Mercury KX is proud to announce the signing of electronic artist and harpist Lara Somogyi and the release her debut album, entitled ‘!’ (pronounced “Exclamation”).

With ‘!’, Somogyi builds a new creative sound world – an atmosphere – based around the harp, its expressive capabilities and electronics. It is the result of a decade’s long dive into sonic exploration, which pushes the harp to its furthest potential. Here, we are introduced to a whole world of sound from a single instrument.

The LA-based musician and composer explains, “Every single sound you hear on the album comes directly from the harp. I wanted to express everything this instrument can do.”

Recorded in Somogyi’s home studio in Los Angeles, alongside producer Cyrus Reynolds, who co-composed the album, the results are electrifying. It is about shifting people’s perspective of the harp, changing the worlds that it operates within, and bringing in electronic sounds with an array of guitar pedals and loops.

For Lara, the release of ‘!’ revolves around further hyper-creative deviations from traditional harp techniques. Somogyi put blu-tack onto the strings. She used a bow. In one instance, a milk frother is used. There are deep layers of texture throughout, manipulating the harp into new frontiers. ‘!’ is like a journey. Moving from trance-like strings on album opener ‘ªåcceptances’, through to glitched-out patterns on a later track like ‘aviary’, ‘!’ bridges the gap between the electronic and classical worlds with ease and brings many of the senses into play.

Lara Somogyi’s ‘!’ is out now on Mercury KX.

—From MercuryKX [Read More]