Gabriel Kahane – Book Of Travelers (2018) [FLAC 24bit/96kHz]

Nonesuch Records is pleased to announce that it will release Gabriel Kahane’s 8980: Book of Travelers later this year. The album’s genesis began on the day after the 2016 presidential election, when Kahane embarked—with no cell phone or other internet-connected device—on a looping, 8,980-mile railway journey through the United States. Over the course of two weeks, he broke bread with dozens of strangers whose stories were woven into a song cycle that he subsequently premiered at Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) earlier this year. Written and performed by Kahane (vocals and keyboards), and conceived in collaboration with director Daniel Fish and designer Jim Findlay (set and video design) with lighting by Mark Barton, 8980: Book of Travelers is a personal yet expansive meditation on the idiosyncrasies and anachronisms of train travel, which simultaneously grapples with the wrenching reality of a divided country.

Singer-songwriter and composer Gabriel Kahane has recorded critically-acclaimed albums including The Ambassador (called “one of the year’s best” by Rolling Stone); The Fiction Issue, an album of his chamber music with string quartet Brooklyn Rider; and Where Are the Arms. The staged version of The Ambassador, directed by Tony-winner John Tiffany, was presented by BAM (2014 Next Wave), CAP UCLA, and Carolina Performing Arts. As a composer of concert works, Kahane has been commissioned by Carnegie Hall, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Oregon Symphony, American Composers Orchestra, and Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, with whom he toured his WPA-inspired Gabriel’s Guide to the 48 States in 2013. He has appeared as soloist with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Colorado Symphony, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, and A Far Cry. An avid theater artist, Kahane’s musical February House, with playwright Seth Bockley, premiered at the Public Theater in 2012 and was recorded by the StorySound label. A two-time MacDowell Colony fellow, Kahane has performed and/or recorded with artists ranging from Sufjan Stevens, Andrew Bird, Blake Mills, Chris Thile, and Brad Mehldau, to Jeremy Denk, yMusic, and John Adams. He is a graduate of Brown University and resides in Brooklyn.

The election of Donald Trump had a powerful impact on many artists. They had to act! Regardless of the scale or stature of the project, they had to respond to the new situation. For composer Gabriel Kahane, this reaction was immediate. The day after the election, he packed his bags and set off on a journey with a simple, humanist aim: meeting people. It was a hunt for inspiration over 8980 miles end-to-end, and it gave birth to the album Book of Travelers. It’s a thirteen-day journey, told through the people Kahane met, and their stories. This “diary” album of eleven songs offers a worm’s eye view of America. Rolling out profiles and stories, we go beyond songs, venturing into a sort of theatrical album, where the only character on stage is a huckster. Classical piano compositions, Gabriel’s smooth, angelic voice offers a personal meditation, an opening onto the world and onto others. For his first album on Nonesuch, the Californian, who is sometimes compared to Rufus Wainwright or Sufjan Stevens, goes long on sincerity, calm tragedies and unadorned moments of happiness. He takes in a few personal stories as well, like his grandmother’s flight from Germany to the USA, on October 1, 1939. On this piano, buttressed against the weight of these stories, the intimacy of these lives are given proper respect by Kahane and his careful playing. – Anna Coluthe

Tracklist:
01. November
02. Baltimore
03. Model Trains
04. Baedeker
05. Friends Of Friends Of Bill
06. 8980
07. Little Love
08. What If I Told You
09. October 1, 1939
10. Port Of Hamburg
11. Singing With A Stranger

Personnel:
Gabriel Kahane, piano, vocals

Recorded at Zeitgeist Studios, Los Angeles, CA, in 2017
Produced by Tony Berg and Gabriel Kahane
Engineered and Mixed by Joseph Lorge

Download:

mqs.link_GabrielKahaneBkfTravelers20182496.rar