Giverny

new album

Composed & Performed by Julian Loida

Producer, Mixing Engineer & Recording Engineer: Charles van Kirk
Recording Engineer: Peter Atkinson
Mastering Engineer: Kevin Reeves
Album Design: Jenny Bergman

Out via Gratitude Sounds

Boston-based percussionist, composer, educator, and producer Julian Loida unveils his new full-length album Giverny. Loida’s range of sound and genre exploration is largely a product of his synesthesia - music is a literal full-body experience for him, with sounds often invoking involuntary sensations of color, texture, or even taste. For Julian Loida, music is a visual art.

With Giverny, Loida has created an 11-song feast for the senses. In “December Dreams,” inspired by Danny Elfman’s score in the “Ice Dance” scene in Edward Scissorhands, he juxtaposes the dark chill of winter with the feeling of newfound joy. Tracks like “Sphere” and “Collide” explore the vastness of space, the elegant bodies suspended in the atmosphere, and the way objects move at the speed of light but appear fixed in place from the earth below. “Beautiful Way” is a celebration of movement - light reflecting off of glass, the sun rising in the morning, or running your fingers through your partner’s hair. The delicate push and pull of “Waves” evokes the feeling of water on the skin.

“Giverny is the small town outside of Paris where Claude Monet lived, worked, and changed the world through his paintings,” Loida explains. “The light in this town is soft and warm, where ‘golden hour’ is all day, serene. I visited twice in the spring and fall and when this music came to me, the sound and feeling of this piece reminded me of Giverny, the light, the feeling of walking through this artist's gardens and grounds.”

Julian Loida: piano, vibraphone, percussion, vocals, keyboards
Charles Van Kirk: keyboards, vocals, percussion
Violin, Viola, string arrangements: Christopher Marion
Electric Bass Guitar: Ebinho Cardoso
Flute: Sheila del Bosque
Saxophone: David Lee Crowell
Background Vocals: Olivia Barton & Corinne Savage

My Gentle Harp

Mini-Documentary

"Growing in St. Louis in an Irish-Catholic Church with his Irish grandmother, he never thought twice about celebrating his Irish heritage, but it wasn't until his grandma Bridget passed away that he realized the impact she had left on him. Julian's new mini-documentary made in Boston, brings together his vibraphone and poetic storytelling with dancer Kieran Jordan that culminates into a vulnerable glimpse into his life, his grandmother's journey, and their relationship."
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Director, Producer, Writer: Julian Loida
Dancer, Choreographer: Kieran Jordan
Filmmaker: Louise Bichan
Sound Editor: Charlie van Kirk
Recording Engineer: Dan Cardinal

Featured on High Plains Public Radio:

WALLFLOWER

Composed & Performed by Julian Loida

Producer: Maeve Gilchrist
Sound Design & Mixing Engineer: Charles van Kirk
Recording Engineer & Videographer: Warren Amerman
Mastering Engineer: John Baker
Album Design: Mariel Vandersteel
Video Editor: Chris McDonald

Sponsored by Nine Athens Music

WALLFLOWER is an arrival.  After ten years of backing singers, rock bands, latin and jazz big-bands, orchestras, and New Music ensembles, WALLFLOWER is my percussion, performer, and composer debut of all original music for the vibraphone.  Though many drummers are type-casted as rambunctious animals, I approach percussion and music with intense sensitivity and subtlety.  With my hyper sensory awareness due to my synesthesia (the blending of the senses), I create and manipulate blankets of sound that surround the listener with both color and texture that excites the senses yet and calms the mind.

I entitled my album WALLFLOWER because I am one.  Though an awarded entrepreneur, I struggle with the need to be loud and boisterous, not just with my craft, but my personality, while inwardly I feel rather recluse and shy.  Music has been my haven since beginning as a lost teenager. Only after becoming obsessed with my grandfather’s record collection did I become enthralled simultaneously with the music of J.S. Bach and Philip Glass.  These musics gave me a soundscape and dreamspace to let my mind wander with no judgement. The colors, shapes, and forms swirled in my mind lighting up my closed eyes. Glenn Gould and Philip Glass shifted my trajectory from being a rock drummer to an esteemed classical percussionist.

Bach Live!

Conservatory trained percussionist and composer Julian Loida shares his best recordings of J.S. Bach’s music that he has recorded over the past decade.  Now beautifully mastered by John Baker, Julian Loida is releasing his select movements including: the E Major Partita; the entire G minor Sonata; the legendary Bach Chaconne arranged for the vibraphone; and a special arrangement utilizing Afro-Cuban percussion seamlessly interwoven with a batá bateria and conga drums.  When learning to play keyboard percussion in 2008, the first music he learned was the music of J.S. Bach for solo violin. Bach’s music quickly became an obsession.

Released by © 2018 Loida Studios
Mastering Engineer: John Baker
Artwork: Mariel Vandersteel

Recording & Mixing Engineers: Ian Miller tracks 1-3, Tim Perry track 4, Evan Chapman tracks 5-8.
Track 8 features Kristin Olson on itótele, Tommy Rorabeck on okónkolo, Andrew McAfee maraca, and Julian Loida on marimba, iyá, and conga drums.

All tracks recorded live & mastered between 2008 to 2018.