All Things Might Spill

Description

For Chantal Michelle, composing music is a form of choreography. In surreal sound environments, distinct sounds form relationships, moving together and then pulling apart. This ever-shifting constellation references the fragility and mutability of perception, a recurring theme in Michelle’s work. Trained in dance from a young age, Michelle brings an acute spatial sensibility to her practice. Since embarking on a solo career in 2021, she has garnered international recognition for her patient, meticulous recordings, often developed in tandem with installations, multi-channel compositions, and sound sculptures. All Things Might Spill, Michelle’s debut album for Shelter Press, is an exploration of sustained tension and the mysterious experience of time dilation in the moments preceding a rupture or collapse. The music inhabits a space of instability, and even though it employs continuous sounds and defined melodic phrases, there is an atmosphere of indecision, like a moment of unease suspended indefinitely. Much of the album was recorded during the winter months of 2024 in Berlin, with many early mornings spent immersed in a space of subtle apprehension. It is said that light is born in darkness, and this transitional period, heavy with expectation, can be heard in the music. It is music of spacious contours and dense atmosphere. Changes are slow, yet dramatic, each transition meticulously calculated to elicit feelings of wonder and anticipation, while retaining a sublime sensitivity to the way individual sounds articulate with the movement of their surroundings. Michelle masterfully abandons narrative to compose in three dimensions. Michelle’s artistic practice has been shaped by rigorous study and recognized by a wide range of arts organizations across the globe. She received her Master of Fine Arts degree from the Milton Avery Graduate School of the Arts at Bard College in 2024, followed by the Villa Aurora Artist Grant in 2026, the Arbeitsstipendium Ernste Musik und Klangkunst from the Berlin Senate Department for Culture in 2025, and was selected for the 2026 GMEA Residency in Albi, France. Her work has also been supported by the Foundation for Contemporary Arts in the US and the Sonic Art Research Unit in the UK, and has been featured at the Royal Academy of Arts in the UK, Fridman Gallery in NYC, and MUTEK Mexico.