The Story
The Icarus Album is a musical reinterpretation of the Greek myth of Daedalus, who creates wax wings so he and his son can fly to freedom. In my version it is Daedalus who falls into the ocean and Icarus who must fly onward without his father– Now forced to learn new ways to use the broken wings he has inherited.
This story is significant to me for a number of reasons. Icarus, and his need to fly not too high and not too low, is a common metaphor for people living with Bipolar, something which influences much of my life and artistic process. Daedalus, the inventor and builder of the wings is a representation of my father, also a brilliant engineer and inventor, who died tragically by suicide a year before I began this project. Creating the music has been my own way of moving through grief and learning to thrive again.
The album combines classical strings and horns with contemporary electroacoustic sound design. Each track tells a specific part of the story and is titled accordingly. It fits best in the loosely defined New Classical genre but could also find a home with contemporary Neoclassical, Post-classical or Pop-classical composers.
The album uses music and not words for its storytelling.
The electroacoustic sections are built from digitally reversed piano, a technique which flips the natural decay of a piano to create a sound that emerges from silence, crescendos to its loudest point and then suddenly falls off. This unique timbre is a foundational building block for the album's storytelling.
Other sounds on the album are real-world noises which have been sampled and electronically manipulated.
This story is significant to me for a number of reasons. Icarus, and his need to fly not too high and not too low, is a common metaphor for people living with Bipolar, something which influences much of my life and artistic process. Daedalus, the inventor and builder of the wings is a representation of my father, also a brilliant engineer and inventor, who died tragically by suicide a year before I began this project. Creating the music has been my own way of moving through grief and learning to thrive again.
The album combines classical strings and horns with contemporary electroacoustic sound design. Each track tells a specific part of the story and is titled accordingly. It fits best in the loosely defined New Classical genre but could also find a home with contemporary Neoclassical, Post-classical or Pop-classical composers.
The album uses music and not words for its storytelling.
The electroacoustic sections are built from digitally reversed piano, a technique which flips the natural decay of a piano to create a sound that emerges from silence, crescendos to its loudest point and then suddenly falls off. This unique timbre is a foundational building block for the album's storytelling.
Other sounds on the album are real-world noises which have been sampled and electronically manipulated.
The Icarus Album is ready!
The launch announcement with pre-order links will be happening in the coming days.
The launch announcement with pre-order links will be happening in the coming days.
The Team
I am honored to work with a team of such astoundingly good musicians, engineers, and producers. Together we have created transcendent music that will be an important contribution to new classical music.
Violin– Mattia Berrini
Violin–Roxanne Sicard (Roxanne played a 1741 Carlo Antonio Testore on loan by the Canimex Group)
Viola– Pemi Paul
Cello– Silvia Buttiglione
Bass– Reuven Rothman
Trumpet – Bertrand Margelidon
Sound Design– Devon Bate
Producer– Anit Ghosh
Violin– Mattia Berrini
Violin–Roxanne Sicard (Roxanne played a 1741 Carlo Antonio Testore on loan by the Canimex Group)
Viola– Pemi Paul
Cello– Silvia Buttiglione
Bass– Reuven Rothman
Trumpet – Bertrand Margelidon
Sound Design– Devon Bate
Producer– Anit Ghosh
