Shelter Press / France / 2024
Aunes is a rare solo album from the peripatetic Australian cellist-composer Judith Hamann, presenting six pieces recorded across several years and countries. The record takes its name from an old French unit of measurement for fabric that, unlike the fixed standard of the meter, was inseparable from the material being measured. In these six "songs," formal aspects like tuning, pacing, and timbre are inextricable from the instruments, the sounds, and the communities where the music was made.
Developing a rich palette of cello, synthesizers, organ, and voice, Hamann folds location recordings—from church spaces to outdoor masses—into a dreamlike, documentary effect. The music is grounded in the performing body, from the rustle of clothing to layered whistling recorded during an asthma flare-up in the piece "bruststärke (lung song)."
Through highly personal musical language and just-intoned cello notes, Aunes reveals a strong melodic sensibility, drawing unexpected lines between rich synth harmonies reminiscent of Hounds of Love and the elegiac, slow-motion arcs of Linda Catlin Smith.
FFO: Sarah Davachi, Éliane Radigue, Luc Ferrari, Linda Catlin Smith