Fiona Joy Hawkins’ New Single and Video

Leave a comment
Screen Shot 2020-06-25 at 1.42.38 pm
"Fiona Joy Hawkins’ New Single and Video"

Fiona Joy Hawkin’s Presents New Single and Video
 Calling County Clare

Music for this moment… A piano journey that finds joy. Calling County Clare is the first track on Fiona Joy’s upcoming album Moving Through Worlds due out 7 July. Calling County Clare is a Celtic dance and joyful celebration featuring piano with Irish Whistle, guitars, accordion and rhythm. In the video Fiona is standing on the shores of Town Beach at Port Macquarie and calling to the shores of Ireland. There’s some really beautiful drone footage of the Irish coast throughout the video shot specifically for the clip.

Fiona Joy Hawkins is an Australian Pianist, Composer and Singer who enjoys and regularly tours China and the USA and is also a member of the Contemporary instrumental group FLOW (Fiona Joy, Lawrence Blatt, Jeff Oster, Will Ackerman). Fiona Joy Hawkins is best known for her romantic, melodic songs and lush arrangements. A prolific composer, she has always been interested in creating music that evokes images, emotions and tells stories.

Fiona Joy is known for ‘Grace’, her song on a Grammy Winning album in 2014 and for her extensive catalogue produced by Will Ackerman (Founder Windham Hill Records). In 2016 she won two categories of the Independent Music Awards at the Lincoln Centre in New York and has been awarded Best Piano Album by International Radio (ZMR Awards) for several of her albums. Nominated alongside Pete Seeger for Best LIVE Performance Album in the Independent Music Awards,Fiona was an ARIA Finalist in Australia in 2008. Fiona works with Australian piano maker Stuart and Sons, and has several albums with Blue Coast Records (content partners with Sony Music for hi-resolution releases).

Watch the Video (Premiered last week on Scenstr) for Calling County Clare here

Blue Coast owner/producer Cookie Marenco says, “Fiona’s melodic solo piano and masterful performances are the perfect music to debut the kind of clarity double DSD audio brings to the home listener,”

“One of the brightest lights in contemporary instrumental music, Fiona Joy is poised to move into stardom,” -Will Ackerman, Founder of Windham Hill Records

“Calling County Clare” is OUT NOW via FOGHORN/MGM. 

Streaming “Calling County Clare”
Stream on Spotify
Stream on Bandcamp
Stream on Apple Music

Connect with Fiona Joy:



For further information, Files, CD and Interview Requests please contact:
Marshall Cullen at Foghorn Media
0416 143 030
marshall@foghornrecords.net

Review of Steve Kilbey and Gareth Koch album Chryse Planitia

Leave a comment
download
"Review of Steve Kilbey and Gareth Koch album Chryse Planitia"

By Adam Jones 24/3/2020

 

Some artists and bands change like a slow-moving chameleon. Listen to Bowie’s first and last albums, and Queen’s, and the Rolling Stones. None of them gathered any moss, but did they gain any shine? 

 

In Australia we have some extraordinary and treasured original artists who consistently deliver creative fodder for the music loving Aussie cattle, and all those other beautiful creatures herding around this great continent and across the world. Enigmatic riders on the dragons of fiery passion and creativity. 

 

Some amazing dragon’s sons also have a long tail that lashes our ears with a quirky but blunt sentiment, along with a hearty serving of provocative ideas.  It takes a true lover of the art of contemporary music to really appreciate the legend that is Steve Kilbey, the master of The Church, and a maestro for the lovers of exceptional songwriting and performance. But he is still somehow pleasingly familiar.  When you get this close to musical utopia, the worst thing you can do is change too much!

 

But wait, there’s more!! Another shiny dragon egg has borne a different, but kindred spirit, conjured up by the masters of fantastic melody and classical classiness, and his name is Gareth Koch. Wow, this Aria award winner plays the guitar better than the best lover in the world tinkers with the sweet body of the object of his desire. Gareth relentlessly pleased my ears, and they were suffering gladly from his incandescent acoustic sensory overload.

