Tag: Orchestral

Out Now! Harry Towell & Friends – Petrologist’s Lens

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Here’s our first release of 2023 which is called ‘Petrologist’s Lens‘ by our label owner Harry Towell as Harry Towell & Friends. It was made in collaboration with 12 artists who have had 2 or more releases on Whitelabrecs over the years. This album is out today in two runs of 100 CDrs; a standard gold edition, and a special marble-effect version. Both packaging versions include a 16 page booklet in our gatefold vinyl-effect. If you follow us on Bandcamp (Click HERE) we’ll keep you updated when we have new releases.

press release
“Whitelabrecs label owner Harry Towell is perhaps best renowned for his long-standing Spheruleus project, with a discography listing releases on Lost Tribe Sound, Home Normal, Time Released Sound, Hibernate and Eilean, as well as his collaborations alongside Sven Laux, Guy Gelem, Ekca Liena and more. Harry returns to his own label, following 2021’s ‘Canvas Homes + Supplémentaires’ and EPs ‘Absent Frames’ and ‘Inaugurate’, in this special collaborative album called ‘Petrologist’s Lens’.

January is a month we usually reserve for a compilation album, such as our Sleeplaboratory series. This year Harry decided to invite 12 artists who had contributed more than 2 releases on Whitelabrecs to submit a short sketch or sample, and then he developed these into the tracks that make up this album. As with some of his more recent work, this album is created under his own name, but with ‘& friends’ added to credit the label artists and good friends which he has worked alongside.

The title ‘Petrologist’s Lens’ nods to the concept of this body of work, which is rooted in the ancient geological history of the earth. Harry studied the land history of the areas where his collaborators reside, to help form a title for each piece. Tracks are named after particular fragments of rock or sediments, land regions or fossils for example, and the compositions were developed in a way which mimics the layering of these. The layers tell a story, giving clues of how they came to be. Sonically, filigree details and eroded tape textures ride waves of modern classical orchestration, ambient drones and electronics.

The packaging for this release features cover artwork by Soraya Kornblum, an art student in Adrian Lane’s class, submitted to Whitelabrecs as part of a school project. Each of the 200 editions include a 16 page booklet with words provided by Neil McRoberts, who transcribed his thoughts after listening to the music and reflecting on the concept. Physical copies are split into two runs; a standard gold disc version and a special marble print deluxe edition.“

credits

Written and produced by Harry Towell
Additional production and inspiration provided by Adrian Lane, Andrew Heath, Blochemy, Edu Comelles, Glåsbird, Guy Gelem, James Edward Armstrong, Paweł Pruski, Phil Tomsett, Polaroid Notes, Simon McCorry, Sven Laux

Mastered by James Edward Armstrong
Cover Art by Soraya Kornblum
Booklet Notes by Neil McRoberts
Art and Design by Andrew Heath

Coming soon… Harry Towell & Friends – Petrologist’s Lens

Our first release of 2023 is ‘Petrologist’s Lens‘ by our label owner Harry Towell as Harry Towell & Friends, in collaboration with 12 artists who have had 2 or more releases on Whitelabrecs over the years. This album will be available officially in two runs of 100 CDrs; a standard gold edition, and a special marble-effect version. Both packaging versions include a 16 page booklet in our gatefold vinyl-effect sleeves and will be out officially on Saturday the 14th of January after a pre-order on the 7th of January. If you follow us on Bandcamp (Click HERE) we’ll make sure you’re the first to hear.

press release
“Whitelabrecs label owner Harry Towell is perhaps best renowned for his long-standing Spheruleus project, with a discography listing releases on Lost Tribe Sound, Home Normal, Time Released Sound, Hibernate and Eilean, as well as his collaborations alongside Sven Laux, Guy Gelem, Ekca Liena and more. Harry returns to his own label, following 2021’s ‘Canvas Homes + Supplémentaires’ and EPs ‘Absent Frames’ and ‘Inaugurate’, in this special collaborative album called ‘Petrologist’s Lens’.

January is a month we usually reserve for a compilation album, such as our Sleeplaboratory series. This year Harry decided to invite 12 artists who had contributed more than 2 releases on Whitelabrecs to submit a short sketch or sample, and then he developed these into the tracks that make up this album. As with some of his more recent work, this album is created under his own name, but with ‘& friends’ added to credit the label artists and good friends which he has worked alongside.

