Annabelle Chvostek • String of Pearls
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probably safe to say that most of us are growing a bit weary of conversations about the
pandemic. It’s hard to break a habit. Fortunately, some people have managed to turn
all that isolation and self-examination into art. Take Annabelle Chvostek’s String
of Pearls as an example. Chvostek’s response to the quarantine was to improvise,
turn up the creative heat and launch a long-distance collaboration between musicians in
Toronto, Canada, and Montevideo, Uruguay. The project’s emotional thrust is evident
in the album’s title, which Chvostek says is meant to convey the message that an
irritant, like a grain of sand, can eventually result in something beautiful. Her work
here provides some tangible proof of that.
Even before COVID-19 arrived, Chvostek was facing adversity. After a sudden burst of audio feedback during a music session, she suffered complete and permanent hearing loss in her left ear, an event that might have led some professional musicians to simply retire. Not Chvostek. She forged ahead and even released a mono version of this recording, which she says is easier for people who suffer from hearing impairments to process and enjoy. For those unfamiliar with Chvostek, she’s best known for her stint with the Canadian folk ensemble the Wailin’ Jennys as well as collaborations with fellow Canadian Bruce Cockburn. Her slightly offbeat Eastern European-flavored brand of folk-pop can be heard throughout Firecracker, one the Jennys’ most critically successful albums. Since leaving the group in 2007, Chvostek has released a series of solid solo albums, all marked by a penchant for good sound and intelligent studio production. On String of Pearls, Chvostek turned pandemic restrictions into an opportunity to merge the musical sensibilities of long-time Uruguayan friends with her love of a genre known as jazz manouche. The result is an amalgamation of Django Reinhardt-type gypsy jazz, tango, French chansons and German cabaret. In the hands of lesser musicians, keeping that many stylistic plates in the air could be chaotic and confusing. But Chvostek and her collaborators manage to turn the genre-juggling into an effortless, well-choreographed performance. Cuts like “Cannabin” and the album’s title track spotlight the joyful intertwining of Chvostek’s passionate lyrics with Uruguayan clarinetist Fabian Pietrafesa’s intricate improvisation. Surrounded by an ensemble of trumpet, trombone tuba, and banjo makes it easy to imagine Chvostek and Pietrafesa as a couple dancing together at the center of a late-night jam session around a campfire. Other standout numbers are Chvostek’s Kurt Weill-flavored cover of Tom Waits’s “Just the Right Bullets” and a cello-charmed lullaby “Baby Baby Baby” that makes for a sweetly poignant ending to the album’s darker tones. During initial listening sessions, I concluded that the soundscape on String of Pearls was flatter and less multi-dimensional than the rich, layered sonics I’ve become accustomed to hearing on Chovstek’s other recordings. There appeared to be less instrumental separation and duller dynamics. Given the impressive array of talented professionals who contributed to this project, I decided to listen for something that can trip up even the best recording artists: absolute phase inversion. That may sound like a trivial pursuit, but reversing absolute phase can sometimes be the difference between steady foot-tapping and a great, big yawn during playback. It’s also worth noting that phase-inversion issues are a fairly common occurrence when tracks are recorded at multiple professional and private studios, as was necessitated during these pandemic-plagued sessions. Hitting the absolute phase inversion switch on my dCS Bartok DAC solved this issue on all but three tracks (5,6 and 11), resulting in improved dynamics and a more realistic sense of space. Your mileage may vary. While it may not match the compositional innovation of
Chvostek’s previous albums like Rise or Be the Media, String of
Pearls is an engaging musical expedition that takes music from a hundred years ago
and applies it as a balm to sooth those of us who are struggling with the challenges of
the 21st century. And who couldn’t use some medicine like that right about now? |
