Vox Clamantis - Stella Matutina (2009)

New and old, near and far, hot and cold.
These pairs of words, which at first sight seem to be opposites, can over time, or if we look at them more attentively, become close companions, even intimately intermingled.
Gregorian chant is a musical meditation born of an oral tradition which goes back centuries into the past. What could be further from this than the sound of our electric guitars? Such would be the exasperated reaction of someone blinded by prejudice. Yet the electric guitar too is capable of meditation, and the melody which resonates in the sacred texts can display expressivity and sensibility in the highest degree. Travelling companions may differ in age and clothing, but if they take the same road, their steps guide them towards the same goal.
The music and the musicians that meet up on this recording are also travelling companions, from different eras and with different mounts. But what if we step outside time? Maybe the disappearance of time, an idea by which we are unconsciously obsessed, is something that haunts music; when we speak, of course it is always with our contemporaries. We have various ways of saying the same things, and various languages, just like our different experiences in everyday life. But the essential thing is the message. A message we would not wish to put into words, because music says things that words cannot understand. And the message which is hidden here can be different for each of us, be for each of us what we are looking for right this instant, what is most necessary to us. And in looking for it, we can imagine ourselves somewhere far, very far away. On a lone star. The morning star. Stella matutina. -- Jaan-Eik Tulve