WILD CITIES
Francesca Anderegg and Brent Funderburk released their second album of contemporary music on New Focus Recordings in 2016. Titled "Wild Cities," the album features new works by young American composers: Hannah Lash, Ted Hearne, Ryan Francis, Clint Needham and Reinaldo Moya.
The narrative of the album involves a journey through the new landscape of American music: the name "Wild Cities" is inspired by the poem "After Dead Souls" by Allen Ginsberg. In it, Ginsberg asks, "Where O America are you/ going in your glorious/ automobile….toward what wild city/ jumping with jazz/ on the Pacific Ocean?" The Ginsberg poem suggests both a journey and a destination.
In this album, the journey towards the "wild city" is represented by the musical language of minimalism. Each composer has American minimalism as a reference, and uses it to forge their unique style. Ryan Francis’s Remix is based on electronic dance music. On the Road by Clint Needham is inspired by a signature image of American composition: the open road, brimming with optimism and possibility. Ted Hearne’s piece Nobody’s incorporates the tradition of clogging in old-time Appalachian fiddle music, and mixes this idea with extended techniques and the noise of electronic effects. Hannah Lash’s Adjoining, commissioned by Anderegg for this project, is post-Romantic: it is filled with harmonic ambiguity and searches for a resolution that remains always out of reach. Finally, Reinaldo Moya’s Imagined Archipelagos fuses minimalist gestures with the fast, revolving rhythms and fluidity of Venezuelan folk music. “Wild Cities” surveys the landscape of American music with these five pieces, and takes the audience on a journey to new, fantastic places.
Album Release Date: July 8, 2016
Label: New Focus Recordings
Tour Dates, October 2016-January 2017:
Cleveland State University, Baldwin Wallace University, Lorain County Community College, Lincoln Memorial University, University of Lexington-Kentucky, University of Memphis
Critical Acclaim:
Since Wild Cities' release on July 8, this album of contemporary music has been heard on the radio and podcasts around the country, featured in print magazines, and garnered rave reviews! Check out some of the press coverage:
"...a refreshingly optimistic sense of the future, full of adventure and possibility..." -Second Inversion
"...a riveting listening experience...." -Feast of Music
"...a fabulous record...a spellbinding, twisting, intoxicating 49 minutes of incendiary violin..."
"...lustrous tone...surprises at every turn..." -The Strad
Featured on radio/podcasts: Minnesota Public Radio, WWFM Classical in New York, The Portfolio Composer, the New Edge with Ken Fields on WMBR, and New Sounds with John Schaefer on WNYC.
More Reviews: Pop Culture Classics, American Record Guide, Lucid Culture, ConcertoNet, and Q2 Music.
Listed as a favorite album of 2016 by New Music Box.