Christopher Hale Releases Album SYLVAN CODA, Aug 3; Melbourne Launch Party Set for Aug 15

Related: Christopher Hale, Sylvan Coda

Christopher Hale's new album SYLVAN CODA, a powerful and poignant love letter to a lost friend and musical collaborator is set for its Melbourne launch on 15 August at Northcote Social Club, with supports Hannah Cameron and special guests.

Tickets are available at the door only $20, $15 for students. Doors open at 7.30pm at 301 High St Northcote. For more information, visit www.northcotesocialclub.com.

Tracks from the album will also be performed at the Freedman Jazz Concert 2012, Sydney Opera House, 10 August. Visit www.sydneyoperahouse.com for more information.

An unconventional, free-thinking virtuoso of the acoustic bass guitar, Christopher Hale is widely respected. After a long creative hiatus following the passing of his closest friend and musical collaborator, Will Poskitt, Hale returns with a new album, a powerful and poignant love letter to his dear friend.

Sylvan Coda reaches deep into Hale's formative years of immersion in Flamenco and Afro-Cuban music, and emerges as an album of exquisite poise and solemn, fearless originality.

Featuring a 10-piece band of guitars, voices and percussion and produced with Lachlan Carrick (Gotye, Lior, The Drones) Sylvan Coda is an epic, widescreen vision: Cuban religious drums, Gian Slater's angelic vocals, Flamenco brio and deep, insistent rock, saturated with technicolor emotion and hard-earned, heartbroken optimism.

The blood that flows through Sylvan Coda, Christopher Hale's long awaited new album, is saturated with memories. For over 10 years, Hale led the celebraTed Christopher Hale Ensemble with two long-time friends and colleagues: cellist Will Martina and the remarkable pianist Will Poskitt.

Over three albums and numerous international tours, the Ensemble created a unique brand of improvising chamber music, which introduced the young musicians to the international stage and earned them a reputation as "one of Australia's hottest groups" (Musica Viva).

Following Will Poskitt's tragic passing in November of 2008, Hale abandoned composing and recording under his own name. He began a Masters in Music Philosophy and traveled to New York to play with Barney McAll's electronic project, Sylent Running.

"Will was my closest friend, housemate, collaborator and inspiration," says Hale. "All of my composing life revolved around his sound, his sensibility. I felt as though my music couldn't exist without him."

As if seeking the comfort of the familiar, Hale also returned to a musical home base – the Flamenco musicians and dancers of the renowned company Arte Kanela he has performed with since his late teens.

"Flamenco is the most important musical and artistic reference point for me," explains Hale, "even when I'm playing other music that may stylistically sound different, I am striving for the feeling of Flamenco. The way it moves, the rhythmic depth, the dynamics, the gravity. It informs every part of my artistic life."

The music of Sylvan Coda draws deeply on his flamenco background, as well as Cuban religious drums, classical music, melodic rock and North- East Brazilian rhythms.

Some influences are worn on the sleeve, others buried and "turned to blood" within the music and at the heart of it all, Hale's unique approach acoustic bass guitar, creating rich polyphony and counterpoint from within the sweeping textures of voice and percussion.

On this new album Hale has surrounded himself with close musical friends: from Arte Kanela, percussionists Johnny and Richard Tedesco and guitarist Nathan Slater; his colleagues from Sylent Running, drummer Ben Vanderwal and the acclaimed and prodigious vocalist Gian Slater; conga/bata player Javier Fredes and Hale's first music teacher, Brazilian percussionist Denis Close.

Christopher Hale's Sylvan Coda will be released on 3 August, 2012 on Which Way Music www.whichwaymusic.com and distributed by www.fusemusic.com.au.