Timbre
Where does a genre end?
Not when, as in, not when does a genre die. But where does our labeling regress into fetishism rather than anything helpful? Timbre is quite aware of the boundaries we place upon music and ourselves when dissecting sounds. The Nashville based harpist tours internationally on more traditional orchestral fair, but has also played with Jack White and avant-metal cuckoolanders The Chariot. With her album Sun & Moon she reached to explore the liminal space between any label. So listen to our interview with her, read our thoughts on Sun & Moon and hear why it’s one of the best of the 10s.
“We’re encountering something powerful that was taking them passed their normal life. Out of their stress, fear and pain. ”
Sun & Moon
As much of a child of Radiohead as Holst, Timbre was always going to go big with her breakthrough. Sun & Moon traces the connective issue of the made up walls between orchestral and pop with grace. For classical nerds, yes there’s a “Sanctus” and Fleet Foxes fanatics, don’t worry there are folky harmonies a plenty, but she crafts them all not to shove ahead as disparate sounds, but show what unites them.
With her sterling, warm voice, she recasts ancient archetypes as musical avatars, discovering each others’ worlds. On the elegant, quarter-hour closer “Day Boy,” there’s Brahms roaring with romantic offerings, but also the outsized, alien beauty of Sigur Ros reverberating in the chorus. Safe was never a word to describe Timbre, and Sun & Moon is as daring as it is gorgeous.