BIO
Emily Rach Beisel is a Chicago-based improviser, composer, educator, curator and woodwind specialist. Beisel is known for visceral performances blending extended vocal and instrumental techniques with analogue electronics and rich bass clarinet tone. Their solo album Particle of Organs has been described as "Operatic, wild and dark. It showcases the raw, unadulterated power of the body and the instrument, weaving together sounds that are both corrosive and tender."
As a curator, Beisel seeks to increase the visibility and involvement of femme, trans and nonbinary artists in the creative music community. They founded the Pleiades Series at Elastic Arts, presenting monthly performances along with a community-based free improvisation jam for femme and nonbinary performers.
Beisel is a member of the contemporary ensemble Fonema Consort, touring most recently in Brazil, Mexico, Minneapolis and New York and premiering works of living composers including James Dillon, Richard Barrett and Julio Estrada. Beisel holds a Master of Music degree from Northwestern University and is a member of the American Federation of Musicians Local 10-208.
Particle of Organs
Emily Rach Beisel
Bass clarinet, vocals, analog effects and amplification.
Released May 17, 2023 on Amalgam
Recorded, mixed and mastered: Bill Harris
ABOUT PARTICLE OF ORGANS
Chicago Reader - Written by Leor Galil
Improviser, composer, and educator Emily Rach Beisel is entrenched in Chicago’s experimental-music community. In fall 2021, they launched the monthly Pleiades Series at Elastic Arts, which “features womxn and non-binary musicians and improvisors.” Because of Rach Beisel’s experience in this scene, I was prepared to be challenged by their recent solo album, May’s Particle of Organs—but not prepared enough! It’s a showcase for voice and bass clarinet, modified with analog effects and amplification, and from its first note it doesn’t exactly meet you halfway: opening track “The Indark Answers With Wind” begins with a low, guttural groan that could be a marble spiraling down a thick plastic tube, an abstract sound that warps further as the song progresses until their voice sounds like it’s being yanked into the cosmos by an alien tractor beam. Rach Beisel’s vocals make plain the artist’s love of extreme metal, and they strike me as especially violent and abrasive when set against the stretches of Particle of Organs where the background is spartan if not silent. Their bass clarinet usually sticks closer to the instrument’s familiar vocabulary, and in contrast to their vocal performances, it can provide levity or even relief—their melodic playing in the serene “Warm Upon Your Skin” feels like the sun breaking through turbulent clouds. At the beginning of the song, somber clarinet notes rise out of a low drone like steam off a hot bath, and when I first heard them, a wave of calmness washed over me—a sensation as intense as any of the anxiety and dread that Particle of Organs also provoked.
Link: https://chicagoreader.com/music/record-roundup/nine-great-chicago-records-to-hear-now/
Foxy Digitalis - Written by Brad Rose
This is incredible. Flailing sonic fires crawl through pits of molten sludge and burst skyward from a visceral, breathing pit. Emily Rach Beisel's music is guttural and splendid, felt in our stomachs at one moment before twisting delicately across each individual pore. She turns her bass clarinet from serrating projectile into a crystal wand at a moment's notice, spilling winding melodies across growling drones. Her voice roars in turn, expelling any fanciful notions and turning up the tension as wind-blown sputtering lights a gilded furnace. Particle of Organs is an absolute trip that digs deep into flesh and bone, ripping through rhythmic spackle and distorted gauntlets like Beisel is performing ancient, uncharted rituals. The raw intensity that permeates so many moments of Particle of Organs only heightens the impact of the quieter, more delicate moments. Beisel's fearlessness and focus are the narrative glue shaping this exquisite treatise into something unforgettable.
Link: https://foxydigitalis.zone/2023/06/07/the-capsule-garden-vol-2-20-june-7-2023/