Melody Parker to Release New Album 'Archipelago', 5/13

On May 13, Melody Parker releases her debut album, Archipelago.

Composer, singer, producer, and acoustic engineer Melody Parker often danced in silence. The motion turned into sound and sound into songs.

These songs coalesced into Archipelago (release: May 13, 2016), Parker's striking debut. It invites the listener to inhabit an otherworldly place and time, where the familiar rubs shoulders with the fantastical. "I created these songs with mourning and celebration for this watery home we know-and for the paradoxical richness of our experience within it," she reflects.

Parker's work vibrates with intensity, by turns contemplative and carnivalesque. To convey emotional breadth, her intricate orchestrations and production employ a broad sonic palette. The pieces sparked engaging performances by members of tUnE-YaRds, Naytronix, and other Bay Area jazz and improvised music circles.

"Forming this music from dancing, I excavated joy and laughter from my gut," reflects Parker. A response to a global, collective anxiety and to her own personal grief, this physical movement broke through Parker's psychological and creative paralysis. "It's an expression of the vital spark that emerges in our darkest moments. A fierce, willful joy."