EIC's 10Q's w/ Felix

"..gentle Chamber Pop that comes off as delicate and somewhat traumatic/romantic.."

Felix

Merciful Crib (for an Overburdened Congregation)

Felix Bio:

Felix is the musical duo of Lucinda Chua and Chris Summerlin, who make their home in England.  Lucinda Chua is a classically trained pianist and cellist, has been a touring member of Stars of the Lid, and is an accomplished photographer. Chris also plays guitar in the rock band Lords.

Hello, how are you?

I am very well thank you, currently getting ready to leave London for the USA.

What are you currently listening to?

Two recent albums I've been really into are St Vincent's 'Strange Mercy' and Feist's 'Metals' album. From the vaults, I always have time for 'Rumors' by Fleetwood Mac and and just about anything by Otis Redding.

Care to tell us about your recent release ..overall theme, how it came about, were there any snags, etc.?

My new album is called 'Oh Holy Molar'; a collection of short songs about superstitious rituals and omens that help make sense of events that happen in life. I had the privilege of working with Peter Fletcher who recorded the album in an converted cinema from the 1940s, above an abandoned dental laboratory. I was joined by guitarist and long time collaborator Chris Summerlin with the new addition of drummer Neil Turpin - whose work I have been a huge admirer since watching him play live with Leeds trio Bilge Pump back when Felix first started out.

Do you have a favorite track from said release?

When we play live I really enjoy playing the title track, there's a real kick of energy driven by the tight pulse of the drums, something we didn't really explore with the first album. On the flip side I have a soft spot for the "Blessing". When I was writing that track I'd been studying the "Beatitude"s and "Da Pacem Domine" by Arvo Part with my choir - I got really into polyphonic singing from Estonian and Georgian folk music.

Will you be touring for this release?

I will be coming out of hibernation to open for Yann Tiersen on the first leg of his tour of North America..

Got any other/new side projects we should know about?

I've been collaborating with film maker Andrew Telling who created a short film for Blessing Parts I & II, we'll be working on some more projects in future. I have almost finished recording a covers album which I hope to release in some shape or form early next year - expect anything and everything from Hendrix and the B52s to Irma Thomas and Portishead.

Who's your favorite Kranky artist?

My favourite Kranky project at the moment has to be A Winged Victory For The Sullen - hands down one of the most incredible ensembles I have seen or heard in a long while. Adam and Dustin have something really special going on and I look forward to the future of their collaboration. On the whole, Kranky have some great artists on their rosta right now - Benoit Pioulard, Grouper/Tiny Vipers, Tim Hecker and of course SOTL who really helped me out before I signed - it's a real honor to be affiliated with these names.

If you could re-score any movie or TV show of your choice what would you choose and why?

It would have to be something by Terrence Malick, it'd be a dream to score for him. His films consistently blow me away; the way he presents these intimate narratives so beautifully and eloquently whilst all the time relating to a bigger picture. But his choice of music is pretty spot on as it stands, you can't really beat a bit of Carl Orff in Badlands!

You can only keep/listen to ONE album for the rest of your life ..which album would it be?

There is a really great recording of the Borodin Quartet playing Ravel's String Quartet in F and the Shos 8. I must have bought that CD when I was about sixteen and I still listen to it now with the same enthusiasm.

Are you living your dream?

Ask me at the end of tour!

Thanx B & Lucinda!

Felix are currently one of the more underrated Kranky bands, perhaps when the covers album comes out they will get more of the respect they truly deserve...

If only I lived here.. (and here too)..

 &

::drooolll::

Good (free) music laying around the interwebs.. Pt. 2

Various Artists - Winter Warmer Mix
&

Wintercoats - Forest Of Lovers (Southern Shores Remix)
&

A Winged Victory For The Sullen - A Symphony Pathetique (Montauk In February Remix)
&

Time Wharp - Yrlyf
&

Telafonica - I Can Hear There's A Peace In The Dark Remixes
&

Strategy - Strut

~njoy.

EIC'S10Q'S w/ A Winged Victory For The Sullen

"..a bit of downer, a gorgeous effervescent disaster slowly unfolding into itself to reform the polar opposite.."


A Winged Victory For The Sullen
Pulchritudinous Flux

A Winged Victory For The Sullen Bio:
A Winged Victory For the Sullen is the first installment of the new collaboration between Stars of the Lid member Adam Wiltzie and composer Dustin O'Halloran. The duo agreed to leave their normal home studio comfort zone and develop the recordings with the help of large acoustic spaces, and to hunt down a selection of 9ft grand pianos that had the ability to deliver extreme sonic low end. Other traditional instrumentation was used including string quartet, French horn, and bassoon, but always juxtaposed is the sound of drifting guitar washed melodies.

The recordings began in one late night session in the famed Grunewald Church in west Berlin on a 1950s imperial Boesendorfer piano and strings were added in the historic East Berlin DDR radio studios along the River Spree. One last final session in a private studio deep in the norther cusp of Italy on a handmade Fazioli piano, and the final mixes took place in a 17th century villa near Ferrara, Italy, with the assistance of Francesco Donadello. All songs were processed completely analogue straight to magnetic tape.

