{"product_id":"thelma-capello-midnight","title":"Thelma Capello - Midnight","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eThelma Capello\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003eMidnight\u003cbr\u003eFondation Petya Sasser Rike\u003cbr\u003eFrance, 2025\u003cbr\u003eLP\u003cbr\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"UTF-8\"\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e--\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp class=\"MsoNormal\"\u003e\u003cmeta charset=\"UTF-8\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eReview by mb jones:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOpera... hmmm... I like it I guess, but wouldn't say I'm a fanatic. I've been to some opera performances, notably Vivaldi at the opera house in Amsterdam and 'The Book of Mormon' at the Houston Opera. It's all breathtaking, but let's be honest, in 2026 the art form is stuffy, has centuries of historical baggage, and it's basically just class warfare at the highest artistic level.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAs an opera 'Midnight' seeks a completely different relationship with the audience.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eInstead of a grand vision in an giant opera hall, or even the small venue of a chamber opera, this record is an intimate experience for the individual. Imagine yourself in complete darkness as fairies fly and buzz past your ears singing and exchanging information particles in a secret language.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis album has a fragmented narrative and is told in two parts with Rashomonic effect.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe first piece 'Midnight' is made up of the first 6 tracks and is the performance of a secret fairy opera (which it actually sounds like). The second part 'City Piece' is a 7 minute track presented as a field recording of a woman walking through the streets of Paris to attend the performance of the fairy opera 'Midnight.'\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe 'Midnight' section is comprised of a musical language that is not human. 'Lady Bug Choir' is the track that split my head, at times so bizarre that I was convinced I was eavesdropping onto the micro conversations of some faraway extraterrestrial species.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor me, the track 'Cobweb' defines the aesthetic of the entire album with the vocals blurring the line between private intimacy and the passionate operatic shrills of a stage performance.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e'City Piece' is the only human drama on the album. It is a field recording of a woman attending the fairy opera 'Midnight.' It follows the sounds of well heeled foot steps running, opening doors, and climbing steps with no evident logic except an urgency in destination. I eventually became impatient with all the walking and traffic and started to feel some anxiety that I might be late for whatever I was traveling to. Yet, the final payoff is worth the commute when the narrator steps out to address the audience directly in a hypnotizingly natural voice that makes me realize I've arrived.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eMinimal tools were used to achieve these effects: a microphone, computer, and her own natural voice technology. The voices are divine and the album's entire sound world is made with Cappello's vocals with the exception of the field recordings. Her vocal loops are chopped and layered into eternity, gorgeous bird songs oscillating in and out of phase then splitting between the L and R channels. It is a supernatural feeling and not something that could ever be recreated in human form outside of this specific fairy world.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eNow I can understand why audiences might be attracted to opera: it is pure escapism.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFor 32 minutes I was far away from the problems of planet Earth.... I was flying in an alternate dimension while trying to communicate with fairies. Why not? I feel like this album is just the opening scene for a drama that is still evolving and hasn't resolved itself yet. I hope Cappello continues to expand this vision.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003ciframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;\" src=\"https:\/\/bandcamp.com\/EmbeddedPlayer\/album=2715872161\/size=large\/bgcol=ffffff\/linkcol=0687f5\/tracklist=false\/artwork=small\/transparent=true\/\" seamless\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/petya-sasser-rike.bandcamp.com\/album\/midnight\"\u003eMidnight by Thelma Cappello\u003c\/a\u003e\u003c\/iframe\u003e","brand":"Seasonal Work","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43920264659078,"sku":null,"price":32.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0600\/3874\/2150\/files\/Thelma_Capello_-_Midnight.jpg?v=1776541517","url":"https:\/\/seasonalworkrecords.com\/products\/thelma-capello-midnight","provider":"Seasonal Work","version":"1.0","type":"link"}