The Squid's Ear Magazine


Miller / Mettler / Foisy: Grind Halts [CASSETTE + DOWNLOAD] (Notice Recordings)

Despite using traditional instrumentation, the Montreal trio of pianist Lisa Cay Miller, guitarist Vicky Mettler, and bassist Raphael Foisy-Couture avoid sounding anything but traditional, through preparations and a mischievous attitude transforming their instruments and applying them to a highly interactive and darkly optimistic set of very unique dialogs.
 

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product information:

Personnel:



Lisa Cay Miller-piano

Vicky Mettler-guitar

Raphael Foisy-Couture-upright bass


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Label: Notice Recordings
Catalog ID: NTR057
Squidco Product Code: 29571

Format: CASSETTE
Condition: New
Released: 2020
Country: USA
Packaging: Cassette
Recorded in Montreal, Canada, in 2017, by Zach Scholes.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"This set of improvised pieces is made up of Montrealers Raphael Foisy-Couture (bass), Vicky Mettler (guitar), and Vancouverite Lisa Cay Miller (piano). There's a relaxed atmosphere among the trio, despite seemingly disparate elements that swing and play with a tight cohesion; networked fistulas convey and receive.

Along with their industriousness, this keeps their music light and exploratory, appealingly collectively-minded throughout. Miller only occasionally breaks out into fitful knots of block chords, her and Foisy's slyly executed extended techniques keep flowing a steady variety of sounds, and Mettler's crafty instrumental resourcefulness (as in the prismatic folk of her project Kee Avil) results in a deeply pleasing group improvisation that often feels wonderfully domestic."-Notice Recordings



"When listening to the improvised pieces from 'Grind Halts' by Lisa Cay Miller, Vicky Mettler and Raphaël Foisy I like to try and imagine how it was recorded. In my head, all three musicians are in a room looking at each other. Around them are their weapons of choice. Miller a piano. Mettler a guitar and Foisy-Couture a bass. There is also a slew of found objects that they've brought in to play if the mood takes them. Sheets of metal, glass bottles and any number of things they can tinker on. Once they are assembled here is a nervous few moments in silence. Neither is sure who, nor how, to start. After a few tentative glances they reach for their instruments and they're off. Though the pieces are playful and full of light and movement, at their heart is something slightly malevolent. 'The Halting' is filled with brooding melodies that only really unveil themselves near the end. The final third is a marvellous creaking and shuddering affair that seamlessly bleeds into 'On a Grind'. Grind Halts is an album that you can get lost in. It's full of inventive motifs and killer melodies. When the trio allows themselves the pleasure to play them."-Vital Weekly


Get additional information at Vital Weekly

Artist Biographies

"Lisa Miller's compositions have been premiered by de Bijloke ensemble (Ghent, Belgium) the Tetzepi Bigtet (Amsterdam), mmm... (Tokyo), the Quatuor Bozzini (for the National Film Board of Canada with director Marv Newland, Montreal), Vancouver New Music, Standing Wave, Turning Point Ensemble, The Vancouver Chinese Instrumental Music Society (Vancouver), and the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra,The Left Coast Ensemble and Earplay (San Francisco). Miller has directed workshops (for the Now Orchestra and the Vancouver International Jazz Festival) and produced concerts and multi media installations (Vancouver New Music, Costal Jazz and Blues Society, Circus Maximus, Western Front Society). New commissions will be premiered in 2013 by Pianorquestra (Brazil), Rachel Kiyo Iwaasa (piano) and François Houle and Jane Hayes (clarinet and piano, Vancouver).

Lisa Miller has performed with international artists Audrey Chen, Nicole Mitchell, Butch Morris, John Zorn, Ig Henneman, Wilbert de Joode, Anne La Berge, Michael Moore, Jean Yves Evrard,Jaochim Badenhorst, Eyvind Kang and Jessika Kenney, and in Vancouver with Dylan van der Schyff, Peggy Lee, Jesse Zubot, François Houle, Ron Samworth, the NOW Orchestra, Orquestra Futura and ion zoo. Her CDs, The lisa miller octet; Sleep Furiously, Q, waterwall and The lisa miller trio; open have received rave international reviews."

-Canadian Music Centre Composer Showcase (https://www.musiccentre.ca/node/37896/biography)
3/27/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Vicky Mettler is a guitarist based in Montreal. Her current projects include a song duo Brick with Raphaël Foisy-Couture and a noise/improv quartet Dusk Scored Dark, with Mark Molnar, Bennet Beduokian and Craig Pedersen, as well as her solo project for voice, guitar and electronics. Upcoming releases include a tape with improv quartet featuring Anna Webber (US), Evan Tighe and Erik Hove as well as a debut solo guitar album."

-NOW Society (http://www.nowsociety.org/event/trading-places-un-%C3%A9change-dimprovisateurs)
3/27/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Raphael Foisy-Couture is a touring musician from Montréal; he plays the bass and sometimes electronics. He's also the founder of the cassette label Small Scale Music. As a member of the collective La Passe he organized hundreds of shows for musicians from all around the world. He frequently collaborates with guitarist Vicky Mettler and also plays in multiple ad-hoc improvised music ensembles. Recently, he had the pleasure of sharing the stage with the likes of Arrington de Dionyso, John Oswald, Camille Émaille, Timothé Quost, Élizabeth Lima, Bryan Qu, Nick Fraser, Emily Denison, Aaron Lumley, Karen Ng, Pierre-Luc Simon, Paris J Favilla, Robin Servant and Colin Fisher."

-Ensemble Supermusique Website (https://supermusique.qc.ca/en/artistes/foisycouture_ra/)
3/27/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.


Track Listing:



SIDE A



1. The Halting 07:57

2. Of a Grind 06:24

3. As it Falls 03:43

4. Lower 07:16

SIDE B



1. As it Spins 08:07

2. Faster 03:43

3. All the Time 01:21

4. The Same 03:35

Related Categories of Interest:


Cassettes
Improvised Music
Free Improvisation
Musique Actuelle
Canadian Composition & Improvisation
Trio Recordings
Instruments with Preparations
Physical Releases that include Download Codes

Search for other titles on the label:
Notice Recordings.


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