Julia Holter x gorilla vs. bear takeover: SARAH BELLE REID
Sarah and I met earlier this year on the first day of rehearsals before recording, and that was that lol! The sounds she creates are extraordinary and enveloping and contribute a lot to the vibe of the record. Like all the musicians I work with, she is a composer as well and on this record she brought a deep mood and sensitivity to the music, without us having played together previously almost at all. Attached to her trumpet is a thing called a MIGSI that she co-produced (“Minimally Invasive Gesture Sensing Interface: an open-source, wireless interface that captures performance data and provides real-time extended sonic and visual control for improvisation.”), and with it, in performance and realtime, she produces kaleidoscopic and magical sounds that instantly build a vibe. These sounds are prominent all over the record, and where I find it especially moving is in “Voce Simul” (which no one else besides her and I play on), because we recorded that one just the two of us and the direction on that song was very free, I just had made a “fake trumpet mockup” demo (lol) as a guide for her, in particular in regards to melodic approach, and she immediately got it and counterpointed my melody with beautiful meditative lines. -- Julia Holter
Here is a semi-improvisation piece of Sarah’s showcasing the MIGSI: