SHAPES OF THE FALL (vinyl)

Description

With his seventh album, "Shapes of the Fall," Piers Faccini touches upon the very essence of his songwriting. Orchestrating profound exchanges between folksongs, Gnawa pulsations, and string quartet, he refines an art nourished by Anglo-American heritage, the traditions of the Mediterranean, the Maghreb, and West Africa, as well as ancient and baroque music. This transversal vision is pushed to its purest degree of refinement by surrounding himself with like-minded companions: the brothers Malik and Karim Ziad, arranger Luc Suarez, co-producer Frédéric Soulard, and two distinguished guests, Moroccan maâlem Abdelkebir Merchane and American Ben Harper, reunited on the flagship track "All Aboard." Bolstered by such valuable support, Piers Faccini can explore, in music and poetry, the question that runs through this entire collection of songs: how to live and compose with the collapse of the world? "Shapes of the Fall" echoes this by painting a picture brimming with nuances: the healing power of dance and trance responds to the primitive beauty of the lament, the intimate and the universal intertwine, gravity slowly cracks to let the light pass through. Faccini, who previously collaborated with cellist Vincent Segal for their 2014 duo album "Songs of Time Lost," has collaborated over the years with musicians from around the world in search of musical dialogue, such as Ballake Sissoko, Ibrahim Maalouf, and Jasser Haj Youssef. Two exceptional voices are featured on the album; Californian singer-songwriter Ben Harper, a collaborator on his 2005 album "Tearing Sky," and Moroccan singer and master of the trance traditions known as Gnawa, Abdelkebir Merchane. The album was co-produced by Piers Faccini and Fred Soulard.