The Old Capital (out Oct. 9th on Lost Tribe Sound) is the debut album from Melbourne composers Claire Deak and Tony Dupé. The album is their first recorded collaboration, though Dupé has released two solo albums under the name Saddleback.
The duo describes themselves as a home orchestra well-suited for late night rambling. Much like traveling in the dark of night, the sound explorations found throughout The Old Capital come into view seemingly out of nowhere. Headstrong rhythms of shuffling organic debris and lumbering stomps help light the path with some brief success, only to be swallowed up by a slow moving fog of droning organs and dampened strings. However with the proper guides, finding ones footing in this shadowy landscape doesn’t have to be difficult. Claire and Tony echo this sentiment throughout with a fine balance of both playful and haunting passages. Their confidence reassures us that once our eyes adjust to the dark, it need not be a frightening place.
A wide variety of acoustic instrumentation weave their way into the music, including: pianos, accordion, harp, harpsichord, pump organs, pipe organ, recorder, flute, trumpet, euphonium, clarinets, stroh violin, viola, wulf fidel, cello, double bass, guitar, charango, mandolin, baritone ukulele, banjo, xylophone, glockenspiel, gamelan, drums and voices.
Lost Tribe Sound feels incredibly lucky to have stumbled upon the duo’s music because of a kind tip from the good folks at the Preserved Sound label. It makes perfect sense that Claire and Tony hail from Australia. This location has turned out many our favorite electroacoustic acts, known for cobbling genres together in ways that leave just enough of the roughhewn framework showing. Comparatively speaking, Brambles, Part Timer, and Thomas William Hill (aka Origamibiro) come to mind.
The Old Capital arrives with a glass mastered CD housed inside a quality hard cover book. Each edition contains 8 full color pages of artwork from photographer Kurt Sorensen, along with additional modified imagery from R. Keane. Mastered by Calyx. Limited to 100 editions.
Total run time: 33 minutes
Written, performed and produced by Claire Deak & Tony Dupé
Mastered by Calyx
Cover art by Kurt Sorensen (www.kurtsorensen.com)
Layout and design by R. Keane
© Claire Deak / Tony Dupé / Lost Tribe Sound LLC
℗ Settled Scores LLC (ASCAP/APRA)
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