WENT TO WALK
album
CD & download postcards
Went To Walk (self- released, 2024)
CLAUDIA SCHWAB (Violin/Vocals/Loop/Piano/Composition)
Following the release of her new single “Went To Walk” in May 2023, which was accompanied by a beautiful video created by French artists Raphael Decoster and Fanny Alet, Claudia Schwab launched her third solo album in July 2024.
Born out of solitary forest, seaside and mountain dwellings during the periods of lock down, the album marks a return to the origins of her composing practices: a world of sound that she could create, and retreat to, entirely on her own.
Never shy of crossing borders between genres, traditions and conventions, the album presents an introspective body of folk-inspired songs with experimental elements. Amalgamating aspects of the worlds of Irish, Austrian and Indian Classical music traditions, the compositions are interwoven with sound samples collected at home in Sligo, as well as during arts residencies in Crete, Austria, India and Sri Lanka. Amidst the sounds of a whistling kettle, wooden drawers, a coffee cup, nuclear alarms or Indian prayers, we hear of unfinished love stories, the yearning to be left alone, diverse “what if” scenarios of re-crafting our lifestyles, or reflections on the startling lack of being present to our own lives.
Featuring guest musicians Jos Kelly (keys) and Matija Solce (accordion) on the title track “Went To Walk”, as well as Michael McGoldrick (flute/whistle) on the avantgarde yodel-trad experiment “Jodlphase”, the remainder of this delicate body of sounds is written for an intimate solo set up of violin, vocals, piano and loops.
Artwork design by Raphael Decoster.
Cover photo by Madame Tomate.
1. WHAT IF (lyrics)
Written in the middle of lockdown in early 2020, the song imagines various “what if” scenarios of taking the forced stop to our lives as a chance to recraft our life styles: “ in the silence of this forests' green, we'll gather our thoughts on where and who we've been”.
2. SHRAVANABELAGOLA
Visiting the rural town of Shravanabelagola in Karnataka/South India in January 2024, I climbed the Chandragiri hill every morning to catch the sunrise. One morning, I found myself alone in one of its ancient Jain temples and began to sing. The track also features a beautiful choir of birds recorded outside Brian Mc Donagh´s studio as well as a waterfall in Ritigala, a truly magical forest monastery I got to visit in Sri Lanka a few weeks after.
3. WENT TO WALK (lyrics)
Previously released as a single in May 2023 accompanied by a beautiful video created by French artists Raphael Decoster and Fanny Alet, this song captures the parting talk of two lovers. Love, life and letting go: the air pregnant with many a word left unsaid as they go on to walk their separate ways. Featuring the amazing Jos Kelly on keys and Matija Solce on accordion.
4. JODLPHASE
Inspired by Steve Reich´s phasing experiments, this composition found its beginnings in Ireland and on a mountain hut in Austria. It evolved in its entirety during a residency in Fourni village/ Crete, where the studio´s whistling kettle became a central part of the piece. Featuring stellar musician Michael McGoldrick on flutes and whistles.
5. UNDER WATER
Dedicated to this immense force of nature that never ceases to astonish me. Thanks for not taking me with you that time. Nor the second time.
6. STRAY BIRDS (lyrics)
Being thrown out of a non-stop 'treadmill' lifestyle to a complete and sudden halt really got me thinking about matters of time, our presence in our own lives and the fortune you might find when focusing inward. The chorus mentions "grey men smoking time," a reference to characters from Michael Ende’s "Momo," a beautiful book my mother used to read to us at bedtime. Time to turn things around!
7. STOP THE CLOCKS
In the middle of the first phases of lockdown in Sligo/Ireland in 2020, I conducted a series of interviews with different people ranging from the ages of six to one hundred and two. Listening back to everyone’s fascinating personal stories and experiences brought me right back to my own memories of these strange and unique months. To the appreciation of all the small things in my immediate environment and the necessity to make something out of nothing. Where old diaries and drafts of compositions saw the light of day again or kitchen utensils could be turned into a percussion instrument.
8. OIS Z´VÜ (lyrics)
What do you do when you feel overwhelmed? My strategy is this: I go to bed. “Don’t call me, leave me my peace. These days they were beautiful, but now I’m going to lie down. Sometimes I am missing a bit of time to breathe and dream; that moment has come now”. Written in my native Austrian dialect, the song features a rhythm collage made out of sound samples such as a wooden drawer, a crunched spinach bag, samples of space and nuclear alarms, our front door, a bulldog attack on our neighbours tree or my granny’s old pendulum.
9. EK ONG KAR
Careful when listening to this one! I came across this powerful set of words on recent travels in India. Apparently everything you think about while listening or sounding them out will become a reality. In the background you can hear a fan and prayers, two continuous sound companions throughout my travels.
10. HOW LONG (lyrics)
“How long do I have to wait my dear, until you cross the sea?” Sometimes we just wait, and wait, and wait …
REVIEWS AND PRESS-MENTIONS
"If she could gather the tears of people that cried to this song (Went To Walk), she would probably have a pond by now.”
- Laura Betka Krajnc, Zajtrk
"I believed her everything!"
- Reinhard Ziegerhofer
"With a bright, intense voice, violin, loop station, piano and field recordings, Schwab experimentally reverberates what shaped and preoccupied her during the lockdowns of the Covid pandemic. The many hours the musician spent in the forests, by the sea and in the mountains of the west coast of Ireland let her thoughts flow into an atmospheric soundscape."
- Marie-Theres Himmler, Oe1 Spielräume