Elwood n Chapman

Paul Elwood has many strings to his bow: among them, banjo player, composer, and improviser. From Colorado to Marseille, Iowa City to London and Boston, Émissions Transparents documents his far-flung visions and musical adventures. The title track, Émissions Transparents, features Pablo Gomez on electric guitar with the Callithumpian Consort of the New England Conservatory directed by Stephen Drury. This five-movement composition explores invisible communications- be they radio transmissions, angelic apparitions, or ghostly voices from the unknown, that manifest Elwoods interest in the paranormal and interstellar space travel. Since he was a teenager, Elwood has been drawn to the New York School of composition from the 1950s and 1960s that highlighted composers John Cage, Christian Wolff, Morton Feldman, and Earle Brown.

A studio album by Roger Chapman is always an event. Since '66, when the British singer-songwriter emerged as the voice of his generation with the seminal Family band, through every twist of his four-decade solo career, Chappo's output has defied music industry protocol, challenged genre, and held up a mirror to the times. "I've never stopped writing," he reflects, "and with Life In The Pond, I felt the need to hear what I'd put down in music."