Premiere: Solo Collective (Sebastian Reynolds / Anne Müller / Alex Stolze) – For Hazel

Solo Collective, aka composer, producer and multi-instrumentalist Sebastian Reynolds, along with German cellist/composer Anne Müller and violinist/producer Alex Stolze are back following their acclaimed Solo Collective Part One album with (wait for it) Solo Collective Part Two, out on June 7th via Nonostar Records.

Sitting between the classical tradition and the Silver Mt Zion, Sigur Ros, A Hawk and a Hacksaw records beloved of Reynolds when he grew up, they sit between this classical piano trio ideal, but within an ambient setting with a lot of electronics and effects added. From the album we’re delighted to premiere the track For Hazel today on Backseat Mafia.

Of the track Sebastian says “‘For Hazel’ is dedicated to Hazel Ffennell, the daughter of the Ffennell family of Wytham Woods, Oxfordshire. Hazel died tragically in 1939, aged just 33, and left the Ffennells without an heir, so the woods were bequeathed to Oxford University, under the strict covenant that the woods should be preserved as woodland. The track ‘For Hazel’ was greatly inspired by time spent in the woods, both as a child and in more recent times. It is a place of sanctuary and refuge for me, and I wanted to communicate something of the warmth and nostalgia that I feel for the ancient woodland, and its place in Oxfordshire history”.

Made up largely (especially at the beginning) of this electornic hue, through which fragments of melody appear, both from the string that sighs over the top and from the electronics themselves with this decending bassline and overlapping chords muddying the musical waters, but making things. It’s all covered with little splashes of percussion/percussive sound, that at it’s tapered conclusion is enough to take your breath away