99% human, singer, music scientist
Internationally renowned singing cellist Alisa Apreleva and award-winning composer Yaroslav Borisov meet in an unexpected collaboration where soaring melodies are steeped in entrancing beats and the technical brilliance of chamber musicianship carries hints of avant-folk and Soviet retro-wave flavors.
Appropriate for all ages.
“It is a fairytale pop album, performed by chamber musicians. It is to make you happy. And it is ABOUT LOVE” – with this tagline to accompany the online premiere of the album, it might not be readily apparent to even a sophisticated listener that the set list was, essentially, an exercise in classical music composition. The whole score was written out in detail by Alisa and then performed by classically trained, but extremely versatile, musicians in the way that allowed to reduce the production and postproduction to bare minimum, making the raw, transparent and vulnerable sound the main character of the album.
The album was recorded on a shoestring budget of $700, in Boston on 15-16 May 2012, in collaboration with stellar international musicians team, including sound engineer Jett Galindo, who later mixed and mastered the album. “About Love” was released online in January 2014, however, it was never physically published or performed live.
“It is a fairytale pop album, performed by chamber musicians. It is to make you happy. And it is ABOUT LOVE”
Alisa Apreleva (Russia/USA): author (except (4)), producer; vocals (1-9), piano (6-8), accordion (1, 3-5), flute & clave (6).
Andrés Marín (Costa Rica): drums (1-9), clave (6).
Anastasia Dumma (Russia): guitar (1-3, 5, 9).
Alexander Trampas (Greece): acoustic bass (1-9).
Kai Sandoval (USA): trumpet (1, 3-7).
Yuri Levinson (USA): clarinet (1, 2, 4, 9).
Raquel Kober (USA): cello (1, 4, 6, 7, 9).
Peter Breykin (USA): piano (9).
Layth Sidiq (Jordan): violin (9).
Jett Galindo (Philippines): sound engineer (1-9) & background vocals (6).
Recorded at The Record Co. (Boston, USA) in May 2012. Mixed at Avatar studios (New York, USA) in April 2013, very special thanks to Jerry Barnes.
Art: Matvey Soykin.
Design: Vladimir Zimakov.
From blues to Bollywood, the magic of music permeates all the borders, the time and the language barriers. Collaboration between musicians from different parts of the world is instant and comes naturally when the music is but the air to breathe.
Shall we say, more is in the cards? Most definitely so.
Boston, USA, 2012:
Boston, USA, 2011:
Divnogorie, Russia, 2014:
Moscow, Russia, 2011:
Voronezh, Russia, 2014:
Boston, USA, 2012:
Moscow, RUSSIA, 2011:
Amsterdam, NETHERLANDS, 2016:
Bollywood, INDIA, 2015:
A blissfully failed attempt to approximate “Lucidus” sound solo in 2012 brought to life a whole new concept – a solo set for voice, cello and a loop station, where Eastern European and Native American love songs, mourning cries and fertility chants coexist with original compositions to create a sounding universe full of joy and color.
Everything on the set is performed live using: Roland BOSS RC-50 loop station, Realist Cello Pickup, and a vocal microphone. Add a sound engineer.
Boston, 2012:
Moscow, 2012:
Moscow, 2017:
Alisa Apreleva and Ishaan Chaabra live on Berklee Internet Radio Network, December 2012:
Moscow, 2017:
Caught in between the tides of the dwindling post-Soviet underground and the emerging new wave of the Russian rock music, in the early 2000s Alisa Apreleva was prolific and active as a performing singer poet. Praised for her “unique’ style and sometimes ostracized for epatage, she gained a significant following and toured extensively both solo and with her band “Фабрика Тяжёлой Воды” (“Heavy Water Factory”). Only live recordings were made and published (mostly by the well-meaning music pirates).
Alisa ceased to perform songs related to the “underground” period in 2010s, explaining that these became irrelevant and were mostly written for self-therapy purposes to survive and somehow explain the surrounding post-perestroika chaos. The last run of the program was recorded in 2009 as “Live in LA” album and published in 2011.
APRELEVA