Alexandra Hamilton-Ayres' striking new album
Play Echoes is a collaboration with Her Ensemble, the UK's first women and non-binary orchestra formed during the pandemic.
Play Echoes is a profoundly meditative, beguiling collection combining classical instrumentation with electronic and electro-mechanical elements.
The record, consisting of twelve songs, has its origins in an intimate recording of a conversation between a three-year-old Hamilton-Ayres and
her mother, parts of which appear in the innocently optimistic opener, Olympia. From the vibrant, piano-led chamber music of London '92 and the more extravagantly romantic Stone Stairs to Grenadine's and Unbound's rippling synths, the record summons an air of nostalgia both bitter-sweet and immersive. Confirming her as one of the most emotionally articulate and compelling composers of her era,
Play Echoes represents childhood dreams come true and adult reflections made real.
The album was primarily recorded at LEITER's studio in Berlin's Funkhaus complex and is available on CD, LP and via all streaming platforms.
Tracklist
- Olympia
- London '92
- Sept Douleurs
- Channel
- Understanding Now
- Stair Echoes
- Watercolour
- Stone Stairs
- Doubts
- Grenadine
- Unbound
- Play Echoes