César Dávila-Irizarry and the band, Elouise are releasing a 5-song collaboration they've titled, Transmigration.
TRANSMIGRATION can be streamed and downloaded on April 20, 2018 from CDBABY and Itunes .
For the full Elouise debut album go to https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/deep-water/id1109885991
Elouise collaborates with composer
César Dávila-Irizarry of American Horror Story on Transmigration
César Dávila-Irizarry remixes Elouise dark deconstruction of traditional Bluegrass and original work and creates a macabre and intense soundscape of primitive American Folk, Industrial and Cinematic soundscapes.
ALTADENA CA - César Dávila-Irizarry, 5 time BMI Award winning composer best known for his haunting and beautifully demented main title song for the hit TV series American Horror Story on AMC, takes on music from the band Elouise that is rooted in a dark Americana genre dubbed Blackgrass. A dark and cinematic sub-genre of Bluegrass. Irizarry mines tracks from Elouise' debut album Deep Water. “I had wanted to get my hands on a good band’s raw material so I could dissect it and recreate it in my own musical language where I blur the line between music and sound design,” says Irizarry. He creates a haunting atmospheric track from “Oh Lord” and continues to slice and dice with his sociopathic remix of “Hurricane” and the second time removed version of Albert E. Brumley’s traditional Bluegrass tune “I’ll Fly Away” that borders on industrial madness!
“We had no idea what to expect when we first met with César about a possible collaboration” says Elouise. “Our musical worlds are polar opposites. We use old instrumentation and are influenced by historic music from the Anthology of American Folk Music. A good portion of the old Bluegrass songs that inspired us are actual field recordings. We are deconstructing. We are storytellers, harkening back to an older era. He is digital, abstract and is deeply entrenched in the Electronic and Industrial world of music. The big commonality we have is that we both have the tendency to deconstruct and go off the rails. We gravitate to a musical world that gets pretty dark. Variations on Black.”
Irizarry hails from Puerto Rico and studied sound art and experimental music in Chicago. “When I finished the first remix of "Oh Lord" I received a really nice reaction from Elouise Walker and John Chamberlin. That’s when I decided to push the envelope in a different direction; into a glitchy and more rock aesthetic. In a way I was testing both the band and myself. That’s how the “Hurricane” remix came to be. The original has the compositional form of a hurricane approaching. I decided to take my experiences of living in Puerto Rico and listening and hiding from actual hurricanes and emulate that by sonically recreating the chaotic energy from inside the hurricane.”
Los Angeles based Irizarry states “When I listened to “I’ll Fly Away” I immediately noticed the dembow reggaeton beat in the background and that was it. It was clear what I wanted to do with that song. During those days I was listening to a lot of WaxTrax Records bands and I knew I wanted to mix that midwest industrial aesthetic from My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult and Ministry with the reggaeton beat that I’ve always felt had yet to be explored to its maximal potential. I wanted to continue the exploration of afro-caribbean rhythms in more experimental music like many of my Puerto Rican Avant-garde colleagues have done. It’s something that has been in the minds of many of us since we were kids in the 90s. I did it. Elouise liked it. Perfect.” says Irizarry.
“That’s when I noticed they weren’t afraid of anything so, I offered to compose a completely new song for the band to record and perform. I wrote a song in a very personal aesthetic that I’ve had in my brain for many years. They liked it. And so "The Eyes of Duque" was born. A song that combines jazz, strings, and very expressive, precise, and musical sound design. That song means a lot to me.”
“I was aware of Bluegrass because of the imperial presence of the United States in Puerto Rico and because of my music history studies. I wasn’t afraid of remixing the songs because that’s what all different styles of music is in Puerto Rico, a dissection of aesthetics and cultural artistic expressions that is then put together again into a synthesis of ideas threaded together to become a single unique entity. An art object that looks unique and alien from outside but, like all great art, it is impure and raw and human and confrontational on the inside.”At the time we were putting together the project, Puerto Rico, César Dávila-Irizarry's homeland, was being ravaged by hurricanes. Manny Trinh's painting of a decomposing bird in flight seemed like a fitting depiction of the deconstruction and reconstruction of songs like "I'll Fly Away" and "Oh Lord" and represented the resilience of Puerto Rico after the storm.
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“(Davila-Irizarry’s) remixing of Elouise deepens the non reality aspect and adds significantly to the already surreal universe they have created.” --Dave Bianco, Grammy Award-Winning Sound Engineer
"Oh man, I have been so excited to talk about this forthcoming EP - Elouise's music is already other worldly, but Davila-Irizarry takes it out of the stratosphere. It is due out next week, and I can't wait for you to hear it. The remix of their version of "I'll Fly Away" will melt your faces.”— Ear to the Ground: A Music Blog
“In the context of California, it would be superfluous to mention another interesting group of those regions. It's about Elouise and their upcoming collaboration with César Dávila-Irizarry - the author of the soundtrack for the series "American Horror Story." The fruit of their collaboration will be an EP called Transmigration, which will be released on April 20 and will combine elements of dark-country and gothic-American with cinematic industrial soundscapes. The network already has a clip for one of the songs.”—Viola Noir
Transmigration is an intersection of primitive American Folk, Industrial and Cinematic soundscapes.
1. I’ll Fly Away REMIX by César Dávila-Irizarry and Elouise: A gospel hymn originally written by Albert E. Brumley in 1929. Elouise released a reimagined sinister and slowed down Blackgrass version of Brumley's original on their debut album Deep Water. César Dávila-Irizarry continues to deconstruct the song and add his signature dark industrial edge to the remix.
2. Oh Lord REMIX by César Dávila-Irizarry : Original lyrics and music written by Richard Dembowski premiered on Elouise debut album Deep Water . César Dávila-Irizarry remixes, deconstructs and reimagines "Oh Lord" with an aching, atmospheric and haunting cinematic soundscape.
Richard Dembowski: vocals, piano, Michelle Beauchesne: cello, John Chamberlin: drums.
3. Ring of Fire NEW RELEASE: Lyrics originally written by June Carter in 1963. Music by Elouise Walker and Richard Dembowski. This version of the classic originally made famous by Johnny Cash is reimagined by Elouise. Elouise Walker: vocals, Richard Dembowski: Guitar, Musique Concrete by César Dávila-Irizarry.
4. Eyes of Duque NEW RELEASE: An original composition by César Dávila-Irizarry, "Eyes of Duque" drowns ones spirits with the melancholy sounds of strings, resin and brass. Michelle Beauchesne: cello, William Bongiovanni: double bass and Robert Aul: trumpet, César Dávila-Irizarry: Piano and Musique Concrete.
5. Hurricane REMIX by César Dávila-Irizarry and Elouise : Lyrics by Elouise Walker. Music by John Chamberlin. Hurricane premiered on the Elouise debut album Deep Water. César Dávila-Irizarry transforms the song into a heavy and menacing force of industrialized nature.
Elouise Walker, vocals and bandoneon, Michelle Beauchesne: cello, John Chamberlin: drums, William Bongiovan- ni: double bass and electric bass.
