About this item

Asperities is the fourth solo album by acclaimed Vancouver-born, New York-based cellist Julia Kent.
Her extensive résumé includes recent work with Swans, Aidan Baker, Rachel Grimes, Rutger Zuydervelt, Barbara Morgenstern, Library Tapes and Khan of Finland. Utilising treated cello and electronics, Kent creates a world where the technological and the organic merge in perfect symbiosis, the layers of sound peeling back to reveal a beating, bloody human heart at its centre.
Accurately described as “elegant and intense” and “deeply personal”, Kent draws from a rich well of emotion. There is tension, darkness and masterful restraint in this work. Julia Kent rose to prominence with cello trio Rasputina and as arranger and performer in Antony & The Johnsons.

Julia Kent has also composed for film, theatre and dance. Recent cinematic work includes the documentaries The Boxing Girls of Kabul and Rwanda, L’Impossible Pardon, American feature AShort History of Decay, as well as the award-winning short film Oasis. Her first solo albums, Delay (2007) and Green and Grey (2011), were released by Important Records in North America. Her most recent solo record, Character (2013), was released to critical acclaim on The Leaf Label. As a solo artist Julia has toured extensively in Europe and North America and performed at festivals including Primavera Sound, Reeperbahn, Unsound, and Meltdown. Kent surrounds a fabric of gorgeous cello melodies with excerpts of burbling brooks and chirping cicadas, letting the sounds sit closely but distinctly in one same ruminative space. Strangely and surprisingly intimate.

TRACK LISTING

1. A1.Hellebore
2. A2. Lac Des Arcs
3. A3. The Leopard
4. A4. Flag Of No Country
5. B1. Terrain
6. B2. Empty States
7. B3. Heavy Eyes
8. B4. Invitation To The Voyage
9. B5. Tramontana