Ur Trommler
First listen and I'm overwhelmed with the shimmering beauty of this remarkable set! WELL DONE and so lush and beautiful!
Favorite track: Aubade (The Farewell Is a Beginning).
w/Heather
The whole album is seamless and takes you on a journey. Issei Herr is genius and her music encompasses your soul. Thank you for this beautiful piece of art!
'Distant Intervals', the full-length debut from Brooklyn cellist and composer MIZU, is an exploration of memory, dreams, and the infinite possibilities within imagined worlds. Centered around themes of becoming and transformation, the music encompasses the liminal spaces between our past, present, and future selves - our ever-changing relation to personal memories, the ideals and dreams we have for our futures, and the distance and idealism of these infinite versions of self.
Composed and performed primarily through the vast sound-world of the cello, the album is built through layers of overdubbed improvisations, self-recorded entirely in MIZU's bedroom closet. There is an element of newfound wonder throughout the album’s nine parts; the sounds of a single cello, an instrument she has known intimately since childhood, are augmented and transformed through the infinite possibilities of digital production and manipulation - layered and processed audio samples, tape loops, and synth ornamentation. Combining up to a hundred layers of overdubbed cello and processed samples, the resulting sound world is lush, vast, and orchestral in scope. A closing feature by rising vocal star Maria BC transforms and elevates MIZU’s string-centered sound world into a euphoric bodily dimension.
Classically trained as a cellist at Juilliard, MIZU composed the album during a period of musical and personal transformation - as she moved away from a traditional classical performance path and notated music, while also beginning a long-awaited process of gender transition. While rooted in her classical background, the music looks outward and beyond limitations of style and genre; while song titles reference staples of the classical repertoire and traditional musical forms, they capture the poetry and fantasy of inner worlds through their improvisatory and deeply personal spirit. From the heavenly heights of "Prelude" to the darkest recesses of "Fugato", soft distant whispers of "Interlude" and "Serenata" to the rays of color and pulsating rhythm of "Toccata", the summation is a deeply personal account that conveys universal themes of memory, acceptance, and transformation.
“We may never touch queerness, but we can feel it as the warm illumination of a horizon imbued with potentiality. We have never been queer, yet queerness exists for us as an ideality that can be distilled from the past and used to imagine a future.” - José Esteban Muñoz, Cruising Utopia
credits
released April 7, 2023
Composed and recorded by MIZU
Vocals on Aveu by Maria BC
Mixed by Ben Shirken at 5950.exp
Mastered by Rafael Anton Irisarri at Black Knoll Studio
Additional production by Rachika Nayar
Album art by Dayi Novas
Cassette design by Daedalus Li
"Prelude and Aubade" video credits:
Direction and cinematography by Dazhi Huang
Art direction and styling by Daedalus Li
Production and set design by Chong Gu
From gossamer harmonic textures to lush orchestral washes, MIZU builds expansive soundscapes through her singular cello
playing. Her signature stratiform style of composition, melding self-recorded layers of her instrument with electronic manipulation and experimental production, explores themes of transformation and the infinite possibilities within queerness.
supported by 36 fans who also own “Distant Intervals”
Dearest Arooj, firstly thank you. My brother died this year n what can be said about such loss n sadness. I saw n heard you at The end of the Road in England. I spent many years in India n love all the music, poetry of your heritage. Thankyou Arooj❤️ ben1769
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