Amy Brandon – Lysis
Various Artists
New Focus Recordings FCR414 (newfocusrecordings.com/catalogue/amy-brandon-lysis)
Canadian guitarist/composer Amy Brandon has created a fantastical series of journeys with her latest album Lysis (defined by dictionary.com as “…refer(ring) to the breakdown of a cell caused by damage to its plasma (outer) membrane).” Brandon nails the deconstruction aspect in an almost delicious spectacle of all things human and otherworldly. Cells break down on one level and are reconstructed on another. Brandon deftly manages to create parallel voices that beautifully ignore, while simultaneously hearing, each other, almost as two separate cultures managing to co-exist.
Opening with the brilliant Microchimersisms for solo flute, we enter a world of roaring lions, whispers and outbursts of exhalations, masterfully delivered by flutist Sara Constant. Threads for string trio follows, a tightly wound exploration of a submarine-like journey. Alternate tunings are featured in Intermountainous where the guitar delivers almost pastoral material, underscored by dark and aerie ambience that intertwines and comes apart. Caduceus for two cellos and electronics is strangely combative while expertly weaving microtones in and out of one voice. The track Tsyir is an almost trance-like swim in partial harmonics, while Affine travels between breathy phrasing of repeated notes and upper pitches of winds and low piano.
Now we arrive at Simulacra, the album’s JUNO-nominated show-stopper for cello solo and orchestra. This full orchestral score, with its dynamic and driving rhythms, sets up a virtuosic and melodic cello line that soars into stratospheric heights and returns to the depths. Cellist Jeffrey Zeigler pulls out all the stops with a stunning, heroic performance.
The album closes with the work Lysis for string quartet; a complex exploration of the upper partials of the harmonic series, this piece also mines the symbiotic relationship between the nuances of pitch and colour realised by different bow pressures, while also exploding apart from it. As with the entire album, it’s not necessary to contemplate the mathematics of the writing, just enjoy the results.
