Theodore Wild Ride started from the collaboration between French keyboardists Christine Ott (regular collaborator of Yann Tiersen, Tindersticks, Oiseaux-Tempête…), Mathieu Gabry (Snowdrops) with oud player Ophir Levy. Theodore Wild Ride celebrates musical freedom and redefines the relationship between space and time with a special, unexpected orchestration.
Watch the official album teaser throguh the Vimeao player below:
Their first joint album is released on Icarus Records (BOW…), in collaboration with Consouling Sounds (Jozef van Wissem…). The album unfolds like a magical film, which can be set in the vast American landscapes of bygone days as well as in post-apocalyptic future.
From the naïve melody of «Little House» to the post-classical tango of «Paoha», from the ambient of «Squirrel Creek» to the Progressive Instrumental «Zeppelins», the trio blends both Eastern and Western musical codes and references in a strong coherence. And sometimes from another world. The amplified strings respond to the felt-treated piano, the microtones of the Ondes Martenot mingle with the quarter tones of the oud, to the point of challenging the cracked electronics of a detuned mellotron in a final explosion.
A record like a solo expedition, a journey that the listener experiences accompanied by this trio of unusual chamber music, sometimes nostalgic, sometimes dark and vulnerable, but always questioning our place facing natural forces, the wild world, and the cruelty of ourselves.
The artwork is by visual artist Jeroen De Wandel. After listening to the album and without knowing any background, he created the artwork with a manipulated photo, photographed in the American Yosemite Parc in 2018 with a broken 1935 Kodak Retina… which turned out to be a perfect fit for the backstory of this album, where time and space are not fixed concepts.
Tracklist:
1. Little House (4:16)
2. Squirrel Creek (4:57)
3. Paoha (6:25) *
4. Appalaches (6:24)
5. Clearwater (5:12)
6. Zeppelins (7:14)
* First Single / Video Clip to be released early september
CREDITS
All music composed by Theodore Wild Ride :
Christine Ott / Ondes Martenot, Piano, Mellotron & Effects
Mathieu Gabry / Piano, Mellotron, Keyboards, Effects
Ophir Levy / Oud
Recorded at the Wurth Museum Auditorium, Erstein (fr) in July 2019
Mixed by Benoit Burger & Mathieu Gabry in April 2020
Mastered by Lawrence English in April 2021
Artwork and Layout by Jeroen De Wandel
Icarus Records, 2021, in collaboration with Consouling Sounds
Pre-Orders are apen through Bandcamp: https://icarusrecords.bandcamp.com/album/theodore-wild-ride