PlexiLusso by Amy Kohn
"MARVELOUS MUSICAL BIJOUX" - VAN DYKE PARKS
PlexiLusso, Amy’s new album of lush, glossy orchestral pop, has made best-of lists from Italy’s Rai Radio 3 program “Battiti” to Avant Music News to Pitchfork’s Best Album Covers of 2014 and has been championed by BBC Radio 6's Stuart Maconie ("I'm a big fan!").
“Plexi” is the knee-high table in Amy's childhood 19th floor livingroom - she would look through its sides, seeing infinite reflections. “Lusso” is the finish on her beloved rhinestoned accordion. PlexiLusso captures this lustrous, reflective quality in everything from the song structures themselves, to her textural arrangements, to the polished sonic quality and glossy, surreal artwork. Featuring 17 musicians on everything from winds to windmills, the album began on a buttery Fazioli piano at Italy’s esteemed Artesuono studio, continued at five New York area studios including Joe Mardin’s NuNoise, then back to Artesuono and Amy’s Venetian riverside rental for final touches (plastic bags, Murano drinking glasses…). Mixing by Max Trisotto and mastering by Pieter Snapper at Babajim in Istanbul complete the album's vivid sound. PlexiLusso features original photography by renowned music photographer Merri Cyr, with images, art direction and design by the illustrious Anglo-Scandinavian team, Non-Format.
Six remixes have been released in advance of the album, all with artwork by Amy: “Emma” by London’s Roshi Feat. Pars Radio, "Ellipsis" by London's Segwey, “Flight Simulator” by Montreal’s Vincent Bergeron, “LED” by Barcelona’s GiulianoGiusCobelli, and “Heartache is an Orange” by Albanian Kole Laca of electronic duo 2 Pigeons, and "Lucertole" by Padova's Lie Too Fine. The Netherlands' Bernd Ihno Eilts created a video of PlexiLusso’s “Linguaglossa” using photos from his 2010 book "Roses Peony."
Pitchfork Best Album Covers 2014: http://pitchfork.com/features/staff-lists/9556-the-best-album-covers-of-2014/
PlexiLusso design by Non-Format featured in Wired.com: http://www.wired.com/2014/09/custom-typeface-isnt-perfectly-legible-thats-point/
PlexiLusso on Non-Format site: http://non-format.com/amy-kohn-plexilusso
PlexiLusso in All About Jazz, Italy: https://www.allaboutjazz.com/plexilusso-amy-kohn-self-produced-review-by-angelo-leonardi.php
Tracklist
| 1. | Emma | 1:54 |
| 2. | Ellipsis | 3:47 |
| 3. | Flight Simulator | 3:01 |
| 4. | Chris | 3:39 |
| 5. | Lucertole | 2:26 |
| 6. | Linguaglossa | 3:39 |
| 7. | Everyone's in Love | 3:00 |
| 8. | LED | 4:46 |
| 9. | Half | 3:59 |
| 10. | Heartache is an Orange | 4:56 |
| 11. | Mother | 2:23 |
Credits
I love your new work. It's a great place apart, a dream escape from what's just ordinary. You are everything but ho-hum." - Van Dyke Parks
"Molto interessante… ci sono canzoni strambe, arrangiamenti a volte irrazionali ma sono canzoni piene di qualità…" ("Very interesting… there are wacky songs, with irrational arrangements at times, but songs full of quality…") - Giuseppe Saulo, Italy's RadioTre, "Battiti"
"Oslo-based design studio Non-Format made this stunning gatefold LP sleeve and eight-page digipak with photography from Merri Cyr for ambitious NYC songwriter Amy Kohn. The custom typeface may be hard to read, but that’s part of the point—the mystery of the typography and otherworldly photographs conjure an elegantly skewed environment." - Creative Director Michael Renaud, Pitchfork, The Year in Music, The Best Album Covers 2014
"She is a visionary artist..." - All About Jazz Italia
"…ricchezza dell'arrangiamento… felicità melodica che affiorava tra gli spigoli" ("…richness of the arrangements… melodic happiness that emerged between the edges") - Alessandro Achilli, Milan's Radio Populare
"Gorgeous music as usual - creates new neuropathways of adventure and musical possibility" - Songwriter Pete Galub
“The only word that kept coming into my mind was "Masterpiece"” - Composer/Pianist Michael Jefry Stevens
"American composer Amy Kohn's new album "PlexiLusso" is stunning. I think no one writes music like she does. Her work is always so original to me. Her story, orchestration, strong melody, complex harmony and time are so magical and cinematic. Highly recommend." - Songwriter Akiko Pavolka
"Effervescent sound" - Wired.com
Amy Kohn: Voice, Piano, Keyboard, Hammond M2 Organ, Accordion, Drinking Glasses, Plastic Bag, Toy Windmill
Nikki Scheller: Harmony
Peter Hess: Piccolo, Flute, Clarinet, Alto & Tenor Saxophone
Matt Renzi: Oboe
Greg Glassman: Trumpet
Mary Rowell: Violin & Viola
Cenovia Cummins: Violin
Kenji Bunch: Viola
Frances Rowell: Cello
Karen LeBlanc: Musical Saw
Rob Schwimmer: Theremin
Julia Seager-Scott: Harp
Debora Petrina: Marbles/Hardware in Piano
Tom Gavin: Acoustic & Electric Guitar
Ben Rubin: Contrabass
Jeff Davis: Drums & Vibraphone
Jimmy Weinstein: Drums, Mbira, Multi Tone Wood Block, Claps
Recorded by Stefano Amerio & Giacomo Barboni at Artesuono
Joe Mardin at NuNoise
Tom Tedesco at Tedesco Studios
Dan Shatsky with Assistant Leslly Almeida at Vibromonk
Randy Crafton with Assistant Ian Cassel at Kaleidoscope Sound
Mirko Di Cataldo at Studio Mobile 80/SamPl & Via Palestro 75
Rob Schwimmer at Sunken Heights Studios
Tom Gavin at One Chair Studios
Ben Rubin at House of Cha Cha
Jimmy Weinstein at Jimmy Weinstein’s Studio
Amy Kohn at Amy Kohn’s Studio
Mixed by Max Trisotto
Mastered by Pieter Snapper at Babajim
Produced by Amy Kohn
Original Photography by Merri Cyr
Makeup by Kyriaki Savrani
Images, Art Direction & Design by Non-Format
All songs written, arranged & produced by Amy Kohn © 2014
PL14CD & PL14LP Palpebre Label
License
All rights reserved.Tags
Amy Kohn is applauded by some of the top composer/producers in modern song: Van Dyke Parks says she’s “Brimming with such talent!” and legendary Producer Arif Mardin dubbed her a “Musical Devil in a Red Dress." Amy always seeks sounds she’s never heard, and it comes through in the “oddly structured beauty” of her highly arranged, effervescent music.