Sarah Pagé and Patrick Graham: Littoral States - out now
DEBUT ALBUM OUT JANUARY 24, 2025
Littoral States is a shifting, reciprocal project that explores affinities beyond time, place, tradition and medium. Working in collaboration between Montréal, Morin-Heights and Brussels, musicians Sarah Pagé and Patrick Graham, along with visual artist Tamar Kasparian, chart pathways at once elusive and overlapping. Referencing a variety of natural elements and artistic traditions, Littoral States endeavors to dissolve boundaries and foreground the incorporeal. Intimacy is defined not by presence/absence, but in knowing and unknowing: as matter etched in air. The collaborative album Littoral States out on January 24th, 2025, via Envision Records.
The band share third single “Aethers” along with the album release. Aethers is described as, “The piece blossoms slowly, using textural and rhythmic interplay to build a sense of spaciousness coloured with a quiet tension. The underlying structures of ‘Aethers’ are rooted in gagaku, a form of Japanese classical music deeply admired by the duo. As the track becomes more layered, with Page’s sarangi and harp highlighting the melodious elements, the piece persists in its singularity. In the same way an invisible wind plays a chorus of creaking branches, ‘Aethers’ unfolds with a natural cadence, equally unpredictable and nourishing.
The album was born in the early days of the pandemic when Pagé and Graham began a creative correspondence. They quickly discovered uncanny parallels in their musical journeys, from growing up in the same Montreal suburb and sharing a childhood music teacher to attending the same schools and exploring similar traditions, including Japanese classical forms and Irish folk music. Graham’s exploratory percussion sketches served as a foundation for Pagé’s evocative harp and koto overlays, building layer upon layer of sound and inspiration.
The album’s six compositions feature an eclectic array of instruments, including harp, bass koto, sarangi, waterphone, hamon, Nano Garden, and electronics. These are accompanied by stunning visual artwork by Kasparian, making Littoral States as much a tactile encounter as an auditory one. Abstract textures and evocative atmospheres lead the listener through a captivating journey, balancing a sense of urgency with reflective open-endedness. Littoral States invites listeners to step into a world where boundaries blur and creative connections thrive—a project as intricate and profound as the natural forces that inspired it.
Littoral States comes out Friday, January 24, 2025 release via Envision Records.
Tour Schedule 2025
January 26: La Sala Rossa, Montréal (Album release show, part of No Hay Banda’s concert season)
January 31: National Arts Centre, Fourth Stage, Ottawa (With Raphael Weinroth-Browne)
February 27: Orpheum Annex, Vancouver (Presented by New Old World Music Society)
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