With Adventures of the Wildflower, Yelena Eckemoff’s new release on her own L&H Production label, the composer adds another voluptuous creation to her vast oeuvre of nature-themed works. This modern jazz song cycle—18 distinct pieces in all—describes the life of a columbine plant, from seed to death and rebirth. For Eckemoff, however, the columbine’s symbolism is profound.
“The album is more than just the story of a plant, maybe it’s my story, how I struggle with things,” Eckemoff said via Zoom from her home in Greensboro, North Carolina. “[There’s] a choice everyone has to make in this world. Am I going to be a mean entity or a kind entity?”
This dilemma takes on greater significance in light of the past year’s numerous social crises, Eckemoff said, offering the new album as her response. “I want people to react the way columbine reacts—to be kinder and more understanding,” she said. “To help others and focus on the good.”
Eckemoff delivers the goods here through three modes of self-expression: perfectly titled music, fluid narrative poetry, and captivating impressionistic oil paintings. She consolidates these three efforts into a polished package comprising two discs and a thick illustrated booklet, a rare presentation for an independent artist these days.
“I want to emphasize that physical objects aren’t lost,” he explained. “We still want to read from the pages, and it’s still important to have an album with a concept and a full range of expressions.”
Eckemoff’s idea, both thematically and musically, was one of the draws for talented Finnish musicians to the recording. Vibraphonist Panu Savolainen, bassist Antti Lötjönen, and drummer Olavi Louhivuori, who all played on Eckemoff’s 2017 release, Blooming Tall Phlox (L&T), joined pianist Eckemoff on these subtly complex compositions, this time with saxophonist Jukka Perko and multi-instrumentalist Saari on guitar, theremin, and glass harp.
Eckemoff makes deft use of these talents, carefully assigning each sonic role. The solo theremin provides the melancholic theme of “In the Ground,” the album’s opening track. The saxophone is present in the sparse melody of “Chickens,” vibrating on the dark folk sounds of “Dying.” The theremin returns to that opening theme—supported this time by the exuberant sextet—in “Baby Columbines,” the final track.
Despite the program’s varying moods, each segment flows seamlessly into the next. The listener doesn’t need the poems or paintings to understand the thrust of this unfolding musical drama, but these complementary media enhance the music and reveal how deeply Eckemoff immerses herself in the reality of her creations.
Born and raised in Moscow before emigrating to the United States in 1991, Eckemoff prefers the less visible role of conceptualist to that of stage performer. Even so, her self-produced recordings often feature high-profile musicians: over the past decade, she has released more than 15 albums with guests such as drummer Peter Erskine, bassist George Mraz, trumpeter Ralph Alessi, saxophonist Chris Potter, and bassist Arild Andersen.
Award-winning composer Saari, who first played with Eckemoff at the Helsinki studio where they recorded Wildflower in 2019, describes what attracted him to her work.
“I fell in love with the narrative, the images, the music,” she said. “His music is so moving, human, and beautiful. It’s also powerful and profound, even philosophical. We’re talking about life and death.”
It was an article on plant communication in the journal Scientist that sparked Eckemoff’s curiosity about how nonverbal beings might experience life and death. Ultimately, this curiosity provided the impetus for the album.
“Plants communicate with each other, so we know they have some kind of consciousness,” he said. “We don’t know how they feel. But they probably feel pain, too.”
Original Italian:
With Adventures of the Wildflower, Yelena Eckemoff’s new release on her own L&H Production label, the composer adds another voluptuous creation to her vast oeuvre of nature-themed works. This modern jazz song cycle—18 distinct pieces in all—describes the life of a columbine plant, from seed to death and rebirth. For Eckemoff, however, the columbine’s symbolism is profound.
“The album is more than just the story of a plant, maybe it’s my story, how I struggle with things,” Eckemoff said via Zoom from her home in Greensboro, North Carolina. “[There’s] a choice everyone has to make in this world. Am I going to be a mean entity or a kind entity?”
This dilemma takes on greater significance in light of the past year’s numerous social crises, Eckemoff said, offering the new album as her response. “I want people to react the way columbine reacts—to be kinder and more understanding,” she said. “To help others and focus on the good.”
Eckemoff delivers the goods here through three modes of self-expression: perfectly titled music, fluid narrative poetry, and captivating impressionistic oil paintings. She consolidates these three efforts into a polished package comprising two discs and a thick illustrated booklet, a rare presentation for an independent artist these days.
“I want to emphasize that physical objects aren’t lost,” he explained. “We still want to read from the pages, and it’s still important to have an album with a concept and a full range of expressions.”
Eckemoff’s idea, both thematically and musically, was one of the draws for talented Finnish musicians to the recording. Vibraphonist Panu Savolainen, bassist Antti Lötjönen, and drummer Olavi Louhivuori, who all played on Eckemoff’s 2017 release, Blooming Tall Phlox (L&T), joined pianist Eckemoff on these subtly complex compositions, this time with saxophonist Jukka Perko and multi-instrumentalist Saari on guitar, theremin, and glass harp.
Eckemoff makes deft use of these talents, carefully assigning each sonic role. The solo theremin provides the melancholic theme of “In the Ground,” the album’s opening track. The saxophone is present in the sparse melody of “Chickens,” vibrating on the dark folk sounds of “Dying.” The theremin returns to that opening theme—supported this time by the exuberant sextet—in “Baby Columbines,” the final track.
Despite the program’s varying moods, each segment flows seamlessly into the next. The listener doesn’t need the poems or paintings to understand the thrust of this unfolding musical drama, but these complementary media enhance the music and reveal how deeply Eckemoff immerses herself in the reality of her creations.
Born and raised in Moscow before emigrating to the United States in 1991, Eckemoff prefers the less visible role of conceptualist to that of stage performer. Even so, her self-produced recordings often feature high-profile musicians: over the past decade, she has released more than 15 albums with guests such as drummer Peter Erskine, bassist George Mraz, trumpeter Ralph Alessi, saxophonist Chris Potter, and bassist Arild Andersen.
Award-winning composer Saari, who first played with Eckemoff at the Helsinki studio where they recorded Wildflower in 2019, describes what attracted him to her work.
“I fell in love with the narrative, the images, the music,” she said. “His music is so moving, human, and beautiful. It’s also powerful and profound, even philosophical. We’re talking about life and death.”
It was an article on plant communication in the journal Scientist that sparked Eckemoff’s curiosity about how nonverbal beings might experience life and death. Ultimately, this curiosity provided the impetus for the album.
“Plants communicate with each other, so we know they have some kind of consciousness,” he said. “We don’t know how they feel. But they probably feel pain, too.”