We’ve taken a pause from our schedule of CD albums due to our local post office closing, following the outbreak of Covid19. We launched a digital series called Home Diaries, in which we’ll release EPs and albums by an international line-up of artists, with the music created during lockdown and social distancing conditions.
The series reflects a range of sounds, styles and ideas, as each artist portrays their own reflections uniquely. Each release is digital only for now, as we hope to raise what we can to help keep our label ticking over at this time. The releases feature a recurring polaroid image of a small lonely house, with a coloured filter chosen by the artist for each respective release.
In our next edition, we welcome back Francis M. Gri from Milan, Italy. Francis contributed Apart to our catalog back in 2018 and also has releases on Time Released Sound and Slowcraft as well as his own label, KrysaliSound. For his Home Diaries edition, he original created a longform piece in the midst of the peak of the pandemic in Italy’s Lombardy region, based around Electric Piano keys. After he got in touch, Stanze e Distanze was a longform piece which he has developed further into a suite of 5 pieces, with added guitar, sansula and singing bowls. Electronic piano keys reflect the lonely socially-distant streets but also, the intimate warmth of being safe inside your own home. The singing bowls give a sense of distance and travel then, again, they also retain a meditative hum that is very much of the present. It is hoped that this record will provoke or aid an inner reflection and become a spring-board of positivity.
We have an exciting line-up to follow and each release will include bonus PDF liner notes, which has an interview with the artist on how they made the album, what their situation is like, what they have planned, their influences and what equipment/techniques they used. There are also additional photos provided by the artist as part of the PDF too. Click on the link below to check it out:
-LABEL LINK-
https://whitelabrecs.bandcamp.com/album/home-diaries-015
press release
“Home Diaries is an invitation to artists and musicians to create an album or EP to document their personal experience during the lockdown or social distancing conditions that are upon us, due to the coronavirus outbreak. The series reflects a range of sounds, styles and ideas, as each artist portrays their own reflections uniquely. Each release is digital only for now, as we hope to raise what we can to help keep our label ticking over at this time. The releases feature a recurring polaroid image of a small lonely house, with a coloured filter chosen by the artist for each respective release. We interview each artist and this is included as a bonus PDF with the download. You can also check out the Home Diaries series on Spotify if you prefer, which will be available to stream in due course.
We’re pleased to see Francis M. Gri return to our label after he contributed the album ‘Apart’ to our catalog back in 2018. Francis runs the KrysaliSound label and also has material on Slowcraft and Time Released Sound. Francis is from Milan in Italy’s worst affected area during this pandemic, the Lombardy region. He originally composed a longform piece named Stanze e Distanze shortly after the peak of the virus in his area, before he discovered our Home Diaries series.
After chatting with Francis, he went away to develop this piece into a suite of 5 sections, which he adapted with additional elements including guitar, sansula and singing bowls. It became a mini album and the title translates to ‘rooms and distances’, a simple title yet with plenty of scope for interpretation. Electronic piano keys reflect the lonely socially-distant streets but also, the intimate warmth of being safe inside your own home. The singing bowls give a sense of distance and travel then, again, they also retain a meditative hum that is very much of the present. It is hoped that this record will provoke or aid an inner reflection and become a spring-board of positivity.”
credits
Written, produced and mastered by Francis M. Gri
Artwork by Harry Towell
whitelabrecs.com 