Lunar; The Moon; Seven Moons 

New release: Lunar; The Moon; Seven Moons 
We have been honoured to work with the inimitable qanun virtuoso Vahideh Eisaei, creating Lunar; The Moon; Seven Moons 
for qanun, string quartet, four female voices, and electronics, co-composed by our very own Biddy Connor and Lizzy Welsh. 

Lunar; The Moon; Seven Moons was composed and recorded on the unceded lands of the Woi Wurrung (Wurundjeri), Boon Wurrung, and Dja Dja Wurrung peoples of the Kulin Nations, the traditional owners and custodians of this land. We pay our respects to elders past and present, as we respectfully add some vibrations to the ongoing resonance created by First Nations communities across this beautiful continent over tens of thousands of years. Sovereignty has never been ceded. Always was, always will be Aboriginal land.

Vahideh Eisaei - qanun/vocals  
Lizzy Welsh - violin/baroque violin/vocals 
Steph O'Hara - violin 
Biddy Connor - viola/vocals 
Zoë Barry - 'cello/vocals 

Recorded by Jem Savage at Florence St Studios 
Editing and mixing by Steph O'Hara 

This project has been assisted by the Australian Government through the Australia Council, its arts funding and advisory body. 
Picture
Update Friday 3 July
Today Bandcamp waive their revenue share so that 100% of sales go directly to artists and labels. The Letter String Quartet’s debut album, All The Stories, is available for download along with a limited number of CDs. We also have a beautiful Rowena Crowe designed tea towel available.


The songs were written in collaboration with poet Maria Zajkowski and feature the vocals of The Orbweavers’ Marita Dyson. The inaugural performance of All The Stories took place at The Abbotsford Convent, which is built on the lands of the Wurundjeri people. Here the Merri Creek and the Birrarung River meet and to this day it is still an important meeting place for the Wurundjeri and Kulin Nation peoples.


The Letter String Quartet will donate all profits from their 2020 release, All The Stories, to www.sistersinside.com.au and www.seedmob.org.au. to acknowledge the privilege of working on the lands of the Wurundjeri people. This donation will be ongoing for this release.

Friday 20 March, 2020 DEBUT ALBUM RELEASE
Dear Friends,
 
We have been planning our album release for a while and now it has landed amidst this strange and confronting time.
 
We bring it to you today as a musical offering that we hope might give you a moment away from the noise.
 
We have been so honoured to work with the following people – in no particular order – if we could say their names all at once that would be better;
​
Maria Zajkowski for the lyrics and watching us rehearse from under a blanket on the couch.
 
Marita Dyson for her exquisite interpretation of the words and melodies.
 
Neil Thomason and everyone at Headgap recording studios, we love playing in that room!
 
Stuart Flanagan for recording Marita’s vocals and co-writing those beautiful Orbweavers songs.
 
Jed Palmer for mixing and helping tie together all the little bits up in the serenity of Kyneton.
 
The Master of Mastering and Sound, Casey Rice; such a good pair of ears accompanied by good chat.
 
Rowena Crowe for creating the artwork for the CD, the tea towel (more about that in the future) and the wonderful animations (more of those to come soon too).
 
Creative Victoria for giving us some sweet cash, so that we could even dare to dream about doing this recording.
 
Sarah Guppy and the team at This Much Talent, who have provided support beyond the call.
 
Much love, stay safe and keep creating.
x o Steph, Lizzy, Biddy, Zoe o x

​
The second single from The Letter String Quartet’s - Momento Mori, is a cover of a song by The Orbweavers. Originally released on The Orbweavers’ 2011 EP Japanese Mountain/Spotswood.
This new single features the serene vocals of Marita Dyson of the very same Orbweavers - her beautiful vocals recorded by her co-writer, Stuart Flanagan.
The Body Appears, a cover of the Evelyn Ida Morris track, is a collaboration with Jen Cloher that appears on the Milk! Records compilation, Milk on Milk.
The title track is lifted from The Letter String Quartet’s first album – All The Stories, due for release in early 2020. The collection of songs is a moving song cycle composed by TLSQ’s Biddy Connor with lyrics by poet Maria Zajkowski. The album was created in response to the historic Abbotsford Convent site in Melbourne, with each song written from a different point of view and experience.
The Letter String Quartet and Mick Harvey have recorded Harvey’s 4 part composition ‘The Journey’ in support of people seeking asylum who have found themselves in Australia’s offshore detention program.

The piece was composed as a study of the hardships endured by the detainees on Nauru, Manus Island and Christmas Island before and during their internment and as a expression of hope for a humane outcome to their plight.

All proceeds will be directed to the Asylum Seekers Resource Centre and/or other appropriate refugee organisations. 
Visit HERE to listen and make a donation to the ASRC..
Nautical Twilight for String Quartet and Fixed Media
The piece is inspired by nautical twilight, the middle of the three stages of twilight (civil, nautical and astronomical). There is still a glow from below the horizon and celestial objects, stars and planets become more visible...
Alice Humphries - Composer
Steph O’Hara - Visuals