NEW RECORDINGS

OUT NOW | Violin Duo String Noise's New CD: "Alien Stories"

June 17, 2021

2 MIN READ

A product of the increased attention on human rights issues and racial equality, this project highlights the work of five young black composer-performers based in New York City

Infrequent Seams Records announced the release of violin duo String Noise's new album: "Alien Stories."

Composed of violinists Conrad Harris and Pauline Kim Harris, the New York-based ensemble has premiered works by George Lewis, Christian Wolff, Michael Byron, and David Behrman.

From the experimental works of Lester St. Louis and Jessie Cox to the jazz and folk elements of the works by Jonathan Finlayson and Anaïs Maviel, to the melodic hockets of Charles Overton’s piece, this album provides an expansive vision of contemporary trends in black notated music.

"The birth of 'Alien Stories' was an optimistic development from the global health pandemic and the increased attention on human rights issues and racial equality that came about through public embrace of the Black Lives Matter movement," String Noise Duo told The Violin Channel. "We had an opportunity to highlight the work of five Black composer-performers and collaborators (some of whom reflect on the pandemic through these works) by co-commissioning new works with Carnegie Hill Concerts where Pauline is a co-curator alongside Nicholas Zork.

"From the experimental works of Lester St. Louis and Jessie Cox to the jazz and folk elements of the works by Jonathan Finlayson and Anaïs Maviel to the melodic hockets of Charles Overton’s piece, this album provides an expansive vision of contemporary trends in black notated music.

"A visual and conceptual centerpiece for this meeting of artistic expressions is the visual art of Edwin Bethea, and a detail of his 2017 work 'The Abyss Of Man' appears on the cover to the album.

"We hope these virtuosic musical offerings on this album by some of New York's most exhilarating innovators in the new-music community will resonate with listeners bringing nuanced and timely perspectives to the forefront of the conversation. And, furthermore, that these disparate new works will further broaden and expand the contemporary music repertoire by paying attention and embracing change."