Stained Glass Arrangements
Our second project with Alison Grace Koehler was a full length album featuring Alison’s performances of her poems, accompanied by backing tracks conceived for them by 16 international musicians and sound artists. We wanted to showcase the unique ethereality of Alison’s voice, while at the same time inviting other artists to explore the diversity of interpretations evoked by her poetry. The title, and the visual language of the cover art, are references to Alison’s book Stained Glass Poetry, from which the poems on the album are taken. The colors showing through the letters are from the same photograph of Alison’s glass work that Yann Lagoutte contributed for the inside cover of the original book. The word Arrangements is arranged as notes over sheet music lines, to articulate that the poetry has been brought into musical composition.
As the colors peeking through the lettering on the album’s cover give a hint of Alison’s glass world waiting behind, we thought it would only be fitting for the vinyl itself to recall the look of Alison’s glass work. So we conceived of a clear, transparent vinyl, splattered with the same colors that appear in the window of Alison’s that Yann Lagoutte had photographed. It took quite a bit of research to find a vinyl plant that was able to help us realize this vision. Luckily we discovered B-Side Factory, a vinyl production company outside Nantes that focuses specifically on small-batch projects by independent artists. They were able to help us achieve this effect, resembling an explosion of glass and color, in both visual and conceptual harmony with Alison’s work.
On the back, another detail from Yann Lagoutte’s photo of Alison’s glass, and a track listing featuring the names of all the contributing artists. Our thanks to all the artists who appeared on the album: Lisa Ducasse, Erin Babbin and Michael Sullivan, Luke Sutherland, Benjamin Dwyer, Patrick "Ludwin" Bernaténé, Jason Stoneking, Sue Melcher and Jackson Schipper, Daniel Hoppe, Lesteria, Lucas Lecacheur, Jer Reid, Epicycle Paris (arr. John X), Yann Lagoutte, and Henry Lowman.
The album was released as a limited edition vinyl, 100 signed and numbered copies, pressed by B-side Factory in France. To purchase a copy, you can contact Alison here.
The digital version of the album can be found on Alison’s YouTube, or SoundCloud.