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Beverly Glenn-Copeland — ‘Keyboard Fantasies Reimagined’
image / Take Aim Media / provided
Alex Braun, staff
New Brunswick-based singer, songwriter and multiinstrumentalist Beverly GlennCopeland has had a storied and strange career, from exploratory, meditative folk jazz work in the ’70s, to stints on Mr. Dressup and Sesame Street and a modern resurgence as an unsung innovator and genius. The work of his with the longest half-life has undoubtedly been the 1986 new-age masterpiece Keyboard Fantasies. Since being dug up from the crates, Keyboard Fantasies has been endlessly namechecked and lauded by contemporary tastemakers. This late-in-the-game rediscovery of Copeland’s spectral, spiritual music has now produced a full album of covers and remixes, Keyboard Fantasies Reimagined. Compiled by Transgressive Records, a U.K. label home to legends like Damon Albarn and Winnipeg’s own Boniface, the artists presented here are among the coolest and most critically lauded around. The album begins with a cover of the gorgeous “Ever New” by arguably one of the most important artists of the past decade and a half, Bon Iver, along with his bandmate and excellent artist in her own right Jenn Wasner, performing as Flock of Dimes. Justin Vernon’s voice reflects some of the deep richness of Copeland’s, while Wasner’s has an icy thinness that contrasts perfectly. Julia Holter and Ana Roxanne each
Jan. 19, 2022
Ruby Singh — ‘Vox.Infold’ ARTS & CULTURE Alex Braun, staff
image / Killbeat Music / provided
ARTS & CULTURE
4/5 stars
TOBAN
MANI
transfigure their respective tracks, “Fastest Star” and “Old (New) Melody,” into chilling, ghostly apparitions of the originals, while Arca, one of the most prolific producers working, cuts and splices Copeland’s original vocals over a gorgeous piano composition, completely recontextualizing “Let Us Dance.” The album’s second version of “Ever New” comes next, a “transportation” by the U.K.’s Kelsey Lu into a 10-minute epic that adds orchestration, chipmunked vocals and dancefloor bass, creating an exhilaratingly blissful vibe. Blood Orange, meanwhile, leans into earthy percussion on his remix of “Sunset Village,” adding subtle new layers of rhythm and harmony. The record’s third, final and best version of “Ever New” comes courtesy of Toronto-based saxophonist Joseph Shabason and producer Thom Gill, who add woozy analog synths, bird songs, majestic saxophone and choral guitar, tastefully building on the original’s iconic new-age palette. Though it doesn’t hold a candle to the original record, this remix album is a rarity in its excellence, with a perfectly curated set of young musicians reimagining a classic but timeless record. The artists display a remarkable reverence for Copeland’s work and do well in capturing and expanding upon the unique, elusive spirit of the original recordings.
arts@themanitoban.com
4/5 stars Ruby Singh’s new album, Vox. Infold, is a truly immersive, exciting experience. With lofty ideas, wildly experimental composition, intricate mixing and unexpected digital processing, Singh has crafted something fresh and vital. Singh drew inspiration from the upheaval of the ongoing pandemic, as well as movements for justice for racialized people and revelations around the genocidal practices of the Canadian government, saying, “I wanted to see what it might mean to make music outside of the lens and influence of white supremacy and capitalism.” He assembled a group of Indigenous, Inuit, Black and South Asian voices for the album, drawing from a wide variety of vocal techniques from throat singing to beatboxing to eastern microtonal vocal runs. The result is amorphous, confounding music. The shapeshifting opener “Hyphae” hypnotizes with an eerie intro of dissonant, distorted drones and drawn-out chanting, disembodied and singing into a void of dark ambience, as if floating in space. As a higher voice — moving microtonally — replaces the magisterial chant with evocative yearning, the underlying drone begins pulsating with chiming, polyrhythmic chirping, bristling with propulsive, anxious energy. The piece continues building, with throat singers panned hard in each direction, ominous drones and unnatural, digitally manipulated voices cutting in and out. The
production is just as interesting as the composition and performances. As Singh’s mix is deep and enveloping, focusing in any given direction finds you a new vocal layer, and each voice is rendered in great textural detail. You can hear each breath, each vocal inflection, with exacting clarity. The remaining tracks work to focus this wide ambition into tighter structures and more focused styles, like the lead single “Nakshatra,” a trip-hop-inflected deep groove with a heavy atmosphere. The other lengthy cut, “Rhizome,” is built on a rhythmic, throat-sung beat and an uneasy repeated harmony part, evoking anxious confusion. The album’s mood is unstable and mysterious, the rhythmic aspects are propulsive but labyrinthine, the melodies are beautiful but melancholic and the harmony remains harsh and dissonant throughout, making the emotional breaks of resonance deeply cathartic. Vox.Infold is an immersive, unique listening experience that demands to be heard on its own terms, as enigmatic as they are. Ruby Singh’s album Vox.Infold will be released via Bandcamp on Jan. 31. It will be available on all other music platforms on Feb. 18.
arts@themanitoban.com
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