Name: FRKWYS Volume 13 - Sunergy (Expanded)
Brand: Suzanne Ciani

Bonus disc

Bonus disc: No

Catalogue number

FRKWYS13LPEX

Colour

Blue

Colour details

Translucent Pacific Blue

Discogs ID

Format multiplier

Download code

Download code: No

Rough Trade Exclusive

Rough Trade Exclusive: No

Extended format

Extended format: No

Format detail

Format Music GB

Limited edition

Release date

2023-03-31

Signed copies

Signed copies: No

Supplier GB

Tax rate GB

Standard:20

UPC / Barcode

0747742385476

Total Cap

Blue LP

Artist

Suzanne Ciani

Genre GB

Experimental / Avant-Garde / Industrial / Noise

Label GB

Rvng Intl

RVNG Intl. is an independent record label based in Brooklyn, New York. Founded in 2003 by [founder's name], the label has gained recognition for its unique and diverse roster of artists. In January 2014, RVNG Intl. was selected as Resident Advisor's label of the month, solidifying its reputation as a leading force in the music industry. Additionally, Tiny Mix Tapes named RVNG Intl. among their favorite labels of 2015.
With a commitment to pushing boundaries and showcasing innovative sounds, RVNG Intl. has become known for releasing groundbreaking music across various genres including electronic, experimental, and ambient. The label prides itself on fostering creativity and supporting emerging artists who challenge conventional norms.
RVNG Intl.'s catalog features an impressive array of critically acclaimed releases that have garnered attention from both fans and critics alike. With a focus on quality over quantity, each release is carefully curated to offer listeners a truly immersive musical experience.

Suzanne Ciani is an acclaimed artist known for her groundbreaking work in electronic music. Born in Indiana‎, she discovered her passion for music at a young age and taught herself to play the piano and read sheet music. During her time at Wellseley College, Suzanne explored both performance and composition while also developing a fascination with technology.

Her studies led her to meet influential figures in electronic music, including John Chowning, Max Matthews, and Don Buchla. Suzanne became captivated by synthesizers and spent years experimenting with these machines to create unique compositions. However, as the industry shifted towards simpler instruments that replicated traditional sounds, Suzanne returned to classical instrumentation.

This shift resulted in Grammy-nominated albums such as "Dream Suite," which showcased her mastery of piano and orchestra arrangements. Her commitment to blending classical elements with electronic influences can be heard in works like "Pianissimo II" and "Turning." Suzanne's innovative approach has solidified her status as a pioneering artist within the realm of electronic music.

Sunergy brings together synthesists Suzanne Ciani and Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith for the thirteenth installment of FRKWYS, RVNG Intl.’s intergenerational collaboration series. Revisited and expanded for a radiant, radical 2023 edition, the Pacific Coast’s panorama provides the place and head space for a musical appreciation and consideration of the ocean’s life-giving form, vast and volatile with change.

Fortuitously (as is the freaky way), Smith and Ciani were discovered to be neighbors in their small coastal community in Northern California. The two had become close friends, bonding over their experience as women musicians and, more unusually, their shared passion for the Buchla synthesizer. The music of Sunergy embraces this kinship, with Ciani and Smith respectively performing on the Buchla 200 E and the Buchla Music Easel, two modern configurations of the innovative instrument developed in the ‘60s by Don Buchla.&nbsp;

Sunergy was recorded in 2015 in the home where Ciani has now lived for the last three decades. Her living room overlooks the Pacific Ocean from a cliffside perch, creating an idyllic, inspired setting for music making. Setting up their synthesizers side-by- side, Ciani and Smith took turns keeping time and freely improvising for the album sessions. As a complete piece, Sunergy is shaped by slow, pulsing forms and sinuous, melodic sequences that conjure both an oceanic world and the unlimited sound made possible by modular processing. Eight years on from their meeting and recording, these sublime, expansive synergies still retain their potent transportative power.

Since its initial release in 2016, Sunergy has become a touchstone in both artist’s catalogs, marking a return to Buchla form for Ciani (who at the time had not released a new synthesizer recording in forty years), and a transformative moment for Smith, whose breakthrough instrumental album Ears was released the same year. Ciani has since toured globally, dazzling audiences with live Buchla improvisations in the vein of those heard on these recordings, and Smith has solidified her place on the vanguard of electronic pop.

Now, after years of being out of print, Suzanne Ciani and Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith’s Sunergy is re-released as an expanded LP, containing the previously CD and digital only bonus track “Retrograde.”

FRKWYS Volume 13 - Sunergy (Expanded)

Music GB