Victoire: Cathedral City

"In the years since she left the Yale School of Music, composer Missy Mazzoli has made herself integral to New York’s close-knit new-music community and earned an ardent following. … And so it seems like I’ve been waiting forever for her to put out Cathedral City (New Amsterdam), the first long-player from the band she calls Victoire (ever since the Sony Corporation complained about their old name, 'Victrola') — even though it’s only been two years since the group was founded. … The scratchy recording of a firm, authoritarian (male) voice counts off, scrambled up in the background while Victoire plays Steve Reich-style rhythms with Mazzoli’s own smudgy harmonies; the nostalgic keening of the clarinet vies with the gloss of a once-futuristic synth patch. It’s in the creation of these moments that Victoire is most successful, when Mazzoli juxtaposes rock gestures or other found signifiers, and surprises us with deep, real feelings" (Daniel Stephen Johnson, "Unpop!," New Haven Advocate, 9/30/10).

View catalog record here!