The title ‘Petrologist’s Lens’ nods to the concept of this body of work, which is rooted in the ancient geological history of the earth. Harry studied the land history of the areas where his collaborators reside, to help form a title for each piece. Tracks are named after particular fragments of rock or sediments, land regions or fossils for example, and the compositions were developed in a way which mimics the layering of these. The layers tell a story, giving clues of how they came to be. Sonically, filigree details and eroded tape textures ride waves of modern classical orchestration, ambient drones and electronics.

The packaging for this release features cover artwork by Soraya Kornblum, an art student in Adrian Lane’s class, submitted to Whitelabrecs as part of a school project. Each of the 200 editions include a 16 page booklet with words provided by Neil McRoberts, who transcribed his thoughts after listening to the music and reflecting on the concept. Physical copies are split into two runs; a standard gold disc version and a special marble print deluxe edition.“

credits

Written and produced by Harry Towell
Additional production and inspiration provided by Adrian Lane, Andrew Heath, Blochemy, Edu Comelles, Glåsbird, Guy Gelem, James Edward Armstrong, Paweł Pruski, Phil Tomsett, Polaroid Notes, Simon McCorry, Sven Laux

Mastered by James Edward Armstrong
Cover Art by Soraya Kornblum
Booklet Notes by Neil McRoberts
Art and Design by Andrew Heath

Out Now! Adrian Lane – Missing The Crows


Here’s the second of two new editions for October, with ‘Missing The Crows‘ by Adrian Lane being a fourteen track modern classical album which fuses orchestral strings and piano with a subtle use of electronics. It’s out now in a run of 100 gatefold vinyl-effect CDrs after a short pre-order last week. If you click here: mailing list, we’ll make sure you’re the first to hear.

press release
“Following last year’s release ‘The Fleet’, we welcome back UK based composer and visual artist with a new concept album. Alongside long-since sold-out The Fleet, Adrian also contributed to our Home Diaries series and has recent releases on other UK labels including Preserved Sound and Hibernate. Adrian’s sound is characterised by elegant modern classical arrangements, pairing acoustic instrument textures with a hint of electronics drawing inspiration from composers such as Jóhann Jóhannsson and Max Richter.

In ‘Missing The Crows’ we have what Adrian describes as a follow-up to The Fleet, in terms of the recording process and sound palette used, in that strings and piano dominate. Yet in this new collection of 14 pieces, there is a bit more of an emphasis on synths and light electronic effects. Neither the synthetic, nor the acoustic instrument sounds take centre stage at any given time, with the intention being to paint a coherent whole in which neither taking precedence.

The story behind the title of the album sprang up following regular walks to a local park, where there are always lots and lots of crows. This former Ministry Of Defence land by the sea wall is left to grow naturally and Adrian had decided to go there with his camera to photograph some of these crows, as source material for his visual artwork. On arrival, he realised that he should have taken his telephoto lens, as he kept missing the crows; they’d fly away before he got close enough. He returned on another occasion with the telephoto lens and managed to get some decent images and these appear in the mixed media painting in the album cover artwork.

There is a lot of negative symbolism associated with crows, but they are fascinating creatures; they are intelligent, can problem solve and warn each other of danger. The natural landscape has always been an influence on Adrian’s music and certain specific reference such as the crows appear in the tracks. In another reference, ‘Godeuleum’ (meaning ‘Icicle’ in Korean) was written when it was particularly cold, and his wife (who is Korean) used the word when pointing to them, hanging from the gutters of their home.

