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CD Feature/ Emily Hay & Marcos Fernandes: "We are"

  Tobias

And We Are Inside The Box, Away From The Doom, looking out from the Belly of the Craft onto the Pond at the Wicked Child while undetected by us an Intrusion takes place, triggered by a Late Night Call, promising Hibiki and a Liturgy of Sound. Oh yes, Spar, We Are!
Not only are we inside the box, but we can hear everything that is going on at the outside, too. We hear an excellent voice, sometimes clear and innocent like a baroque angel and then again with vulgar touches, sinister and mean, brutal and vicious, only to erupt into cascades of spheric beauty. This is Emily Hay.

But this is not all of Emily. She also masters her flutes in every aspect, with excellent technical skills and a wonderful virtuosity. But most of all, there is this daring concept of exploring the world of sounds, getting away from the known into the unknown and as-yet undiscovered parts of music and – yes - art. And when I say “art” I am not thinking about musical art alone, but also about the visual arts. This aspect has to be stressed, for there are close ties. What happens in the music, which Emily and her evenly talented collaborator, Marcos Fernandes, have realised, reminds me most of paintings with colours nobody has ever seen. Daring mixtures generating what only nature has to offer, unique and unprecedented. Emily and Marcos get very close to that in terms of sound and music.

What impressed me most was “Inside the Box”. This piece triggered some remarkable associations in me, starting with the the drums and rhythms of the Australian aboriginees. And then there are chaotic cascades of sound, very jazzy at times and excellently supported by Ellen Wellers saxophone play. This morphed into the picture of a nightmarish predator, roaming the realms of being like a giant calmar trying to slice a worn out motorblock with its razorsharp beak. Oh well, of course this is just me. But the fact that these kind of emotions came up prove to me that there is a significant emotional power in this particular piece.

Not that it was the only track on this CD conjuring up some emotions. There is a great deal of violent force and yes, even brutality in “Spar”, as far as I am concerned. “Intrusion” leads us with a colourful variety of sounds onto a path towards the unknown, triggering fears and then catapulting us back into well-known regions. An interplay between those worlds that seems  endless.

Apart from all this praise, there is just one thing which raises a slight concern. Even though it might have been intended by Marcos and Emily, for my feeling some parts, especially in the flute play, though genuine and performed with virtuosity, came back like a copy in various pieces. As I said, it may be part of the big concept, but I would have wished for a little more variety there.

Anyway, “We are” is a great album, and I wish not only to name Emily and Marcos as well as Ellen Weller, but also Lisle Ellis and Al Scholl for their great contributions.

By Fred Wheeler

Homepage: Public Eyesore Records
Homepage: Emily Hay
Homepage: Marcos Fernandes