Their secret to harvesting new melodic structures from the thin air of existence was for the duo to push themselves to live dangerously, realizing that clear thinking at the wrong moment could stifle the compositions. The final result is seven landscapes of harmonic replicating ingemination. In “Requiem for the Static King Part 1 (created in memory of the untimely passing of Mark Linkous) they have taken the age old idea of a string quartet and then shot it out a cannon to reveal exquisite new levels of mellow bliss. Of the 13 minute track 'A Symphony Pathetique' Wiltzie says after almost 20 years of struggling to create interesting ambient drone music, I feel like I have finally figured out what I am doing.

Notable guest musicians include Icelandic cellist Hildur Gudnadottir, and violinist Peter Broderick. A Winged Victory for the Sullen is not a side project. This is the future of the late night record you have always dreamed of.


Hello, how are you?
Terrible. I am having the 2nd worst week of my entire life. Let's hope I can survive it.

What are you currently listening to?
Nothing except for music by a Dutch singer named Chantal Acda. She has the most beautiful voice I have ever heard

What's the story with the band name?
I have a long history with coming up with dumb band names. As I may have said before I have a long history of sitting with friends at a bar, and just making lists of the possibilities. There was an atmosphere hovering over us that this project would not just be a single endeavor. Using our names seemed to reek of a doomed one off project. So we chose the road of a certain benign teutonic countenance....

When/where did you to meet?
We met of May 24th 2007 in Bologna Italy. I was on tour playing with Sparklehorse. Dustin came to the show,
and I found him in the dressing room after drinking all the whiskey. It was a beautiful omen.

How did the idea for this project come up/start?
I love his "Solo Piano Vol.2" record. It was may favorite release of 2007, and with SOTL getting in a lot of end of the year best of lists, I was so surprised that no one had heard this record? Sometimes you just have a feeling. Despite our differences in the type of music we make, there is an emotion I feel we both seem to follow.

I heard you will be touring for this release with a string orchestra of some sort, who's organizing that?
Depends of the country, but basically we are organizing it. When you make the kind of music we do, you don't have a lot of promoters who see big $ signs in their eyes. We are basically touring with the potential of financial disaster dangling in front of our heads like a rotten carrot.

If you guys could score a movie (any movie) what would your top choice be?
Blade Runner (that is the answer for both of us) ..we are rehearsing right now, and we keep looking in each others eyes and screaming "VANGELIS"!!!!

In an ideal world whom would you like to see remix your sound?
No one. I am really not a fan of this genre. But I would however love to work with the composer Alexandre Desplat. I would kill to have him help us with some string arrangements, he is one of my heroes.

You can only keep/listen to ONE album for the rest of your life ..which album would it be?
This is gonna sound a bit narcissistic, but it would be Sleepingdog's 'With Our Heads In The Clouds, And Our Hearts In The Fields'. It's probably most beautiful experience I have ever had making music, and the songs still inspire me.

Are you living your dream?
More like nightmare for the moment, but AWVFTS could be the therapist that will save me.

Thanx Brian & AWVFTS!

A Winged Victory For The Sullen are currently touring the US, make sure to soak in those glorious ambient waves if you can...

REVIEW: A Winged Victory For The Sullen - S/T

8.5 out of 10

Find it here.

A few things my "winter ears" require; 1. Tonal Warmth 2. Post Bliss 3. Lack of gravity. These are also, coincidentally, three things A Winged Victory For The Sullen's debut has to offer. Let it snow, I'm ready now.

AWVFTS is Adam Wiltzie (Stars Of The Lid/Dead Texan) and Dustin O'Halloran (Dustin O'Halloran). The two of these guys joining forces isn't really that peculiar of a concept, in-fact it makes a lot of sense. Adam and Dustin both seem to have an ear for clear and ideal Classical Ambiance so it only seemed inevitable that their paths would eventually cross. AWVFTS's debut/self titled release is a nice companion piece for both artists involved. Slow murmurations of gorgeous synths swimming in a pool of strings and an accompanied piano that is no doubt one of the most gorgeous things I've ever heard. Track 1 is a bit of downer, a gorgeous effervescent disaster slowly unfolding into itself to reform the polar opposite. Track 2 is just as slow moving, maybe more so since the shift of the piano has been more focused towards the swirling synthetic strings, I really like this track (a lot) a lot. Track 3, ohhh track 3..soooo warm. Every track just gets better and better the further you listen. Music like this only comes along so often, its even better when it comes out during the proper season. What you would expect from these two artists has indeed unfolded in a grand manor that will hopefully be replicated on a new album sometime in the near future. If this (see track 5. 'Steep Hills..') is only the beginning of this bands career ..I don't know how much more emotion my ears can handle, but I'm willing to risk it. More please?

Said it before, say it again (always and forever) it's Kranky so you know the "gold standard" is there. Recommended for fans of slow motion.

Standout Tracks: All. (but mainly) Requiem For Static King Part 2, Minuet For A Cheap Piano, Steep Hills Of Vicodin Tears (yum), A Symphony Pathetique (imagine (happily) dying in the snow to this song)