Ukranian composer and sound-artist Heinali returns with beautiful, mesmerizing new album ‘Madrigals’, inspired by Renaissance/late Medieval polyphony and created with generative modular synthesis and historial instrumentation.

‘Madrigals’ is the result of a two-year-long exploration into generative counterpoint in modular synthesis. Inspired by Heinali’s love of the polyphonic compositional style of the late Middle Ages and Renaissance, the album employs historical acoustic instruments such as the theorbo lute and the baroque alto viola alongside Heinali’s mastery of notoriously complex generative synth systems.

Heinali (Kyiv-based Oleg Shpudeiko) points out that late Medieval and early modern music - like his own studious approach to synthesis - is often inherently mathematical. Both are as much musical expressions as deeply cerebral studies. In modular synthesis, theory guides the musician’s reading of the sequence of logical operations, knowing the system well enough to anticipate its sound simply by reading the matrix of algorithms at its heart. In the case of early music, polyphony was achieved by acute study of interrelationship between notes and intervals. In both cases, harmonic layers are acquired in theory before practice, almost always by a single composer working alone.

Heinali writes of the surprising joy of writing generative patches that bloom with their own unpredictable life: “after two years of working on the patch and then several months of recordings, I discovered in awe that some of the voices acquired a kind of subjectivity. They were now framed by their stories — sets of relations that had been established over several years of practice. There was, for example, a high bird voice that loved ostinato and sometimes, under certain circumstances, went into deep bass. The interaction of these voices, as a result, gave rise to some kind of narrative”.

In ‘Madrigals’, music moves gradually. It is a garden of many intricate textures; its flora abundant, its seeds sprouting with colour and surprise. Heinali’s astute references to Medieval music were informed in part by the advice of Julia Vash, formerly of the University of Music and Theatre ‘Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy’ Leipzig.

The ascent in opening track ‘Rondine’ feels physical, with high peaks and thin air. In ‘Beatrice’ (a piece beautifully elevated by Igor Zavgorodni’s brilliantly intuitive, poignant viola) a Millefleurs tapestry depicts pastoral bliss with a thunderstorm threatening to burst over the horizon. ‘Giardino’ is a tender, dusklit garden of diverging trails. Closer ‘Vita Nova’ lives up to its name, bursting with electric life.

Over almost twenty years of mercurial, unique experimental electronic music, Heinali has become a much sought-after creator of electroacoustic soundscapes. His 2017 and 2018 releases on Injazero Records garnered huge acclaim from press and radio worldwide, marking his arrival as a singular and significant voice in the experimental-electronic music landscape. He has also composed original music for video games, contemporary dance production and installation. His recorded works have also been released by Sony, The Flenser, Fluttery, NEN, Paradigms and other labels. His history of live performances includes appearances at venues and festivals such as the Zorlu Performing Arts Center in Istanbul; Plivka, Art Arsenal, and Mystetskyi Arsenal in Kyiv; Ukraine’s Next Sound festival and Museum of Modern Art of Odessa; and Berlin’s Akademie der Künste. 

releases November 13, 2020

Madrigals LP

Check out this sneak peek into the Bound soundtrack. 

iTunes - http://bit.ly/BoundOSTiTunes
Spotify - http://bit.ly/BoundOSTSpotify
Google Play - http://bit.ly/BoundOSTGoogle

Bound is a PlayStation 4 game about repairing a broken world through the beauty of dance. You can play it now at play.st/Bound.

Don't forget to follow us on on Twitter: 
Heinali - www.twitter.com/heinali. 
Plastic - www.twitter.com/Plasticdemo. 
Santa Monica Studio - www.twitter.com/SonySantaMonica
#BoundPS4

Bound OST (Preview)

Sleep Cloudlessly

Fade

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Kyiv Air Raid Alarm

"Heinali airs his ambient mood classics. Oleg Shpudeiko (the man behind Heinali) creates a gloomy atmospheric environment with the piano, strings, ambient / glitch structures. "Air" is his 6 song album.

