Cross-continental new music powerhouse Latitude 49 returns with flair and passion on their sophomore release Wax and Wire. This dynamic collection takes the listener on a genre-bending journey, careening wildly from the visceral to the sublime.
1) Number Nine (Gabriella Smith)
2) Wax and Wire (Viet Cuong)
3) Thread and Fray (Sarah Kirkland Snider)
4) a sense of who (Annika Socolofsky)
5) these (were) used to harm (Chris Sies)
6) You Are Free (Sarah Kirkland Snider)
Cross-continental new music powerhouse Latitude 49 returns with flair and passion on their sophomore release Wax and Wire. This dynamic collection takes the listener on a genre-bending journey, careening wildly from the visceral to the sublime. From the psychedelic pulsations of Gabriella Smith’s Number Nine (an homage to the Beatles’ “Revolution 9”) flows Viet Cuong’s whimsical showpiece Wax and Wire, establishing the record’s charisma and variety right away. Ruminant works by Annika Socolofsky and Chris Sies direct us inward: Socolofsky’s a sense of who challenges us to consider ourselves in light of the communities we inhabit, while these (were) used to harm by Latitude 49’s own Chris Sies employs effects inspired by specific songs that have been used as means of torture against a sometimes thrashing chambercore background. Two works by Sarah Kirkland Snider provide the record’s most intimate moments, with the swirling trio Thread and Fray unfurling tightly-knit textures while the cleansing, haunting, but ultimately hopeful You Are Free closes out the record in a state of utter contemplation.
"Snider’s diaphanous music journeys through countless moods, but its prevailing evocation of hope was realized with touching simplicity and sincerity."
The third track 'Thread and Fray', a tonal trio for viola, bass clarinet and marimba by Sarah Kirkland Snider, offers a slower pace than the previous works. This piece opens with a unison melody that is then traded, fragmented and passed around the ensemble using a variety of canonical compositional techniques...[showcasing] the strong lyrical and melodic playing styles in the middle-register instruments."
"You Are Free closes the album. The neo-Romantic soul of Latitude 49 shines in this piece as the musicians lean into Snider’s lush, blooming harmonies."
Third on the record is the lovely "Thread and Fray:,,,which shows off the individual musical sensibilities of this group. A simple melody snakes along in juxtaposition with an increasingly disjointed and intentionally unstable accompaniment shared across the ensemble, showcasing the stunning control and thoughtful phrasing of each performer.
