8 Tracks: Of Songs For Summer Rain With Tess Roby
Montreal musician Tess Roby instantly became one of our favourite new artists last year with the release of her stellar single 'Ballad 5', which fell somewhere between Julia Holter, Broadcast and The Durutti Column. Out this week via Italians Do It Better, Roby's debut album Beacon more than delivers on that early promise, and shows off the different facets of her adventurous, ethereal synth pop.
For this 8 Tracks piece, Roby has (with impeccable timing) put together a selection of "songs for summer rain". Reading her explanation of her choices conveys a unique approach to listening, one that's inextricably entwined with images and memories. From Ulrich Schnauss to Susumu Yokota, dive in below…
Beacon is out 4th May via Italians Do It Better, and you can order it here.
I imagine myself sitting at the foot of a willow tree, watching the long branches softly swaying in the breeze. This song feels like an incantation, and I am always lost within it.
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Pepe Maina - Il Canto Dell'arpa E Del Flauto Prima ParteI imagine myself sitting at the foot of a willow tree, watching the long branches softly swaying in the breeze. This song feels like an incantation, and I am always lost within it.
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Hiroshi Yoshimura - Rain Dance (Rain Mix)Hiroshi Yoshimura crafts magical environmental soundscapes. This whole album is full of blissful moments like ‘Rain Dance’ (23:52) – I am captivated by the feeling this song gives me. Perfect droplets of rain falling into a pool.
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Susumu Yokota - TobiumeI remember driving across Northern England listening to this record. The greenery was so intense, wind turbines stood among the rolling hills. I watched a bird fly motionless against the wind.
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Fila Brazillia - July 23Repetitive motion. A beautiful ambient composition that ebbs and flows, that circles around your ears. Right on cue, it ends in a thunderstorm.
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Ulrich Schnauss - Blumenwiese Neben AutobahnI just googled the translation of this song’s title, and it is ‘field of flowers next to the highway’. Titles of instrumental tracks are of interest to me – they often convey the feeling of the song perfectly. This one rings true; that feeling of being on a long drive and wanting to stop to run through a field of flowers.
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Cocteau Twins & Harold Budd - The Ghost Has No HomeQuietly wandering through empty streets. The smell of rain on hot pavement. Inhibitions lost as people run for cover from the storm, standing close together under awnings and doorways.
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Yumiko Morioka - KomorebiSerenity. Giant clouds on the horizon, the sky a perfect gradient from blue to pink. The calm after the storm.
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Ann Southam - Glass Houses Revisited #5The complexity and strength in this composition is astonishing, as is the performance of the piece itself. I imagine leaves dancing in the wind.