Heinali from Kiev, Ukraine started composing music in 2003. His sound is generally eclectic, though often described as atmospheric and emotional. In 2009 he joined the Soloma art group and composed music for media art performances “Traces on the Snow”, premiered at “I Love Kiev” contemporary art festival (Kiev, Ukraine, 2009) and “Aero”, premiered at “Gogol Fest” contemporary art festival (Kiev, Ukraine, 2010). His music was featured in ‘Ni Ogros Ni Princesas’ Provizional Danza choreography directed by Carmen Werner (Madrid, Spain, 2011). Collaborated with Maria Navrotskaya, Pleq, Merzbow, Aiode, Anton Baibakov, Orchestra Eclettica e Sincretista, Matt Finney. Collaboration with American poet Matt Finney became a separate heavier and darker sounding project. In 2011 they wrote music for the opening of Olya Pischanskaya’s photo exhibition, which took place at Korobchinsky Art Centre (Odessa, Ukraine, 2011).

Heinali joined Fluttery Records family in 2012. "We signed international music project Draff Krimmy" says Taner Torun, the label owner. "Jan Hammer recommended us Jun Minowa and his projects Gargle and Yawning. Heinali was introduced to us by Jun Minowa. It seems that artist we work with are so happy that they are recommending us to their friends and our family is growing that way."

When we return to Heinali's latest "Air" we find cinematic sad music, strings moving around the central piano motifs which are minimalistic. Power of light touches, the ambience, the echo and the sense"

http://www.flutteryrecords.com/flttry039.html

Leaves

Scarf

http://heinali.bandcamp.com/album/useless-music

Useless Music I

Useless Music II

Swirling Lightly

Sun Patterns (For Toy Xylophone And Electronics)
Photo by Marina Osnach.

Sun Patterns (For Toy Xylophone And Electronics)

Photography by Sasha Naselenko: http://cargocollective.com/fo

Sank

Part of the original soundtrack for A Thread choreography by Jean Abreu Dance. 
 
Viola by Benjamin Kaminski.
Recorded at Woodworm Studios and HHS.
Mastered by Lawrence English @158

Lament (A Thread OST)

Part of the original soundtrack for A Thread choreography by Jean Abreu Dance. 

Viola by Benjamin Kaminski.
Theorbo by Andrew Maginley.
Recorded at Woodworm Studios and HHS.
Mastered by Lawrence English @158

Drift (A Thread OST)

Listen to this excerpt of 'Escape' from the Bound soundtrack. 

iTunes - http://bit.ly/BoundOSTiTunes
Spotify - http://bit.ly/BoundOSTSpotify
Google Play - http://bit.ly/BoundOSTGoogle

Bound is a PlayStation 4 game about repairing a broken world through the beauty of dance. You can play it now at http://play.st/Bound.  

Don't forget to follow us on on Twitter: 
Heinali - https://www.twitter.com/heinali. 
Plastic - https://www.twitter.com/Plasticdemo.  
Santa Monica Studio - https://www.twitter.com/SonySantaMonica
#BoundPS4

Bound

Bound OST - Escape (Preview)

Listen and download 'Green' from the Bound soundtrack! 

iTunes - http://bit.ly/BoundOSTiTunes
Spotify - http://bit.ly/BoundOSTSpotify
Google Play - http://bit.ly/BoundOSTGoogle

Bound is a PlayStation 4 game about repairing a broken world through the beauty of dance. You can play it now at http://play.st/Bound.

Don't forget to follow us on on Twitter: 
Heinali - http://www.twitter.com/heinali. 
Plastic - http://www.twitter.com/Plasticdemo. 
Santa Monica Studio - http://www.twitter.com/SonySantaMonica
#BoundPS4

Bound OST - Green (Full Track/Download)

Listen to this excerpt of 'Happy Days' from the Bound soundtrack. 

iTunes - http://bit.ly/BoundOSTiTunes
Spotify - http://bit.ly/BoundOSTSpotify
Google Play - http://bit.ly/BoundOSTGoogle

Bound is a PlayStation 4 game about repairing a broken world through the beauty of dance. You can play it now at play.st/Bound.

