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Quinta has recently released her third solo album, Aeolian Mixtape (Nonclassical, 2022) available here.
"Quinta has such a fantastic feel for orchestral colour and the range of emotions that can be captured in music for strings." BBC Unclassified - Elizabeth Alker
"Quinta's sonic world is elegant, exquisite, intense....Chloris and Meltemia are like refined murals, Seirin like a magical ritual, Horologion nocturnal and restless" Rockerilla
Quinta wrote for Florilegio about losing the path and finding it again during her harp-making adventures in Greece.
Meltemia, Dasos and Chloris were performed as part of the greenhouse effect shows in the Barbican Centre's Conservatory by Thanos Polymeneas Liontiris, Laura Moody, Emma Smith and Linda Jankowska in spring 2023.
The enigmatic resonance of the harps dominates the album. From scream through warm chromatic undulation to whisper, their song represents a collaboration with elemental natural forces. As Quinta states, “I understood early on that I couldn’t compel the harps to sing. The limits imposed by these instruments I couldn’t make play by touching obliged me to be creative in an entirely different way- and this felt political”. The resulting compositions, whether acoustic or electronic, seem organically generated and unforced by human hands. Since Quinta recorded the harps on the edge of Mount Parnitha on the outskirts of Athens too, alongside the enigmatic harp song, a canvas of field recording underpins the music- nearby birds, barking dogs, creaking trees. And yes, a bee flying into a harp string in the record’s closing moments.
For more about the making, visit here.
Quinta designed and hand-built the Aeolian harps on Aeolian Mixtape in Greece with the support of the PRSF Composer Fund. The sound of the Aeolian harp is ethereal and distinctive, characterised by the rising and falling of harmonic frequencies swept into life by the wind. The sonority varies according to the strength and character of the wind and the various materials used to make each harp, including string type and length. The action of the wind across the string creates periodic vortices along the string, causing it to vibrate and create its very distinctive sound.
Praise for The Quick of the Heart (Peeler, 2017):
“An utterly beautiful and magical album…full of gems from start to finish” Cast the Dice
“The kind of album that’ll stop you in your tracks...an altogether otherworldly encounter” [sic] Magazine
“An album of gentle brilliance, poignancy, haunting melodies and infectious hooks” Was Ist Das
“So strikingly alien, yet brimming with such passion and humanity” Fresh on the Net
“Complex, luxurious, majestic, enchanting.“ Ondarock
The single track, Blood, dedicated to Quinta’s sister, mother, and aunt, was a recent ‘Headphones Moment’ on Lauren Laverne’s Morning Show and featured on Lauren's BBC Radio 6Music Recommends playlist.
The single track Astragal (the Most Wonderful) featured on BBC 6Music Tom Robinson’s evening show as a Fresh On The Net “absolute highlight”.
Praise for My Sister, Boudicca (Tartaruga, 2009):
“Wistful, sparse, and transportive; this record sparkles with a sense of play, of wilful originality and effortless grace.” Danny Wadeson, The 405.
“As the album comes to a close, you get the idea you’ve just been to the most peculiar recital you’re ever likely to experience. Quinta comes from a different place, and a different age. There aren’t enough albums these days that are genuinely fascinating. This one is. Cherish it.” Sam Shepherd, The Line of Best Fit.
“This is probably the strangest, most beguiling record I’ve heard in a long time. It’s hard to describe as it is so singular that comparisons are difficult and almost unhelpful. As a work of art it is wonderful: strange, beautiful and irresistibly unique.” Nick Lewis, God is in the TV.
