New release: Monica Germino plays Molly Joyce's Shapeshifter

New Amsterdam Records releases a digital EP of two tracks for solo violin with live and pre-recorded electronics, by Molly Joyce . Monica Germino plays Joyce's entrancing Shapeshifter and Adrianna Mateo plays the title track, Lean Back and Release. Mixing/mastering by Andrew McKenna Lee, Frank van der Weij, Krišs Veismanis, Michael Laurello, and Greg Kalember.
Out now via New Amsterdam Bandcamp subscription & everywhere else on 27 January 2017.

Listen on Spotify

Watch the video (excerpt)

The title track is followed by a more recent work, "Shapeshifter", originally written for the Dutch duo of violinist Monica Germino and sound engineer Frank van der Weij. Premiered in April 2015 in The Hague and Amsterdam, "Shapeshifter" is motivated by the concept of control and losing it. It is driven by the fact that with the duo, Frank is typically not seen visually, and therefore the idea of him controlling Monica’s sound and gradually letting go of that control is highlighted throughout the piece, and for Monica to gradually “shape-shift” to a new and divergent sound. The Shapeshifter recording was engineered by Frank van der Weij, Krišs Veismanis, and mixed by Michael Laurello, and mastered by Greg Kalember.

Molly Joyce on both works:
"Lean Back and Release' and 'Shapeshifter' represent some of my first explorations into composing for acoustic instruments with accompanying electronics, and specifically how these instruments' sounds can transform electro-acoustically. With both works I was striving for a clear form that is driven by the changing range of the solo violinist, and how that change can be driven by an electronic backing track that is also derived from the acoustic violin.
Both pieces are also very much inspired by the violinists they are written for, and were written to challenge and showcase Adrianna and Monica's talents in new and unexpected ways."