SKYLLUMINA represents a new evolution of London-based, Italian-born composer, bassist, and vocalist Ruth Goller. Released by International Anthem.

Cat No: IARC0078LP
Release date: 1 March 2024
Format: LP
Country: UK
Region: Europe

SKYLLUMINA represents a new evolution of London-based, Italian-born composer, bassist, and vocalist Ruth Goller. Released by International Anthem.

 21,0

Out of stock

Listen to: SKYLLUMINA

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1. Below my skin
03:39
2. Reach down into the deepest white
04:27
3. Of Snowhere
01:48
4. Next time I keep my hands down
03:41
5. All the light I have, I hand to you
06:40
6. She was my own she was myself
04:45
7. How to be free from it
03:39
8. From breaks to shreds it’s a short path
04:30
9. Don’t follow me
05:05
10. I have for you - simple truth
06:15

Item Description

Goller is known for her bass and vocal work with Alabaster DePlume, whose music she elevates in live contexts with her genre-less improvisational intuition. She’s also known for work with Bex Burch’s Vula Viel, whose DIY label released Goller’s solo debut Skylla in 2021. And she is known to creative musicians far and wide, with an incredibly diverse CV that includes performance and recording with Shabaka Hutchings, Rokia Traore, Melt Yourself Down, Sam Amidon, Damon Albarn, and many more.

Expanding on the wholly original sound Goller established with her solo work on Skylla – i.e. compositions of detuned bass under a spectra of soprano voices she arranged and overdubbed herself – SKYLLUMINA complicates matters as she augments every piece with a different drummer. “As a bass-player, I love playing with drummers and I decided to focus on my close connection to that instrument and to the amazing people I met in my life who play it,” says Goller. Her accompanists on the album include International Anthem labelmates Bex Burch, Tom Skinner, and Frank Rosaly, as well as prolific British player Sebastian Rochford and longtime Vula Viel collaborator Jim Hart. But more importantly: this music is an immersive hyperfocus for Goller and her patently distinct, singular compositional vision.

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SKYLLUMINA, despite its highly conceptual origins, is heavy with human emotion. Its dark washes of melody and contrapuntal percussion could fit easily into a mixtape with indie downbeat / ennui royalty like Grouper or Low, while also being right at home next a Cage-Tudor prepared piano piece. And the piercing, sibilant ice age siren song heard in Goller’s powerfully feminine vocal arrangements find her in an otherworld only occasionally inhabited by the likes of Björk and The Knife.

Goller says: “This record is deep insight into my soul and my recent life. It’s coming through a meteor storm and grasping the first light… out of a very unexpected tumultuous time… there are feelings of grief, loss, hope, purest of love, connection to my home, death, and new configurations… as well as self-discovery.”