Chamber Pop Enhanced CD press release (1-30-98)

The Way Home Media, a Los Angeles-based design and multimedia company, announces the release of its Enhanced CD, Chamber Pop, by musician, singer, composer and multimedia artist Joel Pelletier. Chamber Pop is a 12-song audio CD playable on any audio CD player as well as an interactive CD-ROM playable on most Macintosh or windows-based computers, featuring videos, animations, illustrations, website links and lyrics/text in 10 languages:

Chinese (mandarin)
English
French
German
Italian
Japanese
Portuguese (Brazilian)
Russian
Spanish
Swedish

Available also as a 14-song cassette, Chamber Pop combines personal-themed pop with classical chamber music, and features arrangements for string quartet, acoustic and electric pop/rock ensembles. Drawing on his classical training and years as a live and session pop/rock musician, Joel Pelletier utilizes the recent format known as "enhanced CD" to combine his skills and expertise as a professional composer and musician, painter and illustrator, graphic artist, video producer and director, computer-based multimedia artist and programmer to complete a truly unique solo project that reflects his work in many fields of creativity.

The music draws upon both mainstream pop and classical sources. The lyrics and melodies continue the tradition of honest confessional singer-songwriters from John Lennon to James Taylor, Sting, Peter Gabriel and Niel Finn (of Crowded House). As an arranger and producer Joel continues on the influential work of George Martin, combining classical music and arrangements to pop/rock music to create a broader musical landscape. Taking it a step further by making the string work at times even more intergral to the arrangements, Joel also tries to move the genres of classical music used in pop into the 20th century, drawing on traditional classical styles as well as modern influences ranging from Igor Stravinsky, Bela Bartòk and Alban Berg.

The CD opens with the haunting "Never be the Same" with only a dissonant string quartet accompanying Joel's plaintive and mysterious lyric. This opener sets the scene for a varied and rich musical journey that expects the attention of the listener. "What Are You Now?" begins as a sparse modern "alternative" uptempo rock tune, then gradually combines instruments, including an aggressive string quartet, to create a synthesis of modern pop and structured classical composition. "Touch" is what Joel calls an "erotic love song," singing the praises of the sensual pleasures of physical contact in a beautiful and mysterious way, combing an acoustic ensemble including upright bass, acoustic guitar, drums and percussion with strings and 3-part vocal harmonies. "Rather Have You" combines modern and minimalist classical styles with a simple song of love in the face of choices and speculation, in another arrangement for voice and string quartet alone.

The next song, "Same to You", a radio-ready pop song in the acoustic driving style of REM and Crowded House, is a lament on the loss of friendships and relationships. "Lie to Me" is a confessional song with strong unison and contrapuntal string lines behind an acoustic pop band. "Wall Inside" explores the metaphor of the fall of the Berlin Wall as it relates to phsychological and emotional walls in all of us, with a simple acoustic guitar and string quartet accompaniment. "Birthday Song," with an arrangement strongly influenced by George Martin's work on The Beatles Abbey Road, is about the realizations of growing older, and the dreams and plans that change, continue or are abandonded, containing direct quotes from the work of The Beatles, George Martin and John Lennon to create a timeless, "Beatlesque" arrangement that is both classic and modern.

"Hole in th Sky", another personal/political metaphor, speaks on the issues of global warming and the lack of rain versus an abondence of tears. "20th Century," speaks about growing up at the end of a century, and warns of the dangers of nastalgia, preferring to move ahead into the future. "Not Afraid of the End" continues on that theme, but on a more personal and universal level, with a full arrangement including electric bass, acoustic and electric guitars, drums, percussion, piano and strings, building to a big "I am the Walrus"-style fade. "Sword," the final song on the CD, is a lush string orchestra accompaniment to a biting tale of the end of a relationship (and so the end of the CD).

As fully realized as the concept, composition, arranging, production and song order of the CD is, Joel did not stop there. As a professional illustrator, graphic and multimedia artist he working with many elements to create a multi-language presentation which removes the language barriers associated with prose and pop lyrics thus making his concepts and words accessible to most of the major populations of the word. The "enhanced" section of the contains animations, illustrations and videos along with descriptive text and all of the Chamber Pop lyrics in the 10 most common major world languages. Similar to the experience of interenet website viewing, the Chamber Pop CD-ROM bonus section, completely contained on the same compact disc, is atour of the musical and visual mind of Joel Pelletier, including all the lyrics viewable onscreen in any of the included languages while listening to the music (or printable as Adobe Acrobat or Microsoft Word files), 3 Adobe Acrobat files of string quartet or orchestra scores from the album, a biography, 3 Quicktime videos (a video description of the term "Chamber Pop," a live performance of an alternate arrangement of "Rather Have You," and an excerpt from the concept video for "Touch"), and direct links to his website, www.joelp.org, where products, additional updates, audio, video and information are available.

All together all of this combines to create a musical and multi-media experience from an artist equally at home in both the old and the new, and believing that only through the combining of both can a lasting musical and artistic statement be achieved. This remarkably broad yet personal work comes at an interesting time at the end of a century, looking ahead to technology while celebrating classic 20th century art forms, and is the culmination of 15 years of learing and work by a modern pop/classical-hybrid composer, musician and artist.

For further information please contact The Way Home Media by phone at 818-787-8445, by fax at 818-787-8447, on the web at www.wayhome.com, by email at info@wayhome.com, or by mail at Box 1842, Hollywood, CA 90078 USA. Joel's email is at joelp@joelp.com, and his music website is at www.joelp.org.

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