Mazzoli: Cathedral City / Victoire

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The acclaimed chamber-rock quintet Victoire has released their debut album, Cathedral City, on New Amsterdam Records. The album is the follow-up to their critically-lauded EP A Door into the Dark, which was handpicked for release last spring through eMusic's exclusive "Selects" series. The album was composed entirely by Victoire founder/composer/performer Missy Mazzoli and features guest appearances from Bryce Dessner of The National, composer/bassist Florent Ghys, composer/performer William Brittelle and versatile vocalist Mellissa Hughes.

Mazzoli founded Victoire in 2007 and the ensemble of Brooklyn-based, classically-trained women has proven to be the perfect vehicle for her distinctive blend of post-rock dreamscapes and quirky minimalism. Deemed "one of the most surprising composers now working in New York" by The New York Times and "Brooklyn's Post-Millennial Mozart" by Time Out New York, Missy fuses lo-fi electronics, keyboards, strings and winds into works that are extraordinarily complex yet delicately beautiful.

With each listen, Cathedral City's enigmatic mix of both the unexpected and familiar reveals itself differently and with new emotion. The album opens with gentle keyboards pulsing against sweetly soaring clarinet and strings, downward double bass slides and heady moments of discord on A Door into the Dark. Later, angelic vocals (Mellissa Hughes) float over dance floor-ready beats on title track "Cathedral City," and Bryce Dessner provides rich electric guitar to A Song for Mick Kelly. On A Song for Arthur Russell, vocal loops (William Brittelle) and syncopated rhythm hold steady as each instrument winds and shifts with casual surprise, while closer India Whiskey melds tape, string harmonics and organ to stirring effect.

Victoire is Missy Mazzoli (compositions, keyboards, piano, melodica, toys), Olivia De Prato (violin), Lorna Krier (keyboards), Eileen Mack (clarinet), and Eleonore Oppenheim (double bass, electric bass). The group has shared stages with the likes of Tortoise, Twi The Humble Feather and Bing and Ruth in addition to performing at the Bang on a Can Marathon and the Whitney Museum.

R E V I E W S:

"Cathedral City is complex and imaginative, hooking the listener right at the beginning with the slow, meditative keyboard introduction to "A Door Into the Dark." Mazzoli commands attention through every piece, tying the works together with close relationships in structure and sound. The eight tracks stand alone, but they flow organically into one another. Is Victoire's music post-rock, post-mimimalist or pseudo-post-pre-modernist indie-chamber-electronica? It doesn't particularly matter. It's just good music."

-- Ashalen Sims, NPR

"Mazzoli’s compositions are smooth and flowing with a aura of emotional detachment. Harmonies are comforting, long lyrical lines are abundant, and Mazzoli finds exciting ways to provide rhythmic propulsion without a dedicated percussionist. The music simmers. This isn’t minimalism, this isn’t pop, this is simply Mazzoli. Her compositional voice is distinct and highly listenable."

-- Sequenza 21



Product Description:


  • Catalog Number: NWAM025


  • UPC: 884501348669


  • Label: New Amsterdam


  • Composer: Missy Mazzoli


  • Orchestra/Ensemble: Victoire


  • Performer: Eileen Mack, Eleonore Oppenheim, Lorna Krier, Missy Mazzoli, Olivia De Prato