Yolk Records

Sylvaine Hélary is a rare bird, having played with the “Surnatural Orchestra”, the French singer Dominique A, Steve Coleman, the French Orchestre National de Jazz (which she will take over as director in 2025) and her fellow musician Sarah Murcia, with whom she co-leads the quintet La tête de Lark.

After several albums with small groups, Sylvaine Hélary is back with her brand-new Orchestre Incandescent, bringing together nine artists working on the frontiers of jazz, pop, baroque and electronic music. The result is a singular orchestral sound that fuses delicacy and power, timbre and bewitching rhythms.

RARE BIRDS unfurls a subtle range of poetics, a palette of sensitive expression with many surprises. Synthetic meets organic, instrumentation travels through the centuries and viola da gamba meets synthesizer, music and lyrics flow from the same clear, fresh source.

Sylvaine Hélary's musical setting of Emily Dickinson words, the intense atmosphere of The Abandoned Village a poem by P.J. Harvey, from whom she has already covered verses on a previous album, and the rich, plural universe presented by the flutist and composer, are all evidence of charisma and sisterhood.



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This album was produced with the support of Adami and MMC Maison de la Musique Contemporaine

1. There is a solitude of space 8:12
2. We do not play on Graves 10:28
3. The Road was lit with Moon and star 10:31
4. Ténèbres 3:00
5. The largest Fire ever known 9:09
6. To make a prairie 5:55
7. The Abandoned Village 10:18
8. There is no Silence in the Earth 8:19

All compositions by Sylvaine Hélary
Except #5 by Guillaume Magne and Antonin Rayon
All poems by Emily Dickinson
Except #7 by Polly Jean Harvey
Alexis Persigan appears on trombone track #5

Recorded April-May 2024 at Studio Ouanne by Anaëlle Marsollier and Antonin Rayon
Mixed and mastered by Antonin Rayon
with precious advice of Guillaume Magne
Graphic design by Jean Depagne
Booklet photos by Caroline Ruffault
Live photo by Maxim François
Produced by Association Sybille and Yolk Records
Warm thanks to Le Théâtre de Vanves, Le Petit Faucheux, Les 2 Scènes, Valérie and Véronique, Dominique Chrétien and Catherine Gélineau, Céline L’Hostis and Christel Deslis

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