House of Gold
Sofa is proud to announce the debut album of Montreal-based band House of Gold, a very special group playing American composer Isaiah Ceccarelli’s songs and compositions. House of Gold is a quartet that blends quiet melodies and songwriting, chamber music, minimalist folk song, improvisation, jazz harmony, and early music influences into an immersive and embracing sonic experience.
Composer, drummer, and singer Isaiah Ceccarelli has built a repertoire of songs around his original texts and intimate music, inspired by his years of composing new chamber music for various ensembles, drumming for jazz, pop, and folk bands, singing in early-music choirs, and travelling the world as an improviser and composer. The music is brought to fruition by the talents and input of multi-instrumentalists Katelyn Clark, Eugénie Jobin, and Frédérique Roy.
House of Gold’s album is fantastical and patient. Each song develops its melody in a different way, using careful layers of voice, drums, organ, and synths. Jobin and Roy’s voices combine into an almost otherworldly sound, bringing out stark harmonies and unisons while giving a tender focus to the lyrics. Minimalistic drums suggest a pulse, but this never dominates the vocal quality of the songs. The organ, synths, and other instrumental components weave in and out of the album, adding a dreamlike atmosphere.
Isaiah Ceccarelli says of the project: “The idea for House of Gold began to form in 2017 when I was asked to write some music for an ensemble that was performing at a gallery in Montreal’s Parc-Extension neighbourhood. That’s where I met Frédérique Roy and Eugénie Jobin, who were members of the ensemble. Having already formed a solid musical relationship and friendship with Kate Clark for the past ten years—and with a recording together on my first Another Timbre album—it didn’t take long for the band to form.
I originally imagined writing chamber music for this lineup, but as I talked more with Kate, Eugénie, and Frédérique (who were so encouraging), I knew that I wanted to write songs. I had always written lyrics—some of the texts that appear on this record have their genesis in the late 1990s or early 2000s—and I wanted to take a definitive step into the world of song that had attracted me since my university days. House of Gold is a synthesis of everything I love about music: multiple singers, layered, free percussion textures, early music influences, drones…
Our three-song demo was recorded on March 10, 2020, several days before the entire world closed down. House of Gold was born in a chaotic time: a time of disquiet, of profound personal realizations about the precarious nature of today’s music and art world in the face of difficulty, a time when we hoped for (…) consolation, but there [was] only science.
House of Gold is a definitive before-and-after benchmark in my career. The lyrics, the way I approach working in the studio and collaborating with others, even the way I play drums and how I describe the music I want to make from now on—and most importantly the fierce attachment to and respect I feel for the three other members of the quartet, with their talent and impeccable attention to detail—everything points to this being an important step forward.”
SOFA is extremely excited to release the debut album of this wonderful group. House of Gold will be released as LP, CD and DL with art direction by Stephen O’Malley and a beautiful sleeve photo by Eleonore Huisse.
Isaiah Ceccarelli is a drummer, composer, and singer.
His album Bow was released to critical acclaim as part of the British label Another Timbre’s Canadian Composers Series in 2017 and was followed up by Landmarks, a 2022 collaboratively composed duo album with Katelyn Clark featuring chamber organ, orchestral bass drum, bells, and synthesizer. House of Gold, his new songwriting endeavour featuring Katelyn Clark, Eugénie Jobin, and Frédérique Roy, will be released on SOFA (Norway) in May 2024. His chamber music has been performed by the Bozzini Quartet, TAK Ensemble, the London Contemporary Orchestra Soloists, violinist Mira Benjamin, harpsichordist and organist Katelyn Clark, the Suoni per il Popolo festival’s Stretch Wood Ensemble, and Voces Boreales featuring Architek Percussion.
As a drummer and percussionist, Isaiah has performed and recorded in countless jazz and improvised music settings since the early 2000s. He is also an avid choral singer and regularly organizes recitals of Gregorian chant, medieval, and early Renaissance music.