130701, the alternative “post-classical,” acoustic sub label of FatCat Records, was releasing unique, ambitious, uncategorizable albums before it became a cottage enterprise, featuring the likes of Max Richter’s The Blue Notebooks, Hauschka’s Ferndorf, and Set Fire To Flames’ Sings Reign Rebuilder across an 11-year span. The label ceased operating in 2012, its seemingly final release a white label/CD-R compilation of live recordings and new works from Dustin O’Halloran, Hauschka, and Jóhann Jóhannsson, three of its longest-serving artists.
Those of you on the lookout for academic-leaning, experimental music with a commitment to beauty should be made aware of the label’s relaunch ahead of its 15th anniversary next year.
Moscow-based composer and multi-instrumentalist Dmitry Evgrafov is the first of many new signings to the label. His forthcoming album, Collage, is scheduled for an October 13 release and will be the first new 130701 release in three years. You can listen to a premiere of the track “Fracture,” taken from the album, below.
Collage also represents a new phase for its composer. A self-taught pianist and improviser who played with Nils Frahm while still in his teens, Evgrafov put out a couple albums on his Bandcamp page after failing to find any real label support. His work from this period brings to mind the wistful, piano-led imagism of Frahm, Goldmund, and Broderick. By contrast, Collage sounds like Max Richter scoring Fantasia — it’s that much richer than his earlier stuff, with greater textural variation, bolder dynamics, and an emotional ambiguity that thrives when the performing restrictions are off and the VST plugins are on.
130701 will follow that up in November with an album from London-based French composer Emilie Levienaise-Farrouch. According to a spokesperson for the label, “the 15th anniversary celebrations planned for 2016 will be marked by further new signings/releases, reissues and live activity involving many of the labels historical roster.”
• Dmitry Evgrafov: https://dmitry-evgrafov.bandcamp.com
• FatCat: http://www.fat-cat.co.uk
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