Roots
Ostara Project
Rhea Records RR CD 00001 (ostaraproject.ca)
Without context, given song titles alone, this music still conveys so much. So much feeling, so much meaning, so much narrative, so much image, and so much life from every voice within the six-piece ensemble. However, the liner notes provide the context behind each piece and the overall vision of this album and how the pieces transform into exploratory reflections and tributes through sound. For example, the notes describe how the album’s title, Roots, takes on a double meaning, referring to honoring the foundations and experiences integral to one’s very being, while also resonating deeply with the welcoming of spring.
Each member contributes at least one of their own sonic offerings of personal storytelling, either by composition or arrangement, and while commonality between these distinct statements could be reduced to “they sound seasonal,” the more you listen, the less reductive that actually becomes. Seasonal changes are above all else, transitional. In the case of the coldest season giving way to one very often associated with emerging colours and rebirth, that transition becomes emblematic of new ways of receiving a story. Allison Au’s 2601, Shruti Ramani’s Rajalakshmi, Rachel Therrien’s Papa and the collective improvisation Voyage Sans Retour all honour specific family members, in a way that feels transitional between remembrance and the power of stories to be retold and given new life. Meanwhile Amanda Tosoff, Jodi Proznick and Valérie Lacombe honour places, letting us see/hear for ourselves.