Whilst Adrian has never aspired to be a film composer, he does listen to a lot of film/drama soundtracks and he feels this cinematic quality comes across in the music. In film music, themes and phrases are often repeated, with melodies appearing in different forms across numerous tracks. This approach was embraced in sketching out the concept for ‘Missing The Crows’, in the hope that listeners may recognise sections of this album, building a sense of familiarity. The work is both charming and intelligent like the crow, with a character soaring high beyond the mere colour of black and its associated darkness.“

credits
Written and Produced by Adrian Lane
Mastered by James Edward Armstrong
Painting by Adrian Lane
Art and Design by Andrew Heath

Out Now! Sven Laux – What Remains


Here’s the first of two new releases out today on Whitelabrecs. This one’s a cinematic modern classical album called ‘What Remains‘ by Sven Laux, combining piano and strings arrangements with sensitively placed electronics. It’s out now in a run of 100 gatefold vinyl-effect CDrs after a short pre-order last week. If you click here: mailing list, we’ll make sure you’re the first to hear.

press release
“Since 2018 we’ve released five albums from Berlin, Germany based composer Sven Laux, including his most recent collaboration with Fione and solo albums ‘Schachmatt’, ‘ODD’, his Home Diaries edition and 2020 and the extended version, Scattered Fragments of Separation (The Complete Story). Sven’s sound design has found its home in short films, advertisement and in audio branding but he also maintains his discography as an artist, focusing on deeply stirring cinematic themes.

A well-balanced contemporary sound awaits you in this latest edition ‘What Remains’ and you are urged by the title to consider what you think about when something is left over? The record uses a depth of sprawling orchestral timbres, across its at-first cryptically titled tracks, to set out the phases of processing an event. At first there is ‘patience’ and ‘hope’, then there is the passing of the event (‘the goodbye’) followed by ‘what remains’; the now. Memory may serve ‘the return’ and perhaps ‘the cohesion’ and for some, there may be ‘the ending’.

You may choose a past experience to relate with these titles or, you might choose to allow it to relate to the present day. It does not matter whether you think positively about something from the past, or whether you mourn something afterwards in a sad or melancholy way. Whether negative, positive or even indifferent, it is the contemplative environment that each track brings which will allow this record to become a thinking space; a ceremonial framework to process events.“

credits
Written and Produced by Sven Laux
Mastered by James Edward Armstrong
Artwork by Zoë Heath
Art and Design by Andrew Heath

Coming soon… Adrian Lane – Missing The Crows

Our new release ‘Missing The Crows‘ by Adrian Lane will be available officially in one of our typically low runs of 100 gatefold vinyl-effect CDrs on Saturday the 15th of October after a pre-order for Bandcamp Friday on the 7th of October. If you click here: mailing list, we’ll make sure you’re the first to hear.

press release
“Following last year’s release ‘The Fleet’, we welcome back UK based composer and visual artist with a new concept album. Alongside long-since sold-out The Fleet, Adrian also contributed to our Home Diaries series and has recent releases on other UK labels including Preserved Sound and Hibernate. Adrian’s sound is characterised by elegant modern classical arrangements, pairing acoustic instrument textures with a hint of electronics drawing inspiration from composers such as Jóhann Jóhannsson and Max Richter.

In ‘Missing The Crows’ we have what Adrian describes as a follow-up to The Fleet, in terms of the recording process and sound palette used, in that strings and piano dominate. Yet in this new collection of 14 pieces, there is a bit more of an emphasis on synths and light electronic effects. Neither the synthetic, nor the acoustic instrument sounds take centre stage at any given time, with the intention being to paint a coherent whole in which neither taking precedence.

The story behind the title of the album sprang up following regular walks to a local park, where there are always lots and lots of crows. This former Ministry Of Defence land by the sea wall is left to grow naturally and Adrian had decided to go there with his camera to photograph some of these crows, as source material for his visual artwork. On arrival, he realised that he should have taken his telephoto lens, as he kept missing the crows; they’d fly away before he got close enough. He returned on another occasion with the telephoto lens and managed to get some decent images and these appear in the mixed media painting in the album cover artwork.

There is a lot of negative symbolism associated with crows, but they are fascinating creatures; they are intelligent, can problem solve and warn each other of danger. The natural landscape has always been an influence on Adrian’s music and certain specific reference such as the crows appear in the tracks. In another reference, ‘Godeuleum’ (meaning ‘Icicle’ in Korean) was written when it was particularly cold, and his wife (who is Korean) used the word when pointing to them, hanging from the gutters of their home.

