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New Amsterdam Records welcomes singer-songwriters Shara Worden (of My Brightest Diamond) and Clare Muldaur Manchon (of Clare & the Reasons), along with indie-classical multi-instrumentalist/composer Rob Moose (of yMusic), collaborators in the enchanted and melancholy Letters to Distant Cities, a multi-media project curated and produced by photographer and videographer Murat Eyuboglu, exploring urban solitude through the poetry of Turkish-American poet, Mustafa Ziyalan.

Letters to Distant Cities, released Tuesday, March 29, is a spoken-word album bookended by two original songs: My Brightest Diamond’s “The Sea” and Clare & the Reasons’ “Invisible.”  The Sea opens the album and cracks the door to a mythical realm, into which Shara Worden enters and embodies the female persona of Ziyalan’s poetry, speaking the texts of 24 poetic snapshots, connected by Rob Moose’s incidental reflections and interventions for violin. After the poetry, Invisible closes the album, drifting wistfully to its bittersweet conclusion.

1. The Sea
   (composed & performed by: Shara Worden)
2. Sugar Cube in the Rain
   (#2-18 performed by: Rob Moose, Shara Worden)
3. The Most Unknown Fruit
4. The Starfish, The Sleeper
5. Gone
6. Letters to Distant Cities
7. Midsummer’s Winter
8. Dimming Eyes
9. The Red Balloon
10. Close Your Eyes
11. The Cloud-Likeness
12. Ripples
13. Ghostly Flowers
14. Truant Colts
15. In the City’s Caverns
16. Bliss
17. Her Poems
18. In the Land of Sleep
19. Invisible
    (composed & performed by: Clare & the Reasons)

Go to New Amsterdam’s album page for sound samples!  Also, check out the arty/mournful-turned-magical video for “The Sea” featuring My Brightest Diamond / Shara Worden:

Says fellow poet Murat Nemet-Nejat:

In Ziyalan’s work one can see the impulse of the Turkish language in the 20th Century to represent a social reality beyond national borders. It points to the prophetic nature of Turkish poetry becoming a medium for a global sensibility — the psychic dislocations globalism creates in consciousness.

In addition to the CD, the album package includes a set of 24 pristine keepsake cards, comprising a photographic illustration for each of Zilayan’s poems collected on the recording. The images were captured by project visionary Murat Eyuboglu with model Jamie Ansley. Designer Adam Frint brings musical, poetic, and photographic elements together, creating a physical connection to the album’s sense of memorabilia.

I just ordered it from Amazon… you can also order it directly from New Amsterdam Records.  If a CD isn’t your thing, New Amsterdam has the full mp3 album for only $6 (a couple bucks cheaper than Amazon’s price – and directly from the source).

~Dan – np: Porcupine Tree – Metanoia