole thing utterly depressing, with the added twist that of course, the irony of complaining about these platforms while still using them is not lost on me.

As you know, I don’t usually ask you my readers and listeners to actually “like” a post or video, but this time, if you do, whether on Instagram (reel is here) or Youtube (VIDEO BELOW or here), it will definitely help make the project more visible, which ultimately will help the fundraising, which is what this is about.

Here is the post as I wrote it yesterday:
I really hope you will join me on 6th December for this audio and video project which means a lot to me musically and humanly. 
As with my animal shelters initiative, this is meant to be a project in perpetuity in which 100% of proceeds go to organizations operating on the ground, starting with help for Palestine on the next Bandcamp Friday 6th December.
These are new exclusive versions based on songs from my last album Le jour et la nuit du réel @thrilljockey , in both audio and video, recorded at the wonderful @attenboroughctr in Brighton earlier this month, and will not be available anywhere else.
Massive thanks to Kane Aris @kanearis for capturing this performance and for his help, kindness and patience on working on this with me, ACCA @attenboroughctr for authorizing the use of this recording and Laura Ducceschi @la_ducceschi for inviting me to perform.

A post in Spanish :-)))

SPECIAL VERSIONS LIVE IN L’AUTOMÀTICA, BARCELONA, 27 DE OCTUBRE 2024, O EL AMOR A LA CERCANÍA
Si fuera por mí, en cada concierto estaría rodeada de las personas del público, mirando encima de mis espaldas lo que estoy haciendo. Amo la sensación de cercanía, porque va junta de la mano con la sensación de confianza: confianza en los demás, confianza en ti misma, confianza de que esto – hacer musica en directo – es algo a la vez simple y profundo. 
En realidad son pocos los contextos que permiten una tal cercanía, pero este concierto, cocido a fuego lento, lo ha permitido de una manera que me ha dejado llena de paz y ilusión.

Ana @anabananadj del programa de radio @amuletosradio me había hablado desde principios del año de su intención de montar un evento para celebrar su programa, y le dije enseguida que podría contar con migo, ya que me había ayudado y apoyado en varias ocasiones, y me gustaba el carácter más personal de su programa, que pide a los invitados de elegir sus “músicas amuletos”. No se trata de brillar por originalidad o buen gusto, sino de pensar de manera más intima sobre que músicas han resonado o resuenan fuerte para ti.
Había oído hablar de @l_automatica , una imprenta tipográfica gestionada por un colectivo en Gracia, desde ya hace tiempo, pero no había ido a ningún evento alli, hasta que fue a ver a uno de mis músicos favoritos de Barcelona, Jordi Gegé @jordigege , en Septiembre.
Durante el concierto, rodeadas de las bellísimas máquinas y del olor a tinta, me giré hacia Ana y le dije “Estoy viendo el Space Echo aqui”. Cuando resultó que una de las personas del colectivo, Renata aka @ninja.papel , era fan de mi música, cualquier duda se fue volando.

🙏🙏🙏 📷 @rodrigo_notari @amuletosradio @ninja.papel @l_automatica y vosotr@s por la onda ❤❤❤