This June, Latency returned to the gardens of Villa Medici — also known as The French Academy in Rome — with a new series of commissioned soundscapes.

1. Duval Timothy - Go Without
2. Angel Bat Dawid - The Black Queen of Italy Strolls Through Her Garden
3. Mabe Fratti - Jardin de los Espirales
4. Kalia Vandever - Undulating Grace
5. CS + Kreme - Petal

Duval Timothy is a pianist, composer, and music producer who splits his time between London, UK, and Freetown, Sierra Leone. Besides music, his creative pursuits include painting, photography, sculpture, design, food, and textiles. His solo piano pieces lie at the intersection of contemporary minimalism and jazz. Timothy has collaborated with notable artists such as Kendrick Lamar, Solange, Vegyn, and the London Contemporary Orchestra.

Angel Bat Dawid is a multi-instrumentalist, composer, and educator based in Chicago. A key figure in the city’s jazz scene and a significant voice against racial discrimination, she has worked with artists like Marshall Allen and Makaya McCraven. Drawing inspiration from the poetry of Margaret Burroughs, the music of Yusef Lateef, and even Mozart, her work spans genres including free jazz, gospel, avant-garde, and hip-hop.

Mabe Fratti is a cellist and composer from Guatemala, now residing in Mexico. Influenced by contemporary classical composer Gyorgy Ligeti and cellist Jacqueline du Pré, her diverse musical journey includes collaborations across progressive metal, krautrock, dream pop, and jazz. Fratti uses cello, voice, and synthesizers to create sound installations, compositions, and free improvisations.

Kalia Vandever is a Grammy Award-winning trombonist and composer based in Brooklyn. Recognised as one of the prominent new voices in jazz, her distinctive approach to the trombone is characterised by a sonorous tone and lyrical improvisational style. Vandever is also known for her work as a side-woman, performing with artists such as Joel Ross, Immanuel Wilkins, Lizzo, and Moses Sumney.

CS & Kreme is a musical duo consisting of Conrad Standish and Sam Karmel, based in Melbourne. Their music transcends style and space, blending heavy dub processing, sweeping post-punk, and chamber music soundscapes into what they describe as ​“horizontal music.” Both seasoned musicians, Standish and Karmel have a rich history of collaborations in successful experimental groups such as F ingers and Bum Creek.

COMPOSER
Duval Timothy
Angel Bat Dawid
Mabe Fratti
Kalia Vandever
Conrad Standish
Sam Karmel

FORMAT
Digital + Streaming

DISTRIBUTION
Honest Jon’s

SOUND
Silas Bieri, Dennis Tousana

COVER ART
Kate Spencer Stewart

CS + Kreme - Petal

Kalia Vandever - Undulating Grace

Mabe Fratti - Jardin de los Espirales

Angel Bat Dawid - The Black Queen of Italy Strolls Through Her Garden

Duval Timothy - Go Without

Latency present És pregunta, the second album from Catalan vocal duo Tarta Relena.

Founded by Helena Ros Redon and Marta Torrella i Martínez, Tarta Relena explores the rich vocal traditions of the Mediterranean, singing in languages such as Classical Greek, Italian, Spanish, Latin, Catalan, Ladino, and more. Their music blends sacred and secular influences, drawing inspirationfrom flamenco, lyrical song, traditional music, and electronic experimentation.

És pregunta dives into themes of tragic contemplation, portraying the tension between natural andhuman forces grappling with mysterious and inevitable consequences. The album is a conceptual journey through fate, knowledge, and the struggle to reconcile our future selves with present realities. Influenced by Mediterranean folk, Georgian laments, and the mystic works of 12th-century visionary Hildegard von Bingen, Tarta Relena crafts a vibrant sonic world where the past and future converge.

Renowned for their captivating live performances, Tarta Relena has enchanted audiences at festivals like Sónar, Le Guess Who?, Mutek, Big Ears, and Primavera Sound. Their stage presence isenriched by subtle electronics and rhythmic patterns played on a ceramic amphora, creating a unique
texture to their vocal artistry. Collaborations with artists such as Marina Herlop and Maria Arnal i Marcel Bagés have further pushed the duo to explore new dimensions of contemporary folk music. For Tarta Relena, folk is a living tradition – deeply rooted in the past but always evolving. Tarta Relena will debut És pregunta live at Unsound on October 2, 2024.

« Time and distance collapse in the music of Tarta Relena. With little more than their two voices, Helena Ros and Marta Torrella connect the far corners of the Mediterranean, drawing on traditions stretching back more than a thousand years. This is music of primal essence and unnameable longing, full of frequencies that seem to tap an ancient ache in one’s bones.» – Pitchfork

NPR Tiny Desk live video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lwoczostI0

Credits:

Written and composed by Helena Ros Redon & Marta Torrella i Martínez.
Recorded by Juan Luis Batalla Aparicio at Etopia, Zaragoza, and Vallirana’s garage
Produced by Tarta Relena, with assistance from Juan Luis Batalla Aparicio and Borja Ruiz Esteban
Guitar on Mano décima: Juan Luis Batalla Aparicio
Mix: Borja Ruiz Esteban
Mastering: Silas Bieri
Cover art: Katharina Schilling
Creative Direction: Souleymane Said & Sidney Gerard
Distribution: Honest Jon’s
Latency © 2024 | www.latency.fr | @__latency

Tarta Relena - Si veriash a la rana (Latency 029)

Independent record label and curatorial platform. 
Established 2013 in Paris.

Listen to the entire Latency catalogue via https://www.latency.fr

Latency

Popular tracks