Now Playing: Track 4 /
That Bird (5:07)
Unconventional Music Collaboration
Changes the Day
Spa Experience
and the Louisiana Music Industry
June 1, 2005
New Orleans, LA-- Spa music has been stuck in a time when ocean
waves and singing whales defined relaxation. The 80's are over and Miss Celie's
Spa Orleans of New Orleans has partnered with Hi-Fi Sky to produce
something entirely original -- "Music
For Synchronized Swimming In Space."
Hi-Fi Sky was formed in 2004 by Tim Sommer and
Alexandra Scott in the flat, flaking, slanting, shambolic city of New Orleans
to make quiet music to be played very loudly…or loud music to be played very
quietly. In conjunction with the release of their debut album, they'll be
playing extensively around their hometown. Their debut
album Music For Synchronized Swimming In Space is 67 minutes of grand,
ghostly, spacious, melodic sound and was released by Seersucker Fantasy Records
April 20. It is music that could only be created
in New Orleans from melodies that are rooted in the city's 200 year-old French
and Cajun culture.
Initially, it will be available through the New
Orleans-based VooBrew coffee shop chain, Miss Celie's Spa Orleans
-- wholesale at $6.00 -- select
regional music outlets and direct from www.hi-fisky.com
The “music” in question is
weird electronic art pop; or maybe it's sonic ambient folk; or perhaps it is
maximally minimalist chilled-out punk, or cinematic southern psychedelia. With
one foot in German style minimalism, one foot in sensual, bittersweet pop, and
a third theoretical foot in the indigenous folk melodies of Europe, Canada, and
the American South, Hi-Fi Sky echo some of the avant-ambient territory mined by
Tim Sommer's old band, Hugo Largo, while creating their own original brand of
wide screen electronic ensemble playing.
Although Music For
Synchronized Swimming In Space is the first music from Hi-Fi Sky, Sommer
and Scott are far from music industry novices. Sommer has been professionally
involved in music since he was in his mid-teens as a music journalist, radio DJ
and reporter for MTV. He was a founding member of slo-core pioneers Hugo
Largo, after serving for some three years with the seminal avant-garde guitar
choir led by Glenn Branca. Alexandra Scott began gigging as a teenager around
her native Charlottesville, VA before becoming a classical guitar major at
Vassar. She has released two albums under her own name, and one with the
techno vibe band, the DBC.
Keith & André West-Harrison, owners of Miss Celie's Spa Orleans and
VooBrew Coffee & Tea were introduced to Tim and
Alexandra by a mutual friend. Alexandra has since became the spa's Yoga Instructor in
Residence.
This introduction led to just what Keith and André
were looking to do -- explore avant-garde art and bring it into an unprecedented sphere
where it would find more listeners, while simultaneously revolutionizing spa
and relaxation music.
"No more whales mating and waves crashing. The
same music has been used at spas since I was in high school. We know our
clients want to hear something different," said Keith "and with
this completely novel collection of music, they can."
For more
information please contact:
Keith West-Harrison
Miss Celie's Spa
Orleans
and Voobrew Coffee & Tea
504-522-7288
http://spaorleans.com/store/music/index.php
or
Tim Sommers
504-482-3557
http://www.hi-fisky.com
