Soundwalk Collective typically brings together international musicians Stephan Crasneanscki, Simone Merli and Kamran Sadeghi, though the trio have enlisted a particularly impressive guest for their latest project.
The group will release a new album called Killer Road on September 2 via Sacred Bones. Created as a tribute to the life and tragic death of the Velvet Underground's famous collaborator Nico (born Christa Päffgen), the album features none other than Patti Smith and her daughter Jesse Paris Smith.
Going under the name Soundwalk Collective & Jesse Paris Smith feat. Patti Smith, the collaboration began with a chance meeting on a plane between Crasneanscki and Smith, which then blossomed into an immersive exploration of Nico's work. The album features Patti Smith reciting pieces of Nico's poetry that has remained unreleased until now.
Soundwalk Collective and Smith's daughter contribute "haunting" sonic backdrops behind the words, at times even using a harmonium that Nico once owned. Patti Smith actually bought the instrument from Nico in 1978.
It's accompanied by other electronic noises that conjure up sounds reminiscent of everything from honeybees to ocean waves to crickets in an attempt to recreate the sonic shifts Nico would have experienced in the hours before she died — after suffering a heart attack while cycling in Ibiza in 1988.
"That captivated me," Patti Smith said in a statement, "the idea of merging her language with what was perhaps the last sound she might have heard besides her own breathing."
You can get an introductory listen to the forthcoming project by streaming the title track in the player below.
Killer Road:
1. Killer Road
2. My Heart Is Empty
3. Evening of Light
4. Saeta
5. Secret Side
6. Fearfully In Danger
7. I Will Be Seven
8. The Sphinx
9. My Only Child
The group will release a new album called Killer Road on September 2 via Sacred Bones. Created as a tribute to the life and tragic death of the Velvet Underground's famous collaborator Nico (born Christa Päffgen), the album features none other than Patti Smith and her daughter Jesse Paris Smith.
Going under the name Soundwalk Collective & Jesse Paris Smith feat. Patti Smith, the collaboration began with a chance meeting on a plane between Crasneanscki and Smith, which then blossomed into an immersive exploration of Nico's work. The album features Patti Smith reciting pieces of Nico's poetry that has remained unreleased until now.
Soundwalk Collective and Smith's daughter contribute "haunting" sonic backdrops behind the words, at times even using a harmonium that Nico once owned. Patti Smith actually bought the instrument from Nico in 1978.
It's accompanied by other electronic noises that conjure up sounds reminiscent of everything from honeybees to ocean waves to crickets in an attempt to recreate the sonic shifts Nico would have experienced in the hours before she died — after suffering a heart attack while cycling in Ibiza in 1988.
"That captivated me," Patti Smith said in a statement, "the idea of merging her language with what was perhaps the last sound she might have heard besides her own breathing."
You can get an introductory listen to the forthcoming project by streaming the title track in the player below.
Killer Road:
1. Killer Road
2. My Heart Is Empty
3. Evening of Light
4. Saeta
5. Secret Side
6. Fearfully In Danger
7. I Will Be Seven
8. The Sphinx
9. My Only Child