 

Their incredible collaboration, helmed by the solid and laconic vocals and songwriting from Steve, is a somewhat different, but just frigging awesome, version of those fantastic albums we were treated to last millennium in the only Church I would every prey in.

 

So what can we find between the pews, up in the mural-covered arches, and hidden in cobwebbed bell-towers? Well, I tell you right now. There is still so much to discover, even after a few listens I feel like I need to spend 6 months with this album hitting my ears at least a few times per week, before I could do it some real justice with my review.  But with only a few spins on my digital turntable, I will do my best, and give it a go!

 

‘Chryse Planitia’ is a smooth round golden plain, found north of the equator on the planet Mars, AND probably one of the most interesting and original album names I’ve seen since Pink Floyd in the late 60s. Well, I suppose its a very appropriate name, because it definitely rocketed my mind to another planet!

 

This collection of great songs opens with the fast-paced band expression that is Fallen Crown. “Hey baby, I’m a billionaire! Woah! She said I’ve got everything I need”. Well, lucky her, but her crown has fallen to the ground, because “her broken King don’t know what to say, clinging to the throne by a piece of string”.  Surely this is a critical appraisal of greed and power, but “wow, you look so pretty!”.

 

The Fatal Hour strikes early on, “still sour in its cage, while fools come out to promenade”. This slower, and darker song is modern folklore. With multiple acoustic guitars plucking along, this is moody melodies galore. Then a bit of Didge introduces us to that misnamed Tassie Tiger, the Thylacine, mourning the extinction of that weird native dog from the map of Tassie. “Somebody came and took them all away, but still I wonder where they are tonight”.  Next comes Tears of The End Of The World, a ballad for all that we seem to have lost and destroyed on planet Earth.  And some people want to go and live on inhospitable Mars!  Why, so they can “smile at the end of the day, mean everything, mean anything, give nothing away”?

 

In ‘Ophelia Without Wine’ Steve is “dying for the chance for her to come my way”.  Gareth is once again amazing on the nylon strings.  This whole album has so much to offer.  Rest assured that the rest of the album, with songs that are so easy to indulge in, and with titles such as ’Heart is Heavy’, ‘Lady Ishtar in her Garden’, ‘Broken Toys’, and ‘Lost At Sea’, are sweet or sour treats that just keep coming, like a bottomless bowl of your favourite dessert or chilli con carne.

 

Honestly, this album has just been added to my ‘Essential Listening List’.  Say no more.

242766f4-cfa5-4fd8-94f4-418145eb2c21

(photo credit: Tony Mott)

Listen to the album on your favourite platform:

skgklinkto

 

Connect with Steve Kilbey:



Connect with Gareth Koch:

Apsara – Galatea EP

Leave a comment
GALATEA_SLEEVE_OUTLINES4
"Apsara – Galatea EP"

Apsara is an original project of classical soprano Michaele Archer, exploring a sound palate that is rich and raw. Composed with Latin text from Virgil and Roman woman poet Sulpicia, Apsara’s debut EP Galatea intertwines ancient and new sounds.

Leading the Apsara project on harmonium and vocals, Archer is joined by cellist Rachel Whealy, violist Gabrielle Laura Steele and guitarist Giuseppe Zangari.

APSARA_CLIP_DAY1

It been a journey bringing together the different layers for this project – Ancient Latin text, alto instruments and a vocal approach that blends opera and early music. “Once I had it the music came quickly. The songs almost wrote themselves. They came so fast in a matter of minutes recording on my phone.”

In addition to medieval vocals, ancient Latin text and deep analogue instruments, the flow of water and nature inspires Apsara. In Virgil’s Eclogue 7 there are references to Galatea, a water sprite and the name Apsara also translates as Indian water spirit.

APSARA_MICHAELE_ARCHER

Michaele has performed opera, song and oratorio in Australia and internationally and has featured in several world premieres of new works by Australian composers.

