Olivia Louvel - SculptOr (Hepworth Resounds) [Cat Werk Imprint 014]

Scheduled for release via Cat Werk Imprint on February 7th, 2k20 as the labels cat.no. 014 is "SculptOr (Hepworth Resounds)", a new conceptual album piece by long standing experimental sound artist Olivia Louvel who is re-imagining original sound / voice recordings of sculptor Barbara Hepworth in this piece. With the voice recordings being captured nearly six decades ago by Hepworth herself in her 1961 studio and re-sculpted by Louvel for this 34 minutes spanning longplay piece we see the opening track "Use Your Own Body" pave the way for things to come, a very physical alteration of the voice, with fragments taken out of context and being re-arranged within a very present, sometimes even physically felt sonic environment, partly using and abusing techniques taken from Plunderphonics and tape manipulation or layered with Louvel's own vocal interpretation and intonation, sometimes with original vocals stretched and pitched to a haunting effect very much amalgamating with the overall feel of eerie atmospheric density and ghostly presence, like otherwordly sounds and transmissions weeping through a leaking space-time-matrix, crossing over into our reality from an alternate, yet somewhat similar but different dimension, a twilight zone of interference providing a thrilling, highly fascinating listening experience over the course of nine tracks in total whilst intersecting with Olivia Louvel's very own and unique approach to multilayered vocal arrangements in terms of highly thought out advanced Leftfield Pop for those in the know. Great stuff.

Album artwork on Instagram!