Last month, Arone Dyer, an artist renowned for her captivating vocal talents and reputation for pushing creative boundaries, announced a new album titled “ARONE x S T A R G A Z E”, which sees her join forces with the trailblazing European classical-contemporary ensemble, s t a r g a z e. The album is out 1st December via Transgressive Records in collaboration with Brassland, and today they share a hypnotic new single titled “It’s Over”
A project years in the making, “ARONE x S T A R G A Z E” sees Arone Dyer – a founding member of the borderless and critically acclaimed duo Buke and Gase, who were recently the subject of a self-titled new concert film and documentary – working with the 13-member European orchestral collective s t a r g a z e – who were founded in Berlin by contemporary-classical heavy-hitters André de Ridder, Emanuel Florakis and Merle Scheske. Having met some years ago at the somewhat legendary PEOPLE movement/festival created in Berlin with members of The National and Bon Iver, they reached out to other in the middle of 2020, and when it became clear that there wasn’t going to be much performing or touring possible any time soon, the pandemic hiatus became a creative opportunity for their collaborative project.
Together they have created a genre-hopping triple crossover ranging from indie to avant-garde pop to modern classical. Featuring diverse and eclectic fragments of songs written by Arone Dyer between 2016-2021, the album is a deep, intricate, and captivating journey into the mind of a musician who has evolved from a underground buzz artist into an icon for a new generation of genre-agnostic artists.
The new single, which is also the albums closing track, delves into the intricate facets of relationships and the comprehension of unexpected conclusions. The sparseness of the track carries a profound emotional weight, swelling and shrinking, echoing the challenges of communication and acceptance in the face of impending decisions.
Speaking on the themes behind the single, Dyer says, “it’s Over (2016) fits into whatever genre categorizes the enhancement of one’s ability to process acceptance or a pending decision. It’s dark, and takes the place of the physical act of crying. I wrote it before I fully understood that a relationship was coming to its conclusion. In a way it felt premonitory, because I was still in denial. There’s something to writing a song with so few words that makes you put a different meaning to them every time they leave your mouth. Every utterance. These are the simplest things we said, and yet the hardest thing we couldn’t say. The easiest reasons. My dad used to tell me there were 5 things that will make or break a relationship depending on whether you agree or disagree with your partner: Family (children), Work (whether, how, what), Money (how you make/have/save/use it), Politics/Spirituality (duh), Activity (lifestyle). Disagree on one thing, you can make it work, disagree on two, it can work, but it’ll be difficult. Disagree on three, unpleasant home. Don’t be in a relationship with someone you disagree with on four or five, that’s just stupidity.
Where the pandemic brought much of the population’s world to a halt, it gave Dyer and s t a r g a z e the space and encouragement to go back and compile smatterings of work from as far back as seven years ago. The result is a musical odyssey that defies pigeonholing, balancing both outfits proclivity for uninhibited experimentation and collaboration, to the point that the tracks and their meanings are still evolving as the work comes to finally be released. Dyer explains, “since the music was completed without audience participation, in other words, since I’ve rarely performed these tunes in public, it has been impossible to separate these juxtaposed sentiments. I hope to find the overarching motif through the process of performing and adapting to it in the coming year.”
“Arone x S T A R G A Z E” is out 1st December via Transgressive Records in collaboration with Brassland – Pre-order HERE
Arone Dyer x s t a r g a z e
Arone x S T A R G A Z E
1st December 2023
Transgressive Records
1. Yessiri
2. Don’t Say
3. Spider Practical
4. Reductions
5. Define
6. Sugar Friend
7. Carwash
8. Voicecream abbrv.
9. It’s Over