Helen Money - Atomic (2020)

Helen Money, composer Alison Chesley, remains one of the most unique and versatile cellists today, her cello playing effortlessly moving from black metal to expansive ambient strings. She uses the cello to access and channel extremes of human emotion, employing extensive sonic manipulation, plucking and bowing techniques to summon an astonishing breadth and depth of sound. On her new album Atomic, Chesley pushes even further out towards the extremes of her output with daring minimalist arrangements that stand as her most intimate, direct, and emotionally bare work to date. The breadth of ideas explored throughout give Atomic a distinctive ebb and flow; an oblique narrative that conjures distinctive and palpable emotions without being prescriptive.