BRIGITTE BERAHA - By The Cobbled Path
Let Me Out Records LMOCD002
Brigitte Beraha (voice, piano, electronics)
Recorded at the artist's home, 2021
An eclectic artist with an eclectic background, singer, composer and pianist Brigitte Beraha is one of the most celebrated figures in contemporary jazz, having worked, at one time or another, with an extensive and impressive list of collaborators, including Evan Parker, Kenny Wheeler and Ethan Iverson. Born in Milan to Turkish/British parents, Brigitte has also worked and taught in places as far apart as the US, Nepal and Finland. The singer's peripatetic lifestyle and upbringing doubtless contribute to her wide sonic palette, which takes in avant-garde, Latin, classical and, lately, elements of electronica.
Her new solo album, 'By The Cobbled Path,' was recorded at the artist's home in London “and in the surrounding nature,” during the lock-down period. Says Beraha: “I wanted to capture most of the seasons, their different sounds and moods.” There is a timely theme of the natural and industrial worlds colliding here. Beraha takes vocal, piano and electronics, as well as production credits.
The appropriately-titled 'Come On In' starts things off with a dense, shifting soundscape of voice, electronics and ambient sounds. Beraha's ghostly, whispering vocals coalesce from this backdrop, voicing simple, yet compelling word-melodies which float and flicker, like haunting text across a screen of white noise. This is adventurous music, certainly, but it never feels obtuse. Just the opposite, in-fact. 'Come On In' indeed welcomes one to a womb-like cavern of warmth and humanity. Even when voicing word-less syllables, Beraha imparts meaning through emotion. It's a wonderful skill, and very difficult to pull off.
'Doors,' in contrast, presents Beraha's voice clear as a bell. Said voice echoes and switches from one ear to another, recounting a poem which is at once both childish and intriguing. Some may well be put off by Beraha's at-times comically-voiced sound-effects, but that would be to miss the point. Beraha is seeking to accommodate all life here, from the sublime to the ridiculous, the simple to the profound. Beautiful melodic snippets contrast against squeaks and squawks. Naive observations bleed into eternal truths. A palpable sense of playfulness and appeal to common experience prevents any accusation of pretension.
With 'Moonstruck,' Beraha uses her voice to conjure a pulsing rhythmic beat to wonderful effect, a onrushing freight-train, at the same time subtle and nuanced; a human-machine ride which is truly thrilling. 'I Think Our Neighbours Might Be Aliens' floats on dense, breathy clouds punctuated by static bursts of voice and found-sounds. The next Bladerunner film would do well to employ this track. Like the album as a whole, the music throws humans and rounded nature against harsh concrete and sharp edges, asking questions without seeking definitive answers.
Reviewed by Chris Wheatley
Let Me Out Records LMOCD002
Brigitte Beraha (voice, piano, electronics)
Recorded at the artist's home, 2021
An eclectic artist with an eclectic background, singer, composer and pianist Brigitte Beraha is one of the most celebrated figures in contemporary jazz, having worked, at one time or another, with an extensive and impressive list of collaborators, including Evan Parker, Kenny Wheeler and Ethan Iverson. Born in Milan to Turkish/British parents, Brigitte has also worked and taught in places as far apart as the US, Nepal and Finland. The singer's peripatetic lifestyle and upbringing doubtless contribute to her wide sonic palette, which takes in avant-garde, Latin, classical and, lately, elements of electronica.
Her new solo album, 'By The Cobbled Path,' was recorded at the artist's home in London “and in the surrounding nature,” during the lock-down period. Says Beraha: “I wanted to capture most of the seasons, their different sounds and moods.” There is a timely theme of the natural and industrial worlds colliding here. Beraha takes vocal, piano and electronics, as well as production credits.
The appropriately-titled 'Come On In' starts things off with a dense, shifting soundscape of voice, electronics and ambient sounds. Beraha's ghostly, whispering vocals coalesce from this backdrop, voicing simple, yet compelling word-melodies which float and flicker, like haunting text across a screen of white noise. This is adventurous music, certainly, but it never feels obtuse. Just the opposite, in-fact. 'Come On In' indeed welcomes one to a womb-like cavern of warmth and humanity. Even when voicing word-less syllables, Beraha imparts meaning through emotion. It's a wonderful skill, and very difficult to pull off.
'Doors,' in contrast, presents Beraha's voice clear as a bell. Said voice echoes and switches from one ear to another, recounting a poem which is at once both childish and intriguing. Some may well be put off by Beraha's at-times comically-voiced sound-effects, but that would be to miss the point. Beraha is seeking to accommodate all life here, from the sublime to the ridiculous, the simple to the profound. Beautiful melodic snippets contrast against squeaks and squawks. Naive observations bleed into eternal truths. A palpable sense of playfulness and appeal to common experience prevents any accusation of pretension.
With 'Moonstruck,' Beraha uses her voice to conjure a pulsing rhythmic beat to wonderful effect, a onrushing freight-train, at the same time subtle and nuanced; a human-machine ride which is truly thrilling. 'I Think Our Neighbours Might Be Aliens' floats on dense, breathy clouds punctuated by static bursts of voice and found-sounds. The next Bladerunner film would do well to employ this track. Like the album as a whole, the music throws humans and rounded nature against harsh concrete and sharp edges, asking questions without seeking definitive answers.
Reviewed by Chris Wheatley
