Corps Exquis Daniel Wohl

DANIEL WOHL

CORPS EXQUIS

<a href="http://danielwohl.bandcamp.com/album/corps-exquis">Corps Exquis by Daniel Wohl &amp; TRANSIT</a>

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Corps Exquis is the debut album from Brooklyn-based electroacoustic composer/performer Daniel Wohl, praised as one of his generation’s “imaginative and skillful creators” (New York Times). Performed by acclaimed new music quintet TRANSIT, the album also features guest performances by Aaron Roche, Julia Holter and Sō Percussion.

The album was widely praised, being called "beautiful and maze-like" by Pitchfork, a "boldy surreal aural experience" by the New York Times, and an "exquisite sound world" by NPR.

Acclaimed as one of the young artists “shaping our contemporary music scene and defining what it means to be a composer in the 21st century” (NPR) and heralded for his ability to “blur the line between electronic and acoustic instrumentation and seemingly melt both elements into a greater organic whole”(WNYC), Paris-born Wohl creates a remarkable hybrid of music that is part-mechanical and part-organic on the aptly titled Corps Exquis — a French term that translates in English as “Exquisite Body.” Instead of exploring the gap between his classical composition background and his collaborations within the ever-evolving electronic music scene, Wohl strives to close it.

Corps Exquis has already been receiving a great amount of praise and critical acclaim from multiple press outlets since its release. Pitchfork’s Jayson Greene called it “beautiful and maze-like, with sounds emanating from all directions in your listening space,” and Steve Smith of The New York Times praised it as a “boldly surreal aural experience”. The album has also been featured on NPR’s All Things Considered and as Album of the Week on Q2 Music. In addition, Peter Margasak of The Chicago Readernamed it a“fantastic new album” while NewMusicBox’s Molly Sheridan called it “endlessly interesting…a seamless marriage of acoustic instruments and electronics that opens its mouth and sings, up close and personal, in a language that retains its vibrant human energy.”

The album’s striking electronic elements are derived directly from Wohl’s processing of the virtuosic ensemble’s acoustic instruments (piano, violin, cello, clarinet and percussion). On the track “Ouverture”, Wohl processes the resonance from a bell hit and extends it to form the underlying electronic texture; on “Limbs”, the original acoustic piano plays in perfect unison with an electrified and transformed version of itself. The result is an utterly dynamic and emotionally-charged work in which the acoustic and electronic sounds seamlessly intertwine to the point of becoming one.

On the album’s opener, “Neighborhood”, an isolated-feeling soundscape pulses with electronic and acoustic percussion, at times swollen with lush strings and technicolor euphoria with help from So Percussion. Cello and distorted organs vibrate in unison on “323″ as jangly percussion, found sounds, and vocals (Aaron Roche) bound, and on “Plus ou Moins”, gentle piano is met with twists and turns of countermelody. Easy, poignant vocals (Julia Holter) blend with a melancholic strings, percussion, piano and bass clarinet on “Corpus”, bringing the album to a wistful close.

TRANSIT is: Evelyn Farny (cello); Andie Springer (violin); David Friend (piano, toy piano, melodica, percussion); Joe Bergen: (mallets, percussion, melodica); Sara Budde (clarinet, bass clarinet). In addition to composing the album, Daniel Wohl is featured on electronics, organ and vocals on “323." Aaron Roche provided additional percussion on “Cantus” and on “Neighborhood.”

The album was recorded by Andrew McKenna Lee at Still Sound Studios and Ryan Streber at Oktaven Audio, and was engineered and mixed by Andrew McKenna Lee and mastered by Joe Lambert.

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