Elevation

A special album in Susannas body of work, Baudelaire & Piano pared her music down to its essence. Performing its ghostly songs live inspired her to dig deeper into Baudelaires work, and on Elevation, she sets more of Anthony Mortimers translations of the poets classic volume Flowers of Evil to music. Understandably, the album has quite a bit in common with Baudelaire & Piano, down to the sinuous black-and-white artwork by occultist artist Cameron that conveys the sensual minimalism of the music perfectly. On pieces such as "Invitation to the Voyage," the purity of Susannas vocals once again provides a striking contrast to lyrics like "A secret that lies in your dangerous eyes/And shines through the veil of tears" as a piano melody unfolds seductively. But where Baudelaire & Piano featured Susanna on her own, this time she brings in the collaborators who helped her bring that album to the stage to help give a broader scope to the shadings of danger, beauty, love, and lust within Flowers of Evil. Stina Stjern, who worked with Susanna on Garden of Earthly Delights, contributes field recordings and soundscapes, while composer/improviser Delphine Dora performs several poems in their native French. Both of them heighten Elevations mystical qualities, whether its the way Stjerns field recordings of birds add a hallucinatory feel to the title tracks longing for renewal, or the way Doras vocals entwine over the censer-like fog of a droning organ on "Ciel Brouillé." Susanna described the album as "an experimental hymn," and its emphasis on Flowers of Evils spiritual side is apparent even on the pieces that dont include any of Baudelaires words. The tender melodies and soft textures of Stjerns "Rose-Pale Dawn" capture the hopefulness of an early morning, while the unsettled tones and feral samples on "In Shared Ecstasy" hint at the peril spelled out on the albums final track, "Destruction." The varied yet unified perspectives Susanna, Stjern, and Dora lend to their source material make Elevation more than an echo of Baudelaire & Piano -- instead, its a celebration of creative interplay, translation, and transformation that does justice to all the artists involved. ~ Heather Phares