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Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album
This CD's paper cover is another part of suzueri's creation. She designed the cover; created the layout of the four-sided jacket (with spine) and Japanese-English liner notes (by Tomotaro Kaneko, translated by suzueri and Jonathan Kemp) on A3 size cardboard; and made an order to a printer. After the paper covers were delivered in sheet form, she personally cut and assembled each one.
Includes unlimited streaming of Fata Morgana
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Sound artist/improviser suzueri started her musical activity in the 1990s, and her wide-ranging work since then has included concerts, exhibitions and installations. It was in the late 2000s that she began the style of performance heard on this album, combining upright piano and handmade devices. She continued to develop her concerts featuring this combination, and in the 2010s she earned widespread recognition and praise among improvised/experimental music fans for her unique "suzueri" style.
Three CDs of suzueri's performances at Ftarri with upright piano and self-made devices have previously been released on the Ftarri label: "Live at Ftarri" (meenna-993), a 2013 concert by the trio of suzueri, Tetuzi Akiyama (guitar) and Makoto Oshiro (self-made instruments), plus a quartet by these three and British drummer Roger Turner; "Ftarri de Solos" (ftarri-887), pairing solos performed in 2017 by suzueri and Hong Kong sound artist Fiona Lee; and "Duo" (ftarri-886), a 2018 duo performance with Makoto Oshiro. While these three CDs are all live recordings, what might be called a "definitive" studio-recorded solo album by suzueri has now been released. "Fata Morgana," made up of two tracks of 25-plus minutes each, was recorded in February 2019 by Makoto Oshiro (who has an established reputation as an engineer).
Various devices including a small electric fan, a motor and a radio are placed on, attached to or arranged near an upright piano whose upper and lower panels are removed and insides exposed. The devices themselves produce sounds; and when touched by these devices, the piano strings and keyboard emit sounds repetitively (every few seconds) or continuously. These myriad sounds overlap and become a united whole, and at the point when they fill the space like a foundational layer, suzueri strikes the keyboard with both hands, forcefully and persistently unleashing clusters of sounds. This album overflows with suzueri's magical appeal, which combines concentrated musical creativity with turbulence and disarray.
This CD's paper cover is another part of suzueri's creation. She designed the cover; created the layout of the four-sided jacket (with spine) and Japanese-English liner notes (by Tomotaro Kaneko, translated by suzueri and Jonathan Kemp) on A3 size cardboard; and made an order to a printer. After the paper covers were delivered in sheet form, she personally cut and assembled each one.
なお、本CDの紙ジャケットもすずえり作品の一部である。彼女はジャケットのデザインも担当し、そのうえ、背付き4面ジャケットと日英語のライナーノート (文:金子智太郎、翻訳:すずえり + Jonathan Kemp) をA3サイズの厚紙にレイアウトして業者に印刷を依頼。そして納品になった厚紙全部数を、自らカットし組み立てている。
credits
released June 14, 2020
suzueri: piano, gadgets
Improvisation by suzueri (Elico Suzuki) at Makoto Oshiro's studio, February 11, 2019
Recorded, mixed, and mastered by Makoto Oshiro
Cover graphics by Satoru Higa (Backspace Tokyo)
Cover photo and design by Elico Suzuki
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