A flame my love, a frequency

by Colleen

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lionvalley Bubbly melancholy, effervescent grief. This album forms a sort of watery cocoon around the listener. Favorite track: Winter dawn.

julia caron This record is on all the time . Entrancing

10ethereal Since "Everyone Wants Alive Answers" and every release after, Colleen has never failed to wow and amaze me. I so admire the sonic world she creates. I want to live in navigate through it. I was so very lucky to see her perform live in La Jolla, CA this year. It was a bucket list thing. I am speechless by the beauty of this album.. Everything in the sound, the voice and the lyrics speaks to me on the apex of levels. I just adore her so much! Favorite track: A flame my love, a frequency.

twuster it
just takes me to a place i thought i would never be able to revisit again
it's bittersweet, but the songs themselves make it bearable again Favorite track: Winter dawn.

blanco73431 Light and ethereal vibes from this album. It sounds captivating, natural and organic. It must be a labour of love to make music like this... it feels personal. The first Colleen album I have bought since Everyone Alive Wants Answers and I'll definitely be exploring more of her back catalogue. Beautiful. Favorite track: Summer night (Bat song).

more...

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Streaming + Download

Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

Purchasable with gift card

Download available in 16-bit/44.1kHz.

$9 USD or more
Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album

CD version in mini-LP style gatefold
LP pressed on virgin vinyl with artworked inner sleeve.
ONLY SHIPS FROM THE US.
AVAILABLE FOR SHIPPING FROM GERMANY, PLEASE ORDER FROM ANOST
www.anost.net/release/BC53/colleen%2fa-flame-my-love-a-frequency

Includes unlimited streaming of A flame my love, a frequency via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
Download available in 16-bit/44.1kHz.

ships out within 3 days

Purchasable with gift card

$12 USD or more

1.	November 02:08
2.	Separating 07:30	lyrics
Separating from the world Is like a drop of rain Falling to the ocean floor - It’s just impossible Separating, separating, separating, separating
3.	Another world 05:58
4.	Winter dawn 05:15	lyrics
The world had nearly ended yet the sky was blue And I came home with a fistful of fear O dear soul, flesh and bones Love alone is your home Deep and warm, golden dawn Shine some more of that light of yours Deep and warm, golden dawn Give me more of that light of yours
5.	Summer night (Bat song) 05:14	lyrics
Be like the bat that nearly flew into my room Know where to stop, know when to stop Turn around and Swoop swoop swoop swoop swoop You’re hunting so close I hear your wings beating In the Descending milky night In that house And in that room Where once I was a child So many summer nights None quite like this one Descending milky night
6.	The stars vs creatures 05:14	lyrics
The stars will have the last word And outshine us “I beg to differ” Said the red fox “I beg to differ” Said the kingfisher “A single one Of my feathers Is worth a million stars Or Venus” “Have you forgotten That I the red fox Made your Heart Leap with joy?”
7.	One warm spark 04:48
8.	A flame my love, a frequency 07:03	lyrics
A flame my love, a frequency So stillness now Can reign again Reign, reign, reign Reign, reign, reign I will call you when the sun has Reached the final hour Reached the final hour

about

French artist Colleen is fearless in her willingness to explore new sounds and new ways of creating music as a solo performer. On her new album A flame my love, a frequency she introduces the most drastic change to her music since she began singing on her fourth album. A chance encounter with a Critter and Guitari synthesizer at King Britt’s Philadelphia studio on the Captain of None album tour cracked the compositional model wide open. Colleen bought a Critter and Guitari Pocket Piano with the aim to use it through a newly-acquired Moog filter pedal to create new and interesting rhythms to accompany her voice and viola da gamba. But it turned out the sounds of this viola and rhythm combination was not what she was looking for, so in typical Colleen fashion, she set the viola da gamba aside altogether and picked up an additional Critter and Guitari synth, the Septavox, dug out her her trusted Moog delay and dove right in.

Words used to describe her muse Arthur Russell are equally applicable to Colleen (multi-instrumentalist Cécile Schott). Schott’s compositions can be in turn pop or experimental, vocal or instrumental, and acoustic or electronic. She has drawn on baroque sounds of a classical instrument using the most modern pedals and looping techniques. Shape shifting as she does, the pieces are always distinctly her strong and utterly unique musical voice. A constant across Colleen’s albums are delicate extended melodies, minutely detailed soundscapes, and explorative unbounded compositions. Colleen’s work is a direct result of her core belief that in order to keep growing as an artist, you need to continue to be willing to experiment and to embrace drastic changes.

The music of A flame… is the closest Colleen has come to a concept album, a reflection upon one year in her life that began in the Autumn of 2015. The album‘s central theme is the inescapable fact that life and death always walk hand in hand. Schott is an avid bird watcher and her home and studio on the coast of Spain allow for frequent trips out into the wilds. As any naturalist knows, extreme beauty and vitality go hand in hand with brutality. This symbiosis was made more personal when, on the way back from visiting a very ill relative in France, she decided to spend the night in her former home of Paris in order to take her viola bow for repair at a luthier in the Republique area. It was late afternoon and she remembers the beauty of Paris and people sitting and enjoying the cafés. That was November 13th and a mere 4 hours later these very same cafés were the scene of utter terror and death.

A few weeks after the events, Colleen started composing the songs that make up the album. She recorded each song live with minimal edits and vocals were recorded without overdubs, creating a symbiosis between the machine and the performer that mirrors the album’s core concept. The personal narrative of the year in question yields a more vulnerable sound than any previous recordings by Colleen. “Separating” is an emotional response to being overwhelmed by the inevitability of death. Feelings of fear are never far from feelings of joy as they are in “Winter dawn” with its propulsive thump and ominous lyrics “I came home with a fistful of fear,” that manage to shift towards hope with “Love alone is your home.” Joy and hope are strongly present throughout the album, the catalyst that lifts us out of the darkness as inevitably as night to day. We are shown the wonderment of “Another world,” and through the metaphors of light, shown joy as in the title track. A flame my love, a frequency is an album that finds optimism in the face of tribulation, a meditation on humanity’s ability to prevail. It is a beautiful, complex album by a singular and remarkable musician.

credits

released October 20, 2017

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about

Colleen Barcelona, Spain

Multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Cécile Schott, 8 albums since 2003. Thrill Jockey Records,
LP8 Le jour et la nuit du réel, out 22nd September 2023.

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