Experimental vocalist Juliet Fraser shares her lock-down adventures on the 'TC Helicon VoiceLive 3'; twenty-two tracks of loops, refrains and laments fizzing with creative energy.
"The TC Helicon VoiceLive 3 and I first worked together back in 2015, on a piece for voice and ensemble that took advantage of my many-buttoned collaborator’s ability to transform my voice in real time. Though the experience of frantically trying to press the right button at the right time whilst singing quite complicated notes wasn't altogether easy, I was left with a lot of curiosity for what this machine could do. I felt our adventures had only just begun. Fast-forward to March 2020: I decided to take the plunge, to order my own and make this reunion a lockdown project that might save morale and sanity. What's documented here are my little experiments, recorded over a 6-week period as I got to know the beast, fiddling around with the several hundred preset vocal effects, the manifold possibilities of individual effects (such as harmony and hardtune) and the loop function. Each track was made very fast, with no time for critical reflection." - Juliet Fraser
Soprano JULIET FRASER specialises in the gnarly edges of contemporary classical music. She regularly appears as a guest soloist with ensembles such as Musikfabrik, Klangforum Wien, Ensemble Modern, Remix, Talea and Quatuor Bozzini, and is a core member of EXAUDI vocal ensemble, which she co-founded with composer/conductor James Weeks and which celebrates its twentieth anniversary this year. She is an active commissioner of new repertoire and has worked particularly closely with composers Laurence Crane, Pascale Criton, Bernhard Lang, Cassandra Miller and Rebecca Saunders. Juliet’s discography reflects the full breadth of her repertoire: she has recorded early music with Collegium Vocale Gent and EXAUDI for release on Harmonia Mundi, Outhere and Winter & Winter, and solo albums of contemporary repertoire for NEOS, Kairos, HCR and Hat Hut. Juliet is the founder and artistic director of the eavesdropping festival in London and co-director of all that dust, a little independent label for new music.
