Transmute, 2021 (visual EP)

Transmute is a set of storytelling experiences combining “deconstructed” classical music with electronic elements, field recordings, and film. On Transmute, Olstad re-arranges Ravel, Griffes, and Fauré to paint a snapshot of NYC during the first months of the pandemic.

This tableau follows a narrative of NYC in this period, a year defined by unprecedented events including rampant unemployment and at one point, the highest death count of COVID-19 in the world. Many New Yorkers retreated en masse—some journeyed upstate, relocating to their second and even third homes, some moved back home to be with their families, or left the city altogether looking for new beginnings. It was an odd time when the daily, bustling activities that encapsulated everyday life in the city vanished, and the energy of NYC shifted profoundly.  

The pieces, sourced from Impressionist composers, pay homage to the classical arts by reimagining motivic and thematic material and reworking them into modern, simple, minimalist compositions. Cyclical structures go through an exploration of development, and the beginnings of some songs are stitched together at the end of others, further blurring the lines of the music’s interpretation in new forms and structures.

Listen HERE

Credits:

Produced, Arranged, and Performed by: Angelica Olstad

Engineering, Mixing & Mastering: Dan Pierson at Virtue and Vice Studios + Piersonsounds Studio

Artwork & Creative Direction: Lee Van Put

Photography: Angelica Olstad (cover)