A FINE COMPANION
by Alkemie, Freelance Nun
FOR YOUR
GRAMMY® CONSIDERATION
Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical
Charles Mueller
ABOUT
LISTEN
FINE COMPANION is an album of newly-composed settings of troubadour songs and texts, written in a dream-pop /shoegaze/ psychedelic rock style for an amplified combination of medieval and new instruments. The texts of this project were chosen by Charles Mueller (composer) and the ensemble, with a focus on troubadour lyrics that expand or refute the standard tropes of chivalrous love by choosing poems from a feminine perspective, and by delving into the metaphysical and spiritual subsets of the genre. The unbridled sensuality of the arrangements create space for a raw experience that inspires a visceral reaction in the listener. Mueller has used pre-existing troubadour music as a melodic and modal prompt on a number of pieces, with direct quotations organically morphing as if in an inspired game of telephone.
ABOUT ALKEMIE:
Photo Credit: Anja Schütz
Founded in 2013, Alkemie calls Brooklyn home, but our music knows no bounds. In addition to our New York City concert series, we've had the privilege of gracing stages at esteemed events like the Amherst Early Music Festival, Arizona Early Music Society, Cambridge Society for Early Music, Capitol Early Music Series, Five Boroughs Music Festival, Johns Hopkins Program in Arts, Humanities & Health, Music Before 1800, and San Francisco Early Music.
Equally passionate about recording, we curated, composed, and recorded music for the video game Pentiment, and will be releasing multiple new albums in the 2023-24 season including the much-anticipated "A Fine Companion," a collaborative endeavor with our sister ensemble, Freelance Nun.
Alkemie has been in residence at Fairmont State University and members have designed workshops and educational outreach programs for the Capitol Early Music Series, Ramaz High School (NYC), Fordham University, Case Western Reserve University, the Strathmore Arts Center, Amherst Early Music Festival, Pinewoods, the Baroque Performance Institute at Oberlin, and through the Early Music Access Project.
Time travel with us to look at our [current day] future through the telescope of the past and be inspired by alternative realities — we can't wait to share this journey with you!
www.alkemie.org
ABOUT FREELANCE NUN:
Photo Credit: Anja Schütz
Freelance nun is an amorphous and adventurous duo-led collective that has no allegiance to time or genre. Gifted with a wild freedom from the confines of history, freelance nun and its extraordinary collaborators create unique soundscapes that revel in the experience of the distant past and future simultaneously and with a reckless abandon.
From the womb of constraint and uncertainty that was the covid era, serendipitous transmutation unfolded within the hallowed halls of quarantined creativity. Born from the esteemed medieval ensemble, alkemie, emerged freelance nun: its genesis was as unexpected as it was transformative, as medieval specialists found themselves intertwined in a shared sequester with electronic wizards, they all broke through the confines of their own expertise to create something truly otherworldly.
Beyond music, the collective skillfully integrates visual art and sensory elements into their creative ventures. This unique approach enriches their performances, teaching, and projects, blurring the lines between traditional artistic boundaries.
www.freelancenun.com
RECENT PRESS
“Re-contextualizing 12th-century texts and melodies into a package of psychedelic synth-pop could seem a bit of a stretch. Alkemie’s latest project somehow makes it seem perfectly natural.”
“The New York City-based Alkemie and its sister ensemble, Freelance Nun, collaborated to create A Fine Companion, an album that blends the medieval and modern in impressively creative ways. Composer Charles Mueller skillfully transforms troubadour texts into dreamily contemporary journeys, where listeners are just as likely to hear the rock trinity of electric guitar, bass, and drums as they are a viola da gamba.”