“Coming from an opera background and having a larger voice type my sound has always been full on opera”. Michaele has recently been performing and studying in Los Angeles with Robin de Haas, a leading voice coach in Europe and founder of a new performance and body work method called Breathing Coordination. Going ever deeper into anatomy and the science of breathing led Michaele to a new vocal style, blending Opera into medieval straight tone.

Discovering the poetry of Roman woman poet Sulpicia struck a deep chord.  “The portrayal of women in opera is often two dimensional and I wanted to depart from that,” says Archer.  Sulpicia was a woman who lived outside the stereotypes of Ancient Roman society in terms of being unmarried, writing poetry and writing explicitly about love. The feel and sound qualities of old Latin text and stories interpreted from a female perspective form a rich layer, built with instruments from the deeper harmonic spectrum.

“I’ve got a thing for the darker sounding instruments so combining the tone of the viola with cello and alto harmonium was a perfect fit.”

Cellist Rachel Whealy has been a muse since high school. The pair met in Year 12 Music class, where Michaele fell in love with Rachel’s playing and the mellow sob of the cello. There were quite a few maths lessons skipped to play Purcell on Balmoral Island with the waves. They have been performing, writing and recording together ever since. “We’ve created some beautiful original recordings, but I kept putting them aside. I hadn’t quite cracked the feel of the sound I knew I was looking for. I wanted to move slightly left of opera with an instrumental foundation that was real and textured.”

APSARA – GALATEA will be released on August 23 through MGM. 

Download or stream from August 23:

Spotify_Logo_CMYK_Green

Listen On Apple Music Logo

Connect with Michaele:

Facebook F

Steve Kilbey And Gareth Koch Join Forces For ‘Broken Toys’

Leave a comment
Broken Toys 3000px
"Steve Kilbey And Gareth Koch Join Forces For ‘Broken Toys’"

What happens when the musical worlds of Australian Music icon Steve Kilbey & classically trained ARIA Award winner Gareth Koch collide?

The answer lies in their new single Broken Toys – a refined and confident title brimming with sensitivity, experience and fresh ideas.

It’s not easy to describe a fascinating and unexpected collaboration such as this one. Steve Kilbey is perhaps best known as frontman of veteran rock band The Church. Gareth Koch on the other hand is a Viennese-trained classical guitarist/composer.

Crop 1-photobytonymott_195(1)

(photo credit: Tony Mott)

The Kilbey/Koch musical arrangements are acoustic and highly sophisticated. ‘Classical’ is one way of describing the sound. But it is much more than that. Kilbey is a self-confessed classicist, so the pairing is actually spot on. Kilbey & Koch have roughly 1000 years of music history bubbling away in their consciousness, and coupled with this knowledge is a keen awareness of contemporary sensibilities.

Sparkling effervescent textures, percussion by veteran stickman Barton Price (of Models fame), dobros, classical and 12-string guitars and even a 1966 ‘Beatle Bass’ all combine to create a unique and original soundscape.

Their eclectic partnership draws inspiration from medieval music to post-modern psychedelia, with every imaginable influence in between. These experienced musicians have created a strong and immediately recognisable musical identity, a new sound and aesthetic that comes with a fluid movement across genres. The result is a unique blend of classical & pop sensibilities with lyrics poised for repeated listening.

Expertly mixed by Russell Pilling at Damien Gerard Studios Sydney and superbly mastered by Grammy Award winning King Willy Sound, Broken Toys is a feast for the ears.

To download, stream or connect:

Spotify_Logo_CMYK_Green

Listen On Apple Music Logo

Fiona Joy (Hawkins) – New Single – Grace Chill Remix – Out Now

Leave a comment
Fionajoy
"Fiona Joy (Hawkins) – New Single – Grace Chill Remix – Out Now"

Fiona Joy (Hawkins) – New Single – Grace Chill Remix – Out Now

Soundslikecafe is proud to feature this International Tune on the new September 2018 playlist

“I originally wrote Grace as a piano instrumental and it ended up on a Grammy winning album in 2014. I wanted to add words and record my own singer/songwriter version as I really connected with the message in the song “To be with Grace, To live with Grace, Always with Grace’.   A slower acoustic recording was followed by a chill mix which featured on the first Say Yes To Love album in support of marriage equality.  This current remix of Grace is punchier Dream-Pop.  
The track features Tony Levin (Peter Gabriel) playing NS Bass, Marc Shulman (Jewel & Suzanne Vega) playing Electric guitar with a little Beat-Box by my son Nick Hawkins. 
The song has genre hopped from World to New Age to Pop and it’s been covered by a number of other artists including Flutist Sherry Finzer and Grammy winners Ricky Kej and Wouter Kellerman.



