In 2020 Freeway Clyde were approached by indie French videographer Claude Louche to soundtrack his remake of the underground 1970 classic "Sept Etoile" (Seven Stars). Impossible to find and long remaindered to cinema-graphic lore, the film (originally scored by Brazilian legend Carlo N'biza) is remembered for it's singular, graphic depiction of love, lust and struggle in 1940's Algeria.
The band spent four months set up in a decrepit villa outside of Porto. With nothing more than a crude video projector, staff paper and borrowed instruments they meticulously crafted a new score to the iconic avant-garde/realist masterpiece. It was hardly a smooth affair. Creative differences, tensions over drug use and messy love affairs with the locals led to sometimes contentious sessions. The band soldiered on, determined to rise to the occasion - to carefully compose a soundtrack that met and transcended the original. Every sound carefully notated, every dynamic carefully written, the music is a depiction of meticulous intent.
Louche was arrested on smuggling charges and his film was never completed. Freeway Clyde's panorama is all that remains of the erstwhile collaboration, heard here for the first time in splendid stereo sound.
The band spent four months set up in a decrepit villa outside of Porto. With nothing more than a crude video projector, staff paper and borrowed instruments they meticulously crafted a new score to the iconic avant-garde/realist masterpiece. It was hardly a smooth affair. Creative differences, tensions over drug use and messy love affairs with the locals led to sometimes contentious sessions. The band soldiered on, determined to rise to the occasion - to carefully compose a soundtrack that met and transcended the original. Every sound carefully notated, every dynamic carefully written, the music is a depiction of meticulous intent.
Louche was arrested on smuggling charges and his film was never completed. Freeway Clyde's panorama is all that remains of the erstwhile collaboration, heard here for the first time in splendid stereo sound.
Freeway Clyde "Sunflower"
Michael Chorney - electric guitar, compositions
Jeremy Fredrick - drums
Taylor Haskins - evi, trumpet
Will Andrews - trumpet, samples, synthesizer
Matt LaRocca - viola
Zack Dupont - electric guitar
Pat Ormiston - electric bass
special guest Brian Drye - trombone
Tracks:
Ephrata
Wyoming
New York
La Prairie
Athens
Invocation 15
Recorded, engineered and mastered by Ben Collette at Tank Recording Studio, Burlington Vermont
Mixed by Taylor Haskins, with MC and Willverine at Recombinant Sound, Westport New York
Produced by Michael Chorney
Cover art by Jeremy Fredrick
Recorded live in the room, no overdubs, no headphones in July 2022
Michael Chorney introduces Freeway Clyde with their debut recording, Sunflower.
The electric, omni-genre, seven-piece ensemble create something fresh — soundtracks for films that have never been made. Together they take poignant folk-rooted themes into a universe of collective improvisation and infinite soundscapes. Vintage synthesizers, electric strings, horns, viola and deep rhythm combine for a timeless sound, from velvet to furious.
A Tony Award-winning composer and arranger, Michael Chorney is one of Vermont’s most prolific and collaborative artists. After working for years on the score for the Broadway hit, Hadestown (winner of eight Tony Awards in 2019), he longed to develop a collective, ensemble approach to music making. He found it back in Vermont and put together a group of the region's most intuitive players. Freeway Clyde took off.
The band developed their method playing live performances. After a residency at Burlington’s Radio Bean, they convened for Sunday meetings at the Tank Studio. Recorded live with no overdubs and no headphones, the sessions capture Clyde at its finest. Non-narrative instrumentals that are as emotionally evocative as lyrical song, yet invite the listener to their own conclusions. Unique, cinematic and with a surfeit of spirit, Freeway Clyde goes somewhere and takes the listeners along.
Michael Chorney - electric guitar, compositions
Jeremy Fredrick - drums
Taylor Haskins - evi, trumpet
Will Andrews - trumpet, samples, synthesizer
Matt LaRocca - viola
Zack Dupont - electric guitar
Pat Ormiston - electric bass
special guest Brian Drye - trombone
Tracks:
Ephrata
Wyoming
New York
La Prairie
Athens
Invocation 15
Recorded, engineered and mastered by Ben Collette at Tank Recording Studio, Burlington Vermont
Mixed by Taylor Haskins, with MC and Willverine at Recombinant Sound, Westport New York
Produced by Michael Chorney
Cover art by Jeremy Fredrick
Recorded live in the room, no overdubs, no headphones in July 2022
Michael Chorney introduces Freeway Clyde with their debut recording, Sunflower.
The electric, omni-genre, seven-piece ensemble create something fresh — soundtracks for films that have never been made. Together they take poignant folk-rooted themes into a universe of collective improvisation and infinite soundscapes. Vintage synthesizers, electric strings, horns, viola and deep rhythm combine for a timeless sound, from velvet to furious.
A Tony Award-winning composer and arranger, Michael Chorney is one of Vermont’s most prolific and collaborative artists. After working for years on the score for the Broadway hit, Hadestown (winner of eight Tony Awards in 2019), he longed to develop a collective, ensemble approach to music making. He found it back in Vermont and put together a group of the region's most intuitive players. Freeway Clyde took off.
The band developed their method playing live performances. After a residency at Burlington’s Radio Bean, they convened for Sunday meetings at the Tank Studio. Recorded live with no overdubs and no headphones, the sessions capture Clyde at its finest. Non-narrative instrumentals that are as emotionally evocative as lyrical song, yet invite the listener to their own conclusions. Unique, cinematic and with a surfeit of spirit, Freeway Clyde goes somewhere and takes the listeners along.