It’s Sar! I’m SO EXCITED to share that my long-awaited album ‘I and Thou’ is due to be released in April 2016 , through the Australian label Provenance. Woohoo!
I’m calling out to YOU for support! I need your help to complete this final stage of transition and make my long time dream a reality. Please help me to share my music with the ears and hearts of as many music lovers across the world as possible!
You can read a more in-depth piece about the album, at the bottom of this section, written by Francis Plagne.
For me, the treasure in this whole experience is that what initially started as a concept record, inspired by my spiritual pursuits and influenced by the work of Joseph Campbell and Martin Buber, actually turned into a full-on epic experiential journey of personal transformation! During the album’s gestation, it became clear to me that in order to move forward, I had to let go of the name I have been known by for over a decade, HEARTSWIN and step into my new name – the name of shamanic initiation that I received whilst on vision quest – She of The MEDICINE VOICE.
I want to take this opportunity to give a big shout out to my amazingly talented friends and collaborators, Oren Ambarchi & Joe Talia! I absolutely could not have done this without them!
Thanks so much for taking the time to check this out! I really appreciate it and please know that all your support would give a great boost to our campaign and help us to give this album all the love and exposure that it deserves!
THIS IS THE MOMENT!
With gratitude! May our hearts-always-win!
Sar Medicine Voice xoxo
Francis Plagne on MEDICINE VOICE:
I and Thou will be the first LP from Sar Friedman’s MEDICINE VOICE project, and it combines her soaring vocals and esoteric lyrics with minimal, extended song structures. Over arrangements ranging from bare hand-percussion to ecstatic walls of electrified drone, her lyrics narrate her own mystical journey using concepts drawn from Joseph Campbell’s pan-cultural ‘monomyth’ and Martin Buber’s attempt to existentially grasp the encounter with the Other.
The record was co-produced by Sar with Oren Ambarchi, who alongside engineer and multi-instrumentalist Joe Talia, weaves a rich instrumental tapestry around her vocals, various keyboards and percussion instruments: the epic ‘Meeting the White Spirit’ ends with a rich display of Ambarchi’s signature guitar tones and Talia’s delicate analogue tape manipulations form the core of ‘Meeting the Shadow’.
Sar’s powerful voice has an emotive depth and raw tone reminiscent of PJ Harvey or Chan Marshall, but her songwriting and composition move far beyond rock/pop boundaries to embrace a slow motion, hymnal music, the pacing and dynamic logic of which gesture towards both the most intimate outreaches of minimalism and the eastern-tinged improvisations of Alice Coltrane or Don Cherry’s Organic Music Society.
I and Thou introduces a powerful and already highly developed voice willing to push the boundaries of the song and cross-pollinate it with electronics, hypnotic tones and ecstatic acoustics in order to reach forms that resonate with the esoteric and mystical concerns of her lyrics.”
Your support will help us:
– Create a final master of the record for both vinyl and digital, in Melbourne
– Produce & press a special vinyl edition via Curved Pressings in the U.K.
– Distribute the vinyl edition to retailers in the U.K., U.S. and Australia
– Market and promote the record at home and overseas
You can find me on Facebook, Bandcamp and Soundcloud, and you can also check out some of my previous work released through the Australian label Wood & Wire.