Don't forget to follow us on on Twitter: 
Heinali - www.twitter.com/heinali. 
Plastic - www.twitter.com/Plasticdemo. 
Santa Monica Studio - www.twitter.com/SonySantaMonica
#BoundPS4

Bound OST - Happy Days (Preview)

Listen to this excerpt of 'Last Step' from the Bound soundtrack. 

iTunes - http://bit.ly/BoundOSTiTunes
Spotify - http://bit.ly/BoundOSTSpotify
Google Play - http://bit.ly/BoundOSTGoogle

Bound is a PlayStation 4 game about repairing a broken world through the beauty of dance. You can play it now at play.st/Bound.

Don't forget to follow us on on Twitter: 
Heinali - www.twitter.com/heinali. 
Plastic - www.twitter.com/Plasticdemo. 
Santa Monica Studio - www.twitter.com/SonySantaMonica
#BoundPS4

Bound OST - Last Step (Preview)

Useless Music III

Seagull

http://heinali.bandcamp.com/album/sway-sway

Sway, Sway

http://heinali.bandcamp.com/track/little-by-little

Little by Little

http://www.flutteryrecords.com/flttry039.html

October

Haiku is a naïve song cycle composed in 2010 that consists of four compositions for synthesized voice and artificial instrumentation, each based on an original haiku by Matsuo Bashō. These are restored/remastered versions. It's a quiet music and should be listened that way.

Haiku IV

Haiku III

Haiku II

Haiku I

Music: Oleg Shpudeiko (Heinali).
Vocal & Lyrics: Sofia Shvager (Sophistication).
Mastering by Mark Dobson at CODA Mastering.

Constellations (feat. sophistication.)

http://heinali.bandcamp.com/track/the-sun-will-rise-yet-we-wont-be-here

The Sun Will Rise Yet We Won't Be Here

For Ataraxia short film by Guillermo Vejar.

Festival de Cine de Oro Negro 2018, Veracruz – Winner best Short Film of Veracruz.

Trailer: https://vimeo.com/283199384
http://gatunofilms.com

Ataraxia OST (2015)

From Iridescent LP:
https://heinali.bandcamp.com/album/iridescent

Iridescent

Enfold

Ukrainian duo Heinali (aka Kyiv-based composer / sound-artist Oleg Shpudeiko) and pioneering experimental jazz saxophonist Michael Balog combine for a special one-off EP of improvised melody and exploratory sonics.

Brimming with the characteristic confidence of two acutely skilled musicians, A Mechanical Bird in an Electric Garden represents a meeting of two disparate approaches and a departure from Shpudeiko and Balog’s usual work. The record reveals Heinali’s love for generative polyphony and polyrhythms, his strange sci-fi sonics creating a spacious, futurist architecture that houses Michael Balog’s (relatively) recogniseable sounding - a snaking melodic binding that wraps through the machinery like coloured ribbon.

"The name A Mechanical Bird in an Electric Garden reflects the nature of our interaction,” Heinali tells us. “Machine based generative polyrhythms and generative polyphony vs human improvisation. The name came from my own mythology that kind of developed on its own during the past year. I started to refer to my music as "electric gardens of polyphony". Partly because gardens are usually inhabited by many independent voices of various birds that usually sound at the same time. And polyphonic compositions of pre-Baroque era are very similar to gardens: they have a very stable horizontal quality that is not so much about expression as it is about exploration of certain states (similar to some of the contemporary music practices like drone that deal with musical sculptures instead of musical compositions). Partly because of Brian Eno's idea of composer as a gardener. And the mechanical bird is, of course, Michael's saxophone.”

