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2LP
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R 008LP
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Recital present a deluxe edition of Ian William Craig's landmark debut album A Turn Of Breath, originally released in 2014. The first Recital album to get exceptional notoriety, here it is in its final form, with an additional LP of unpublished material. Here is the original description Sean McCann wrote four years ago for it's original release: "Recital here presents the premiere LP by vocalist Ian William Craig (b. 1980, Edmonton). Ian, a trained opera singer, delivers an elegant balance between theatrical and ambient sentiments. A Turn Of Breath combines the essence of a choral LP from Angel Records or Deutsche Grammophon with the spontaneity of experimental home-recording. This collection holds twelve works for voice and ΒΌ" tape, recorded from 2011-2013. Voice appears as the sun's light through a vast storm; still obscured by tape malfunctions and manipulations. A system of reel-to-reels is employed, which yields a lovely sort of morphing repetition. Each iteration crumbles as more harmony is placed on top, residual tones spilling off the sides into nothingness. Craig's innate ability to sing beautiful, sorrowful melodies carries each track. The pieces on A Turn Of Breath vary from grand choral meditations to quiet interludes, and even a few impressionistic 'songs' accompanied by faint acoustic guitar. An overarching warmth resonates through each side, making this a very pleasant listen. A suitable compliment to a pot of coffee in the morning or a glass of armagnac in the evening."
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CD
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R 036CD
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Sean McCann on Ian William Craig's Durbē: "Ian shared this live performance with me in January of 2017, while I was living in London for work. I fell asleep countless times whilst listening to this, day and night. After some arm twisting Ian agreed to let me publish it. He had not planned on releasing it officially. Durbē embodies the most elegant and meditative aspects of Ian's music. Live, Ian's music is able to stretch and fold and soak. These long-form takes show how purely structure and melody rotate within him. In the fall of 2016, Ian performed these recordings in a 14th-century Latvian church. This environment kissed Ian's cheek that evening, and he sang in top form, ascending into the rafters." Six-panel wallet encasement, with photography by the artist; Edition of 200 (one-time pressing).
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LP
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ZORN 043LP
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Aguirre Records present Ian William Craig's Meaning Turns to Whispers. Ian is a trained opera singer and painter out of Vancouver, Canada. Over the last few years he has proved to be one of the most original artists active in the ambient/experimental genre. His debut A Turn Of Breath (2014) and the follow-up, Cradle For The Wanting (2015) received high acclaim. Meaning Turns to Whispers is a combination of piano improvisations and FM feedback loops, recorded over various winters from 2009 to 2011 and edited down, manipulated and degraded to reveal some of their hidden spaces. The discreet piano layers mixed with waves of white noise are intriguing making you long for more. Meaning Turns to Whispers is a record rooted in a gorgeous neo-classical tradition, but totally fucked up by tape manipulations that made it anything but pretty. For Craig, the use of reel-to-reels is a way of decaying sentimentality: any time his music has come too close to meeting his expectations, he uproots it, creating impervious walls or bursts of modest but stupefying noise. In choice moments on Meaning, you can hear Craig trying to imagine the lived lives of his inanimate instruments; you hear him beam down on the piano, its wooden infrastructure revealed, sounding like it has its own set of motivations. "I was living with my sister in Edmonton, and during the ridiculously cold winter, I gutted her piano and mic'd it up in a whole bunch of weird ways. I recorded probably twenty hours of material, and after listening to it I was amazed at how much it sounded like sentimental crap. At that point I was really trying to express something, and afterwards I thought the only way through would be to destroy the recordings, and that's what Meaning Turns To Whispers is. It's completely mangled to remove that struggle for expression. I realized at the end of that album that I didn't want to express, I just wanted to explore." Mastered by Sean McCann at Recital. Lacquer cut by Christoph Grote-Beverborg at Dubplates & Mastering. Edition of 500.
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