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DELIA GONZALEZ

‘Horse Follows Darkness’ is the second record by Delia Gonzalez, her follow up to the album ‘In Remembrance’.

The title is taken from a werewolf genre film her 8 year old son Wolfgang had created. At this time, Wolfgang also turned Delia onto a genre of cinema she had always resisted - the American Western. Delia explains that what she observed “was all relevant - the album is based on our personal experience of moving back to America (from Berlin) and the journey that followed. The record is a manifestation of that, and what one creates for themselves under the given circumstances. Coming back to America, I felt like a foreigner and NYC / America felt like the Wild West. Most Westerns from the 1960s to the present have revisionist themes. Many were made by emerging major filmmakers who saw the Western as an opportunity to expand their criticism of American society and values into a new genre.”

The narrative of the record is one of re-encountering the frontier mentality that shaped the country but somehow never faded. This time as a foreigner. The genre of the Western remains pertinent, many of the same stories of that brutally deromanticized era are still relevant today.

‘Horse Follows Darkness’ is essentially a modern electronic soundtrack for the Revisionist Western. Even the idea for the record cover is inspired by one of the most well known modern Westerns, Robert Altman’s ‘McCabe & Mrs Miller’.

The album was recorded with Abe Seiferth at Transmitter Park studios, which Delia likens to “going to the finest tailor.” Abe became an integral part of the recording, playing guitar and helping to suggest experimenting with different synthesizers, something Delia was keen to do. Delia refers to Abe as “a magical and incredibly intuitive collaborator” regarding the sound of the record.

The music that emerged from these recording sessions combines a range of influences - from the compositions of Erik Satie to ‘Salon De Musique’, the solo piano record by Su Tissue (of the LA punk band Suburban Lawns). The record also took on a much different shape and sound with the introduction of the Sequential Circuits Prophet VS, as well as a vintage Korg Poly synth and the Roland SH-101. The golden era Krautrock recordings of bands like Neu!, Cluster and Harmonia were touchstones as well, the repetition, swirling soundscapes and locked-in rhythm tracks.

Delia Gonzalez is a Cuban-American musician and artist, based in both New York City and Berlin. Her disciplines include everything from composer to filmmaker, dancer / choreographer, sculptor, painter and performance artist. Her musical career with DFA Records began in 2004 when the label released the 12” single ‘Relevee’, followed by the album of cosmic acid house ‘The Days Of Mars’, with Delia and then musical partner Gavin Russom.

In 2015, DFA released Delia’s first solo album entitled ‘In Remembrance’, which was a full piano score for a 30 minute filmed ballet, a perfect example of the type of work Delia creates as a multi-disciplinary artist.

STAFF COMMENTS

Barry says: Gonzalez spans the whole range of avant-garde ambience on this stunning release, from clattering field recordings (a-la Set Fire To Flames), Krautrock rhythms and stunning modern classical beauty. An exceptional album from an exceptionally gifted composer.

TRACK LISTING

In Through The Light
Hidden Song
Roulette
Horse Follows Darkness
Vesuvius

Delia Gonzalez

In Remembrance

DFA Records are proud to announce the release of "In Remembrance", a multimedia project by acclaimed contemporary artist Delia Gonzalez. The project originated as a 2010 solo show of the same name at Galleria Fonti in Naples, Italy, and was further realized in 2012, with additional work, as part of the exhibition I Must Not Stop To Rest Here in Cologne, Germany. The project was further exhibited in Zurich. Both exhibitions were built around four 16mm ballet dance films, accompanied by the music composed by Gonzalez. In her words, “The film is meant to re-create the fleeting sensation of inspiration - that sacred feeling when suddenly your mind clears and you know exactly what you’re meant to create and become.”

The original piano score was initially inspired by a text by Henry Miller as well as a theory by spiritual teacher George Gurdjieff, which states that “to play scales is to become more in tune with your inner self.” This coincided conceptually with the music that Delia had been making at the time.

Musically, 'In Remembrance' finds Delia Gonzalez again straddling the lines drawn between the fine art and pop worlds. This time, instead of the cosmic, arpeggiated synths of 'The Days of Mars', we are presented with something even more beautiful. The music is immediately soothing and hypnotic, yet it also maintains a sinister undertone. Suspense and tension are expressed in a deceptively simple fashion, providing a soundtrack both mesmerizing and melancholy for the dancers in the film. Delicate layers of piano wind around each other, reflected in the mirrored motions of the dancers, filmed in leering close-ups. The four compositions combine to create a 30 minute avant-classical suite, bringing to mind Satie, or something plucked from Italy’s iconic Cramps Records in the seventies (John Cage’s Cheap Imitation is an reasonable comparison), or perhaps an alternate score to the arthouse horror film Don’t Look Back by Nicolas Roeg.

The the album also features remixes by live collabator Bryce Hackford. Bryce takes Delia’s exquisite piano score and loops, stretches, and consolidates it. There’s a range of treatments at play here - some pieces are layered with gauzy left-field electronic pulses while Track IV get a 4/4 dancefloor makeover, recommended to fans of both classic Detroit techno and newer left-field stars such as Actress. Asked to briefly discuss his mission statement in creating these remixes, Bryce simply stated that he wished that his remixes “maintain the hypnotic and simple beauty of the originals while opening them up to new spaces.”.

CD and double LP formats include a DVD featuring ballet performances set to the music of "In Remembrance".

For fans of Nils Frahm, Kiasmos, Hauschka, Philip Glass, A Winged Victory For The Sullen.

TRACK LISTING

I
II
III
IV
Remix I
Remix II
Remix III
Remix IV


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