PRESS RELEASE: A Fine Companion, album release
For Immediate Release
December 1, 2024
Medieval Troubadour Tunes Get 21st Century Treatment
Nationally touring ensemble Alkemie releases a hybrid electronic and medieval album, a fine companion, that reimagines the songs and stories of the past.
Key Takeaways:
- New compositions combine contemporary tech and instruments with medieval instrumentation
- Album reinterprets medieval texts, including several written by medieval women
- New single + video out now, album and live album release concert in early January
Medieval music ensemble Alkemie’s new album (a fine companion) is a collaboration with composer Charles Mueller and Freelance Nun that borrows lyrics from medieval troubadour poetry and inverts the concept of “chivalrous love”. a fine companion is composed in a psychedelic shoegaze style and combines modern synthesizers and production elements with medieval instruments. The first single, “Judas,” and its companion video are now available on most streaming platforms. The full album will be released on January 5, 2023 followed by an album release performance at The Sultan Room on January 11, 2024.
LINK TO MUSIC VIDEO
LINK TO SPOTIFY
LINK TO CONCERT TICKETS
LINK TO PRESS IMAGES
“I had this idea of marrying 20th-century instruments like electric guitar and drum set with recorders, vielles, harps, and more so it seemed like a natural parallel to seek out subversive texts that suggested a bending of the "rules." Besides that, eschewing the more prevalent texts about things like courtly love allowed us to engage with an alternative or "outsider" view of mainstream medieval society.”
– Charles Mueller, composer
This album is an exercise and meditation on the meaning of “history”. Alkemie inspects the ways in which lived experience interacts with pre-existing materials and creates new narratives that speak to us in the 21st century. a fine companion combines Mueller and Freelance Nun’s more contemporary practice with Alkemie’s expertise in performing, composing, and improvising medieval music. The result is an album that compels us to examine our own prior conceptions about the people, society, and music of a millennia ago.
"We were so excited to explore such a different sonic world, led by someone who is both extremely fluent in 20th/21st century rock styles and deeply familiar with the sounds and idioms of our medieval instruments."- Sian Ricketts, Co-Managing Director and Founding Member of Alkemie
About Alkemie:
A restless collective of medieval experimentalists, the Flatbush-based band Alkemie recently gained recognition beyond Brooklyn with their soundtrack for the video game Pentiment (directed by Obsidian studios and published by Xbox). Locally and nationally, they have been presented by the Amherst Early Music Festival, Arizona Early Music Society, Brooklyn Public Library, Cambridge Society for Early Music, Capitol Early Music Series, Five Boroughs Music Festival, Johns Hopkins Program in Arts, Humanities & Health, Music Before 1800, and the European Early Music Network virtual Early Music Day festival. Incorporated as a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit in 2018, Alkemie presents its own NYC-based concert series as well as touring and recording.
Contact Us:
Zack Plaster, Marketing Manager
Email: zack@alkemie.org
Cell: 646-397-3731
Tracy Cowart, Co-Managing Director
Email: tracy@alkemie.org
Sian Ricketts, Co-Managing Director
Email: sian@alkemie.org
