Sophie Tassignon is a Belgian-born, Berlin-based vocalist and vocal artist, composer, pianist, and modern theatre and multimedia performer. A Slender Thread is Tassignon’s second solo album, following Mysteries Unfold (RareNoise, 2020), where her voice is embraced by her electroacoustic textures, and layered with contributions by American sound artist Kevin Patton, who has worked with Tassignon as the duo Louise et Vilmorin.
Tassignon says that this album «liberates the imagination while celebrating our shared humanity across cultures, languages, and time». The seven eclectic songs suggest timeless stories that defy genre or geographical borders and resonate in close and far language and cultures. Tassignon arranged these songs and recorded her vocals and her «sonic spaces» at Studio Orpiment in Berlin, while Patton’s contributions were recorded in Washington D.C..
The album begins with J.S. Bach’s sacred aria «Erbarme Dich» (from St. Matthew Passion) that set the atmosphere of the album. Tassignon’s multiple vocals sound as if floating in a highly resonating space, which intensifies the aria’s reverent spirit. The following title piece deepens the spiritual-atmospheric vein, but in a more bold, experimental sonic architecture. «Molitva – Молитва -Prayer» is an adaptation of a song by Soviet poet, writer, and singer-songwriter Bulat Okudzhava (1924-1997), sung in Russian (a language that Tassignon is fluent with), that keeps its nostalgic, folky, chanson-like vibe, but spices it with futurist vocal acrobatics. The traditional Russian folk song «Chornij Voran = Чёрный Ворон» (The Black Raven) tells about a dying soldier who asks the raven to tell his family about his death.
«Marhaba – مرحبا» is a poem by Emirati Nabati Poetess Ousha bint Khalifa Al Suwaidi (1920-2018). Tassignon composed the lyrical music, played on piano, and sang the poetic text in a fluent Arabic accent (she already sang in Arabic on her album Khyal, W.E.R.F, 2023). The following «Yellow Leaves – وراق الصفر» is another adaptation of an Arabic poem by Hicham Nasr, which receives a more austere arrangement. A Slender Thread ends with Tassington’s song, «The Soldier In You» that cements Tassignon’s compassionate, most humane message about our world as an interconnected whole, where differences may be just threads to be woven into a greater whole.
Eyal Hareuveni
Sophie Tassignon (all voices, electroacoustic textures, piano, drum programming), Kevin Patton (guitar, distorted guitar, drum & bass programming)