Over almost twenty years of beautiful, mercurial, creative expression, Heinali has become a much sought-after creator of electroacoustic soundscapes. His 2017 and 2018 releases on London / Istanbul electronic label Injazero Records garnered huge acclaim from press and radio worldwide, marking his arrival as a singular and significant voice in the experimental-electronic music landscape. He has also composed original music for video games, contemporary dance production and installation. His recorded works have been released on Injazero, Sony Interactive Entertainment, The Flenser, Fluttery, NEN, Paradigms and other labels. His history of live performances includes appearances at venues and festivals such as the Zorlu Performing Arts Center in Istanbul; Plivka, Art Arsenal, and Mystetskyi Arsenal in Kyiv; Ukraine’s Next Sound festival and Museum of Modern Art of Odessa; and Berlin’s Akademie der Künste.

Michael Balog is Ukrainian jazz saxophonist and musician. He is an author of educational methods and the founder of Lviv’s Vedel School of Contemporary Music. Domestically celebrated for his multidisciplinary art projects, Balog is an ongoing experimenter, connecting spiritual chorals, improvisational music, theatre and film works, jazz and electronic music.

A Mechanical Bird in an Electric Garden

Nocturnal Song

Diurnal Song

Brave Little Heart

Premiered by self-titled: https://www.self-titledmag.com/heinali-new-album-madrigals/

Credits:
Igor Zavgorodnii: baroque viola, violin.
Oleg Shpudeiko: modular synthesizer, mixing.
Recorded by Vadyk Lazariev at LipkyZvukoZapys in Kyiv (December 2019)
Mastered by Taylor Deupree at 12k Mastering.
Cover art by Nastia Lopatiuk.

‘Madrigals’ is the result of a two-year-long exploration into generative counterpoint in modular synthesis. Inspired by Heinali’s love of the polyphonic compositional style of the late Middle Ages and Renaissance, the album employs historical acoustic instruments such as the theorbo lute and the baroque alto viola alongside Heinali’s mastery of notoriously complex generative synth systems.

Heinali - Beatrice

London-based Injazero imprint seems to be backing some top-quality music from their ever-growing roster of global talent these days [cough!], with the Ukrainian composer Oleg Shpudeiko returning with this third solo album to the label as Heinali. After a handful of self-released records, a few on a boutique Paradigms, just as many on Fluttery Records, and a couple of collaborations, Shpudeiko finds himself back in the studio, studying medieval polyphony expressed through the programmed synthesis of his modular gear. Historical acoustic instruments, such as the theorbo lute and the alto viola, also appear on this echo of renaissance music. But the baroque focus on mathematical progression through harmony and counterpoint is best heard on this complex, lengthy, final track of the album, titled “Vita Nova.” The composition features generative synthesis, which is, albeit driven by some chance and random voltage, is still very much controlled, with the parameters being set by its programmer to grow, evolve, and to surprise the listener as much as the composer. In this pre-defined system of the four Madrigals [a madrigal is a secular music composition using human voices for its polyphony], Shpudeiko pushes the ever-changing parameters of the synth voices to shift in timbre, tempo, and depth of frequency range.

Madrigals

Vita Nova

TRACK PREMIERE : Heinali - Vita Nova

Ave Moog

Oleh Shpudeiko is a music composer and sound artist who records as Heinali and writes music for games, films, performances, creates sound art installations and performs live shows. Amongst his works is music for an award-winning video game Bound by Plastic/Sony Santa Monica, SynthTap performance that fuses tap dance and modular synthesis and sound art installations (together with Alexey Shmurak) in collections of The National Art Museum of Ukraine and The Museum of Modern Art of Odessa. Heinali's recorded works have been released on Injazero, Sony Interactive Entertainment, The Flenser, Fluttery, NEN and other labels. Heinali’s 2020 album Madrigals pairs generative polyphony on a modular synthesizer with improvisations on Early Music instruments. It has been spotlighted by The Guardian as the contemporary album of the month. He has a long history of live performances, including appearances at venues and festivals such as the Zorlu Performing Arts Center in Istanbul; Plivka, Mystetskyi Arsenal in Kyiv; Ukraine’s Next Sound festival and Berlin’s Akademie der Künste.

heinali

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