Description
Flying Nun Records are pleased to announce their latest signing, Recitals, a 7-piece band based in both Te Whanganui-A-Tara/Wellington and Tāmaki Makaurau/Auckland. Their sound sprawls across a blend of genres made up of each members’ unique musical personality, alchemizing a spectrum of influences into complex sonic structures that sew a thread between contemporary alt-folk and the avant-garde.
Accompanying the announcement of the partnership is the very welcome news of Recitals’ long awaited debut album, Orbit I.
Recitals were formed between December 2019 and March 2020 as the brain-child of Xanthe Rook, who wanted to facilitate a safe and explorative space for wāhine (women) and LGBTQI+. The band would meet at Wellington’s Pyramid Club every Sunday to write and practice. By the end of 2020, they had made their mark in the capital. They established themselves as crowd favourites with their enchanting live performances, each song creating a dreamscape atmosphere teetering between ambient and tumultuous. This, combined with their debut single, ‘Tongue’, placed them on the indie radar and several ones-to-watch lists.
Between the simple, cooing melodies in ‘Tongue’, the angular drive in ‘Gradient’ and the dark-toned, bass-driven ‘Sweat’, the album is a full exploration of timbre. Each members’ musical projections are realised, and the open-ended configurations leave room for the listener to traverse every layer.