WATERBODIES: Charlotte Greve to Release New Album Via New Amsterdam

Charlotte Greve, a German-born, Brooklyn-based saxophonist, composer and singer, has released a new single titled OWN LAP, the second preview from her forthcoming album WATERBODIES, set to arrive October 2 via New Amsterdam. The track is dedicated to Greve's late grandmother and two close friends who had recently faced hardship, and marks her first composition adapted for orchestra, blending a large ensemble sound with electronics and a full rhythm section.

The song is dedicated to those who were 'strong people who had the ability and strength to keep their head up and keep going.' The epic 11-minute orchestral composition combines the large ensemble sound with electronics and a full rhythm section.

Greve, a sought-after sidewoman for artists including Chris Morrissey, Laura Veirs, Cass McCombs, Cassandra Jenkins and Matt Pavolka, channels that same range of collaboration into her own work. The album is a deliberate rejection of stylistic cohesion and her most personal to date, written while Greve was pregnant with her daughter and first child.

Soon after learning she was pregnant, a friend urged her, 'Record it now, before the baby comes!' The advice provided the impetus to document this moment in her musical life, resulting in a record that's sometimes contemplative, often triumphant and always sanguine. 'This is the most holistic representation of my musical interests,' she says. 'I wanted it to feel like a playground — the opposite of an easy-to-sell, career-minded, one-kind-of-thing record. In some ways, it made no sense. I was pregnant and pouring my money into something that was clearly not commercial. But this was a personal wish. Something I felt I had to do.'

The album's songs move as individual pieces within a shared world, shifting from spoken word to a full symphony orchestra, improvised jazz to bizarro synth-pop, power ballads to the serene, arpeggiated album closer. 'With WATERBODIES, I hope to invite the audience to experience the music as if walking through a film,' says Charlotte Greve. 'Contrasting scenes unfold one after another, yet remain connected by a common thread,' says Greve. 'It captures the full range of what I've been drawn to musically. Rather than narrowing things down, I wanted to open them up, placing these disparate influences side by side and trusting their connection would come through because they're all channeled through me.'

To celebrate the release of WATERBODIES, Greve will perform at New York's Public Records on October 14. Serving as a joint album release show, the evening will also include a performance from Kaoru Watanabe.

WATERBODIES, Greve's tenth album as a bandleader and first released under her own name, was produced by Shahzad Ismaily and features the New York-based vocal ensemble KHORIKOS along with the Bratislava Symphony Orchestra. Greve, who has worked as a sidewoman for artists including Chris Morrissey, Laura Veirs, Cass McCombs, Cassandra Jenkins and Matt Pavolka, wrote the album while pregnant with her first child, describing it as the most personal work of her career.

Photo Credit: Annika Nagel

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