Whilst Adrian has never aspired to be a film composer, he does listen to a lot of film/drama soundtracks and he feels this cinematic quality comes across in the music. In film music, themes and phrases are often repeated, with melodies appearing in different forms across numerous tracks. This approach was embraced in sketching out the concept for ‘Missing The Crows’, in the hope that listeners may recognise sections of this album, building a sense of familiarity. The work is both charming and intelligent like the crow, with a character soaring high beyond the mere colour of black and its associated darkness.“

credits
Written and Produced by Adrian Lane
Mastered by James Edward Armstrong
Painting by Adrian Lane
Art and Design by Andrew Heath

Coming soon… Sven Laux – What Remains

Our new release ‘What Remains‘ by Sven Laux will be available officially in one of our typically low runs of 100 gatefold vinyl-effect CDrs on Saturday the 15th of October after a pre-order for Bandcamp Friday on the 7th of October. If you click here: mailing list, we’ll make sure you’re the first to hear.

press release
“Since 2018 we’ve released five albums from Berlin, Germany based composer Sven Laux, including his most recent collaboration with Fione and solo albums ‘Schachmatt’, ‘ODD’, his Home Diaries edition and 2020 and the extended version, Scattered Fragments of Separation (The Complete Story). Sven’s sound design has found its home in short films, advertisement and in audio branding but he also maintains his discography as an artist, focusing on deeply stirring cinematic themes.

A well-balanced contemporary sound awaits you in this latest edition ‘What Remains’ and you are urged by the title to consider what you think about when something is left over? The record uses a depth of sprawling orchestral timbres, across its at-first cryptically titled tracks, to set out the phases of processing an event. At first there is ‘patience’ and ‘hope’, then there is the passing of the event (‘the goodbye’) followed by ‘what remains’; the now. Memory may serve ‘the return’ and perhaps ‘the cohesion’ and for some, there may be ‘the ending’.

You may choose a past experience to relate with these titles or, you might choose to allow it to relate to the present day. It does not matter whether you think positively about something from the past, or whether you mourn something afterwards in a sad or melancholy way. Whether negative, positive or even indifferent, it is the contemplative environment that each track brings which will allow this record to become a thinking space; a ceremonial framework to process events.“

credits
Written and Produced by Sven Laux
Mastered by James Edward Armstrong
Artwork by Zoë Heath
Art and Design by Andrew Heath

Out Now! Logic Moon & Henrik Meierkord – Inseln

We have two new releases out today for July and in this one, we have a collaboration between Logic Moon and Henrik Meierkord, with an album of deep modern classical drones, created using Meierkord’s cello, viola and double bass recordings and guitar soundscapes by Logic Moon.

Inseln is out now in a run of 100 copies! The best way to keep informed about our low-run releases, is to join our mailing list, and we’ll make sure you’re the first to hear!

press release
“In this collaborative record called ‘Inseln’, we welcome back Logic Moon, who contributed 2019’s ‘I See Planets’ to our discography, alongside cellist, musician and composer Henrik Meierkord. Logic Moon is Mainz, Germany based artist Tobias Lorsbach, who has also released music on labels such as Archives, Ambientologist and Faint. Henrik Meierkord is based in Stockholm, Sweden and he has numerous self-released records in his discography, alongside work for Ambientologist, Subcontinental Records and Hibernate.

‘Inseln’ translates to mean islands and this record is intended to be a journey to beautiful imaginary paradise islands, far far away, in a time set way back in ancient history. Whilst cliché would have us think of exotic sun-soaked lands, full of vibrant colour and a thick, palpable heat, on listening to this record it will become apparent that the journey to paradise is not so simple. Tobias’ droning synthesizer soundscapes combined with Meierkord’s meditative strings, transport us to a medieval world, perhaps in times before we had discovered the existence of paradise, and when travel was an enormous challenge.

