Zizal

Description

Daniel Ouellette and the Shobijn defy musical pigeonholing. Bravura world music? Old-school avant-garde? Whatever you want to call it, its amazing. Unlike the last CD (The Enchantment: Songs to sing whilst you sharpen your pencil), Zizal! Offers up a fresh mix of minimalist, danceable pop tunes with a global flavor and multilingual musical poetry. Live percussion and electronic beats mesh cleanly with Ouellettes rich baritone. For example, three of the songs– quot;Pluck You is Fantastic,quot; quot;The Dilemma of Devereaux,quot; and quot;Embrjamequot; — use the singers voices in lieu of instrumentation. Ouellette includes vocalizations and sampled sounds that inspired him: listen closely to quot;Loretta (A Toast, Slightly Burnt to You, My Darlings),quot; and youll hear the sounds of swinging projector screens, gutter pipes with rainwater, metal shelving, and a mannequin. quot;What an Honor It Is to Break into Your Dreams with an Orchestraquot; fuses New Wave synth with the sound of the guzheng, a traditional Chinese stringed instrument similar to the zither. quot;Leverett (An Ophelia Afternoon),quot; written to the pattern of wind chimes at a Buddhist pagoda, includes cast iron pots and pans, a wooden tong drum, and a kitchen sink. There are also catchy guitar hooks (quot;I Left a Bowling Ball In The Gardenquot;), distinctive bass lines (quot;La Nuit de la Tte de Veauquot;), and tuneful keyboards (quot;Have You Lost Again, Candide?quot;) — and it all works! The Noise: Music New England calls Daniel Ouellette and the Shobijin quot;not predictablequot; and quot;boldly off-kilter.quot; The Valley Advocate says of their last release, quot;the results are deeply engaging and deeply weird, like a roller coaster ride through Liza Minnellis walk-in closet and a monster-movie set.quot; ZIZAL!, promises all that…and more! La vida es sueo y los sueos, sueos son. This collection is in honor of Massano, Mar, Maria and the three Nancies: Crossley, Fraze and Grady. All songs written by Daniel Ouellette Produced by Daniel Ouellette Recorded, engineered and mixed by Ted Paduck at Sitting Duck Recording, Weymouth, MA Live drums recorded by Joseph Fogarazzo at REI studios, Islandia, New York Mastered by Peter Linnane for Patch Hill Mastering Art direction by Daniel Ouellette and Ophelia Artwork by Ophelia/oph3lia.com; Photography by Robert Coppola Daniel Ouellette: Vocals, keyboard loops, kitchen sink, tongdrum, pots, pans, mannequin, projector screen and drain pipe The Shobijin of Zizal: Anne Marie Cleary: Vocals on tracks 1, 4, 6-10, Cheryl Castonguay: Vocals on track 2, Nichole Ferree: Guitar on track 1, James Newman: Bass on track 8, Deborah Lee: Vocals on track 8, Stephanie OHara: Vocals on track 8, Ted Paduck: Vocals, keyboard on tracks 4, 5, 7, Suzanne Pelletier: Vocals on track 8, Stabatha LaThrills: Vocals on tracks 1, 4, 7, 9, 10, Marc Weisbaum: Drums, percussion on tracks 1, 4, 6, 7, 10 Meannie Jeannie Records ? 2014.