JOLT MUSIC 005:
On The Wing
Helly Manson started making music under the moniker foil in 2020. Her process evolved through chopping up snatches of sound – the twangy verse of a Moominvalley theme song or the thwack of a Jeopardy loop. From obsessive play with samplers, micro beats, and midi-instruments, her practice flipped on its head over and over again. All in search of that feeling of hearing a sound that has always been present – a bird chirping, the lilt of a nursery rhyme – in a completely new way.
On The Wing, foil's first full-length album, is as cavernous as a vaulted church or as contained, close to the ear, as the plonk of a droplet on a leaf. Through flute sounds, bells, and plucky synthesizers, foil sets the coordinates of a childhood and a present. While creating the album, she recorded hours-long night walks in Philadelphia. She wandered into parks with tree canopies cresting into auditoriums, where yelps of children would ricochet, and eventually find their way into the first seconds of "Don't Look."
On The Wing is a labyrinth of little discoveries. foil’s influences glitter just beneath the surface. Her album conjures the never-ending winter of Narnia, the magical orchestral chants of Yoko Kanno's "Cloe," or the underwater spiders of French nature film Microcosmos. Like a hand pushing through purling water, she reaches for an ever-shifting melody. Patches of PC music, ambient, and choral all appear and reappear, further upstream.
With each album, foil seeks to learn something new – a striving like the open-at-the-seams craft of the Raincoats. foil took photos of yellowing birch trees as she wrote the album. Branches on the edge of winter and spring. Her songs flicker with this alchemy too.
On The Wing was released April 7th, 2023 via Jolt Music.
With each album, foil seeks to learn something new – a striving like the open-at-the-seams craft of the Raincoats. foil took photos of yellowing birch trees as she wrote the album. Branches on the edge of winter and spring. Her songs flicker with this alchemy too.
On The Wing was released April 7th, 2023 via Jolt Music.
TRACKLIST:
1. Don’t Look2. Twit
3. March Of The Ants
4. Comb Your Hair
5. Sheep’s Clothing
6. Portal
7. Fork
8. Alchemist
9. Little Bird
10.Superstar
CREDITS:
Music, mix and master by Helly Manson
Art by Ben Gasta
Photos by Regina Melady