Out on SUB ROSA the 2nd of December: Lilly Joel Plays The Organ ‘Sibyl Of The Rhine’
Lilly Joel Plays The Organ – “Sibyl Of The Rhine”
Lynn Cassiers: voice and electronics
Jozef Dumoulin: pipe organ
Lynn Cassiers and Jozef Dumoulin have been making music together since over 20 years. But it’s a vast and fascinating list of unrelated events that brought them to make this recording, featuring the music of 12th century sage and mystic Hildegard von Bingen in a setup of voice with electronics accompanied by pipe organ. Yet it feels like an unexpected and vibrant evidence – coming home somewhere else.
The music of Hildegard von Bingen is essentially monodic, made to be performed by a voice and maybe one fixed pedal note played by an instrument. A big part of the work has been to find the right approach and tone for this setup. To see how this melodies resonate today and what they call for, inventing spaces where they can unfold simply. Improvisation played a key role in this process; listening, feeling, dreaming.
A tune of Robert Schumann and Tom Jobim have been added to enhance and stabilise the colours that presented themselves.
The result – “Sibyl Of The Rhine” – is an object of a mesmerising beauty, made to be heard over and over. But it’s also a clear blueprint and a powerful source for further live reenactments.
Lynn Cassiers and Jozef Dumoulin both established themselves in the realm of contemporary jazz and improvised music. Besides other collaborations they play as a duo called ‘Lilly Joel’, mixing free improvisation with electronics. ‘Lilly Joel Plays The Organ’ is a special edition of the duo with Jozef Dumoulin replacing his usual electronic setup by the ancient pipe organ, an instrument he played extensively as a teenager.
Recording in the Abbey of Royaumont
Debut release of Lilly Joel on Sub Rosa: “What Lies In The Sea”, SR416 – 2015 – LISTEN/BUY
Lilly Joel started off as a condensed duo-version of Jozef Dumoulin’s band Lidlboj. But little by little the music started to take its own path, and evolved towards a fully independent nucleus, taking off in a hybrid world of sound-adventure. ‘What Lies In The Sea’ is Lilly Joel’s first album and contains 11 improvised tracks recorded live and in the studio.
Lynn Cassiers 