Connect with Fiona:

Website

Facebook

 

Annoyed by Restaurant Playlists, a Master Musician Made His Own

Leave a comment
Screen Shot 2018-08-04 at 1.01.19 PM
"Annoyed by Restaurant Playlists, a Master Musician Made His Own"

From NY Times –

by Ben Ratliff

Last Autumn a friend told me a story about Ryuichi Sakamoto, the
renowned musician and composer who now lives in West Village, New
York. Mr. Sakamoto, it seems, so likes a particular Japanese

restaurant in Murray Hill, and visits it so often, he finally had to be
straight with the chef: He could not bear the music it played for its
patrons. The issue was not so much that the music was loud, but that
it was thoughtless. Mr. Sakamoto suggested he could take over the
job of choosing it, without pay, if only so he could feel more
comfortable eating there. The chef agreed, and so Mr. Sakamoto
started making playlists for the restaurant, none of which include any
of his own music. Few people knew about this, because Mr. Sakamoto
has no particular desire to publicise it. It took me a few weeks to
appreciate how radical the story was, if indeed it was true. I consider
thoughtless music in restaurants a problem that has gotten worse over
the years, even since the advent of the music-streaming services,
which – you’d think – should have made it better. If I’m going to spend
decent money on a meal, I don’t want the reservation-taker, the dishwasher or someone from the back office to be cooking it; I want someone who is very good at cooking food to do it. The same should apply to the music, which after all will be playing before, during and after the eating. I would prefer that music not seem an afterthought, or the result of algorithmic computation. I want it chosen by a person who knows music up and down and sideways: its context, its dynamism and its historical and aural clichés.

Fiona Joy Hawkins – New Album – Story of Ghosts

Leave a comment
Fiona Joy - Story of Ghosts - Cover
"Fiona Joy Hawkins – New Album – Story of Ghosts"

Fiona Joy Hawkins – New Album – Story of Ghosts

Fiona Joy Hawkins – A name that resonates in acoustic music circles as one of this generation’s top contemporary solo piano artists. Having won many awards for her two previous solo piano albums, Fiona is destined to do the same with Story of Ghosts.

Fiona’s third solo piano album takes her fans on an introspective journey reflecting the past year of her life as she deals with its twists and turns (as we all do). The music is provocative and hauntingly beautiful.

Fiona Joy Hawkins 6

“It’s much more classical and very connected to my roots” says Fiona of this new album. “There’s a lot of emotion in it; that part was challenging. But when I get feedback from my audience saying that I’m touching their lives, and in some way making a difference, that makes it worthwhile.”

Fiona has recorded for only two labels, her own Little Hartley Music for standard recordings, and Blue Coast Records – known for its high quality audio file recordings. Working with producer Cookie Marenco.

“Even CD quality is unsatisfying when you’ve heard DSD or SACD, especially when played on a high-end system” says Fiona.

The release in June 2018 marks the official launch date, the album is now available in high resolution down-load and on streaming channels.

Track list

1. Song for Dunnie [3:35]

2. Story of Angels [4:48]

3. Contemplating (Solo) [5:31]

4. Blue Dream (Solo) [3:12]

5. The Solo Tango [5:11]

6. The White Light [3:35]

7. Story of Ghosts [3:27]

8. Twilight [3:41]

9. Story of Insanity [2:52]

10. Before the Light [5:31]

Facebook F

Website1_Fotor_Fotor

spotify_2015