Exposé Online banner

Exposé Online

Not just outside the box, but denying the existence of boxes.
Covering music from the fringes since 1993.

Reviews

Karda Estra — Eve
(Cyclops CYCL 104, 2001, CD)

Karda Estra — Thirteen from the Twenty First
(No Image NICD13, 2000, CD)

Karda Estra — A Winter in Summertime
(No Image NICD12, 1998, CD)

by Peter Thelen, Published 2002-04-01

Eve Cover artThirteen from the Twenty First Cover artA Winter in Summertime Cover art

Karda Estra is the project of composer and multi-instrumentalist Richard Wileman (ex-Lives and Times), along with vocalist Ileesha Bailey, plus a three-piece orchestral section handling oboe, clarinet, cor anglais, bassoon, flute, saxophones, violin, and viola. Wileman handles electric, classical, and bass guitars, keyboards, and percussion. Their sound is lush, highly melodic, and heavily orchestrated — a very introspective and colorful style full of warmth, shades of emotion, and impressionistic imagery. For the most part, percussion is used not as a timekeeper or structural device at the foundation of the composition, but orchestrally to add emphasis and intensity to certain passages, all very sparingly; similarly Bailey’s voice is used almost purely as an instrument, only rarely as a vehicle for lyrics, the result being a shimmering and haunting beauty intertwined with the melodics of the double reeds and strings. There seem to be a variety of influences at work: 20th Century classical forms, soundtrack elements, chamber orchestra, with delicate touches of folk and avant-garde mixed in. For those requiring comparisons, they seem to occupy an area somewhere between the “shoegazer” style of some of the Projekt label bands and the symphonic-rock-beyond-rock of bands like The Enid, where rock instruments like guitars and bass are used to achieve purely orchestral textures — except unlike The Enid, the sound here is fused with real orchestral instruments giving it a life, depth and intensity that a purely synthetic approach cannot approximate.

All discs take a similar symphonic approach, A Winter in Summertime perhaps being the most overtly soundtrack-ish and other-worldly; Thirteen from the Twenty-First contains 13 pieces within three major sections — “Surrealisms,” “Miniatures,” and “Soundtracks,” and one piece with lyrics. Eve is the most advanced, melodically complex, and emotionally varied of the three, inspired by the novel The Future Eve by Villiers de l’Isle Adam (1886). These are discs that are easy to like right out of the box, but take many plays to get to know intimately; at close to 30 plays of Eve, this writer is still hearing new things with each listen. Highly recommended.

Filed under: New releases, Issue 24, 2001 releases, 2000 releases, 1998 releases

Related artist(s): Karda Estra / Richard Wileman

More info
http://kardaestra.bandcamp.com

 

What's new

These are the most recent changes made to artists, releases, and articles.