Lauren Newton, Joachim Gies (Fotographer: Koho Mori)
AUF DEUTSCH
CD Joachim Gies / Lauren Newton
Tenderness of Stones / Zärtlichkeit der Steine
Joachim Gies, sopranino-, alto- and tenor saxophone, electronics
Lauren Newton, voice
all compositions by Joachim Gies (GEMA)
and Lauren Newton (GEMA)
Michael Speier, lyrics
Guests:
Michael Walz, sampling, electronics
Koho Mori, noise performance, spoken voice
Tenderness of Stones / Zärtlichkeit der Steine (CD)
Vocal and saxophone swim like silhouettes on tender tissue-paper. Electronic sounds form a hovering setting to flowing interactions of the vocalist and the saxophonist. The musical developments are formed by limits and boundlessness. There appear sound-forms stretching from fragile sound spaces to energetic forms of expression.
A poem by the lyric-writer Michael Speier, ‘Wasser und Licht’ (Water and Light) appears in three different translations into English and one into Japanese. The music traces out the abundance of varieties in the copies leaving aside the original text by transforming the semantic multidimensionality of the lyrical language into the open of the sounds.
"…Tenderness of Stones…presents music as a mode of philosophical inquiry-a kind of hermeneutic motion seeking and inscribing meanings that play at the edge of language."
Stuart Broomer
Booklet/ CD Tenderness of Stones
Talking Stones // Sprechende Steine
Flash-Sample (1,2 MB)
CD: Tenderness of Stones
Joachim Gies, tenor saxophone with tube, composition
Lauren Newton, voice, composition
lyrics: Michael Speier
translation: Richard Dove
Tentative / Circles // Tasten / Kreise
Flash-Sample (1,3 MB)
CD: Tenderness of Stones
Joachim Gies, sopranino saxophone with tube, composition
Lauren Newton, voice, composition
guest: Michael Walz, electronics, sampling
www.laurennewton.com
www.leorecords.com
Lauren Newton, vocalist
Born in Coos Bay, Oregon, U.S.A. She received the Bachelor of Music degree in 1975 from the University of Oregon and in 1977 a degree in Vocal Performance from the School of Music in Stuttgart, Germany. She lives in Germany since 1974.
She has performed 20th century music as well as works written especially for her by composers A. Hölszky, B. Konrad, W. Dauner, H.J. Hespos, H. Zerbe and others.
From 1979 to 1990 she was singer with the "Vienna Art Orchestra" (20 LP/CDs). Her first solo LP "Timbre" received the annual German Critics Award in 1983. Tours and CD-recordings with Vocal Summit with B. McFerrin, J. Lee, J. Clayton and U. Dudziak.
Diverse music projects, concerts, radio and CD-recordings with Joëlle Léandre, Jon Rose, Hannes Zerbe, Joachim Kuehn, Aki Takase, Anthony Braxton as well as performances with artist Koho Mori. Since 1974 she travels extensively with different groups performing at most of the renowned music festivals in Europe, Russia, USA, Canada and parts of Africa. Since 1982 she continues to sing in Japan in concerts and recordings with different Japanese artists.
Reviews
"When talking about contemporary vocalists, there is no way to avoid Lauren Newton.... Whoever has been following Lauren Newton's progress has been able to observe how, within only a few years, a talented singer has become one of the most exciting, imaginative and bravest vocal experimentalists of today's music scene."
Basel News
"Even from today's viewpoint, Lauren Newton is an outstanding frontier-breaker between controlled artful music and jazz-like emotionality.… One thing is clear: many will not be able to follow in the "voice" steps of Lauren Newton because they lack those vocal capabilities."
Jazzthetik
"Newton sings, sighs, moans, clucks, recites - she uses her voice as an instrument with all its possibilities, and her talent is immense."
I.S.B.
"With unbelievable imagination and absolute consequence, Lauren Newton pulls all the stops of contemporary techniques and vocal expressions giving back the voice it's place as a most fascinating and unsurpassable instrument."
Central Bavarian News
www.not-missing-drums.de
Urban Voices (CD)