This album plays through the struggles of a journey to paradise, escaping the known present in search of an unknown, unpromising utopia. As we discover each new island, we can see another one on the horizon, lying undiscovered; an endless paradise only another struggle-filled journey away.“

credits
Written and Produced by Tobias Lorsbach & Henrik Meierkord
Mixed and Mastered by Tobias Lorsbach, Mainz/Stockholm
Painting by Maliana Wang
Art and Design by Andrew Heath

Tobias Lorsbach : Synthesizers, Piano and Soundscapes
Henrik Meierkord : Cello, Viola, Doublebass

out now! glåsbird – cinéma noir

 

We usually release new music at the weekends but for this one, we decided to give a traditional Monday morning release a try! In this new digital edition, a departure from our CDr editions and eRecord series, we welcome Glåsbird with an album called cinéma noir, themed around black and white drama film. Each track has a cryptic title, with an accompanying photograph by Peter Nejedly. Along with the music, these sketch out scenes from an un-written movie, yet to be filmed.

cinéma noir is out now in a digital-only format. The best way to keep informed about our releases, is to join our mailing list, and we’ll make sure you’re the first to hear!

press release
“Since the project’s inception in 2018, anonymous artist Glåsbird has amassed a discography entirely dedicated to geographic themes. Each album from the ‘A Sonic Expedition’ series has been composed specifically as an imaginary film documentary, themed around a specific country, region or remote location. This work has led to some film work, such as Return To Sea and Sardinia and Casa Occupata. With this latest record, the music and its close affinity to visuals is the central theme, as Glåsbird explores a non-geographic theme for the first time. It is also the first digital-only album by this artist.

Cinéma Noir is intended to play out the soundtrack to a film that was never made. The track titles are cryptic, as the music sketches out scenes of a noir movie. Some pieces use wide-screened orchestration techniques whereas others use pensive, sprawling or tensioned tones to draw out cinematic moods.

If the track titles are too mysterious, then it may become ever so slightly clearer with monochrome photography by Peter Nejedly, who has provided 10 images; one to accompany each track. These pictures were matched to the track titles and their compositions by Glåsbird, who hopes that your own imagination will form the missing movie scenes.“

credits
Written and Produced by Glåsbird
Mastered by James Edward Armstrong
Photography by Peter Nejedly

Coming soon… Sven Laux & Fione – Tomorrow Could Be Different

Here’s the second of two new releases lined-up for the 17th of June and in this one, we welcome back Sven Laux who has collaborated with a fellow Berlin-based artist Fione, who is a musician and pianist. Tomorrow Everything Could Be Different is an album inspired by time and place, with Sven taking Fione’s piano compositions into lush, orchestrated Ambient territory. The release is complete, with an original painting as the cover artwork, by Maliana Wang. ‘Tomorrow Everything Could Be Different‘ will be up for pre-order this coming Bandcamp Friday, the 3rd of June.

Then ‘Tomorrow Everything Could Be Different‘ will be available officially in one of our typically low runs of 100 gatefold vinyl-effect CDrs, complete with art and design by Andrew Heath.

It will be released officially on Saturday the 17th of June. If you join our mailing list using the link below, we’ll make sure you’re the first to hear.

press release
“With this latest edition to the Whitelabrecs discography, we welcome back composer Sven Laux with a collaboration with fellow Berliner and musician Fione. This record began from a chance meeting at a party after Fione had discussed her improvisational piano performances and how it might lend itself to Sven’s orchestral Ambient music. After over a year, Fione recorded a track and sent it to Sven, who added layers of additional texture and detail; enough to be a catalyst from which they produced an album.

Each original piano composition was adapted one by one, piece by piece, into its magical whole. Fione tells us that for her, the music was always about what could have been, a sort of pain that we feel inside of us that we know we can’t change, because it is impossible to turn back time. Instead, we live with what we know we have to deal with, facing every day with the uncertainty that something might change in a minute, an hour or, tomorrow. From here, Tomorrow Everything Could Be Different’s concept can be gleaned as we contemplate the past, present and future and it can be interpreted differently by the listener.

Quiet moments of reflection weave a pensive environment in which you can either concentrate your thoughts, or allow them to evaporate. The music feels at times as if it is containing and conserving its energy, only for swells of strings and fleeting crescendos to release the tension. It’s a release which reveals either negative, or positive energy, depending on its listener. The artwork from painter Maliana Wang reflects the album’s themes by offering what appears to be storm clouds or crashing waves.

We all see the future in different ways. Tomorrow Everything Could Be Different doesn’t tell you what will change, that things will get better, or worse. The clouds may thicken, or they may disappear.“

credits
Written and Produced by Sven Laux and Fione
Mastered by James Edward Armstrong
Painting by Maliana Wang
Art and design by Andrew Heath