''The Letter'' is a

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

Fred Frith Jeremy Webster "Fred" Frith (born 17 February 1949) is an English multi-instrumentalist, composer, and improviser. Probably best known for his guitar work, Frith first came to attention as one of the founding members of the English avant-rock ...

's United States

experimental rock Experimental rock, also called avant-rock, is a subgenre of rock music that pushes the boundaries of common composition and performance technique or which experiments with the basic elements of the genre. Artists aim to liberate and innovate, with ...

group

Cosa Brava Cosa Brava is an experimental rock and free improvisation group formed in March 2008 in Oakland, California by multi-instrumentalist and composer Fred Frith (Henry Cow, Skeleton Crew, Keep the Dog). The band comprises Frith on guitar, Zeena Par ...

. It was recorded in France in June 2010 and

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

in August 2011, and was released by

Intakt Records Intakt Records is an independent record label, based in Zürich. History The label was founded in 1986 by Patrik Landolt.Margasak, Peter (September 2013) "Intakt's Landolt Takes Long-Term Approach to Avant-Garde". ''Down Beat''. p. 16. In the ea ...

in Switzerland on March 21, 2012.

Reception

Writing at

All About Jazz ''All About Jazz'' is a website established by Michael Ricci in 1995. A volunteer staff publishes news, album reviews, articles, videos, and listings of concerts and other events having to do with jazz. Ricci maintains a related site, ''Jazz Near ...

, John Eyles described ''The Letter'' as "transcend nggenre", and Frith's songs as "melodic ... provid ngthe group with plenty of scope for embellishment". He said the album "hangs together well", adding that Kihlstedt's violin has "inflections carrying great emotional weight", and Frith's guitar as "fluid ndinterwoven with wordless vocals, to stunning effect" on "Common Sense".

Track listing

Source:

Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the la ...

Personnel

– guitar, bass guitar, voice *

Carla Kihlstedt Carla Kihlstedt (born 1971) is an American composer, violinist, vocalist, and multi-instrumentalist, originally from Lancaster, Pennsylvania and currently working from a home studio on Cape Cod. She is a founding member of Tin Hat Trio (1997, ...

– violin, bass harmonica, voice *

Zeena Parkins Zeena Parkins (born 1956) is an American composer and multi-instrumentalist active in experimental, free improvised, contemporary classical, and avant-jazz music; she is known for having "reinvented the harp". Parkins performs on standard harp ...

– accordion, keyboards, foley objects, voice *

Shahzad Ismaily Secret Chiefs 3 (or SC3) is an American avant-garde group led by guitarist/composer Trey Spruance (of Mr. Bungle and formerly, Faith No More). Their studio recordings and tours have featured different lineups, as the group performs a wide rang ...

– bass guitar, voice * Matthias Bossi – drums, percussion, mayhem, vocals * The Norman Conquest – sound manipulation

Guests

* Michael Elrod – tambura (track 4) *

William Winant William Winant (born 1953) is an American percussionist. In addition to his work in contemporary classical music—notably performing Lou Harrison's compositions—Winant has worked in a variety of genres, including noise rock, free improvisation ...

– concert bass drum (track 10), crotales (track 2)

Recording and production

*Tracks 1, 2, 4, 5, 6, 8, 11, 12 recorded at Chàteau de Faverolles, France, June 1–4, 2010 **The Norman Conquest – engineer *Tracks 3, 7, 9, 10 recorded at New Improved Recording,

, August 9–11, 2011 **The Norman Conquest – engineer *Mixed at Jankowski Soundfabrik, Esslingen, Germany, April 9–11, 2011, July 4–5, 2011, January 31, 2012, February 3, 2012 **Peter Hardt – engineer *Mastered at Headless Buddha,

, February 10, 2012 **Myles Boisen – engineer *Artwork **Heike Liss – cover image **Jonas Schoder – graphic design *Production **

– producer **

– producer Source:

References

External links

''The Letter''
at

''The Letter'' reviews
at Intakt Records {{DEFAULTSORT:Letter, The 2012 albums Albums produced by Fred Frith Cosa Brava albums Intakt Records albums