Meredith Bates — Tesseract

Out: June 2nd, 2023 on Phonometrograph (2xCD/ DL)
Genres: violin & electronics, experimental, electroacoustic, ambient.
RIYL: Nils Økland, Okkyung Lee, Arve Henriksen, early Cluster, Ian William Craig, Jessica Moss.

MEREDITH BATES — WEB | act·art·mgt
PHONOMETROGRAPH — WEB | BANDCAMP

Violinist Meredith Bates has become a staple of Vancouver’s vibrant experimental music scene, as both a generous collaborator and, especially following the release of her spellbinding debut If Not Now (2020), as a one-person musical force. Rather than serve as vehicle for violin virtuosity, Bates’ solo music showcases her painterly compositional imagination, using her instrument as brush to apply thick, luminous coats of electrified colour to her auditory canvas. The forthcoming Tesseract is both sombre and more audacious than its predecessor, all the while occupying the same monumental scale, swelling over two CDs. Her shimmering cascades of treated strings remain a crucial element, yet there’s newfound volatility and a steadfast commitment to investigating texture here. Bates’ melodic material is more kaleidoscopic than ever, but she also offers distant creaks, dim crackling, and explosive bluster as disquieting contrasts to her bowed lyricism, pulling the listener deeper into her gradually blooming structures.

COVERAGE:
Award Nomination — Instrumental Album of the Year, Juno Awards (2024)
Year-End — Ettore Garzia, I suggerimenti musicali del 2023, Percorsi Musicale
Year-End / Radio — CJSW Top 2023 Charts — Experimental / Neo-Classical
Year-End / Review — Atahualpa Espinosa, La Tempestad
Year-End / Round-up — John Nicol, Unu: 23, Obladada
Year-End — Jeremy Shatan, Best Of 2023: Classical, An Earful
Year-End — Muestrario Sonoro del 2023, Trion-FM
Year-End — Top 10 Albums of 2023 – Gary McBride’s Picks, KGNU
Year-End — Heavy Pop, 2024 Honourable Mentions
Year-End — SPECIAL: TOP 2023 ALBUMS, Ousadia & Descobertas
News — Exposé.org
List — A Closer Listen, Upcoming Releases
List — Tinnitist, The Week in Music May 29th to June 4, 2023
Newsletter — A Closer Listen, Weekly #33
List — Kevin Press, The Moderns, Friday Five (June 2nd)
List — Steve Smith, Night After Night, For The Record (April 28, 2023)
List — Endaural Anticipation List
Interview — 15 Questions
News — Sounds of Life, Culture Hub
Feature — Stuart Derdeyn, Vancouver Sun, Save the date: Violinist Meredith Bates releases Tesseract at Roundhouse Performance Centre
Feature — Stuart Derdeyn, The Province, Save the date: Violinist Meredith Bates releases Tesseract at Roundhouse Performance Centre
Feature — Toon Traveler, Outside Left, Meredith Bates Takes a Violin To The Edge
Feature — Klang Magazine, Meredith Bates on “Tesseract”, Space Garbage and Non-Attachment
Article — Peter Margasak, Nowhere Street
Review — Issues #74, July 2023
Review — Peter Thelen, Exposé
Review — Oliver, Heavy Pop
Review — Ron Schepper, Textura
Review – Tom Haugen, Take Effect Reviews
Review — nitestylez.de
Review — Roland Torres, SilenceandSound
Review — Alan Freeman, Audion
Review — Rigobert Dittman, Bad Alchemy #119
Mini-review — Music Saved My Life
Roundup — Jeremy Shatan, Record Roundup: Music for One, Two, Or More, An Earful
Roundup — Marc Masters, The Best Experimental Music on Bandcamp, June 2023, Bandcamp
Roundup — Brad Rose, The Capsule Garden Vol 2.20: June 14, 2023, Foxy Digitalis
Roundup — Frank P. Eckert, Motherboard June 2023, Groove.de
Roundup — Sean Worrall, Instrumental composition, experiments? classical? Soundscapes?, Organ Zine
Roundup — Sean Worrall, Christine Ott has a new experimental trio called The Cry, Cláudio de Pina and Andrew Levine get all Messiaen, Gustav Kwarts, Yann Tiersen on a boat with Quinquis, Meredith Bates and a plague of lighthouse keepers…, Organ Zine
Roundup/ Podcast — Different Noises #6
Podcast — The Moderns, Episode 265
Podcast — Free Form Freakout, FFFoxy Podcast #227
Podcast — In Memory of John Peel, Episode 937
Podcast — Discover Music With AnEarful — Monthly Listening: August 2023
Playlist — Discover Music With AnEarful — Monthly Listening: August 2023
Playlist — Steve Smith, Night After Night, (I’ll Not Make A Sound)
Playlist — Jim Di Gioia, Dominionated, Northern Refractions 014
Chart/ Radio — CJSW Top 10 — Experimental / Contemporary Classical (October 19, 2023)
Chart/ Radio — CJSW Top 30 (September 28, 2023)
Chart/ Radio — CJSW Experimental / Contemporary Classical Top 10 (September 28, 2023)
Radio / Cart — CJSW Experimental / Contemporary Classical Top 10 (August 10, 2023)
Radio / Chart— CJSW Experimental/ Contemporary Classical Top 10 (July 27, 2023)
Radio / Chart— CJSW Experimental/ Contemporary Classical Top 10 (July 20, 2023)
Radio / Chart— CJSW Experimental/ Contemporary Classical Top 10 (July 13, 2023)
Radio / Chart — CJSW Experimental / Contemporary Classical Top 10 (July 6th, 2023)
Radio — 20/21 Music, WTUL (October 12, 2025)
Radio — Flight Risk, KOPN (April 9, 2025)
Radio — Esoterica Et Cetera, WPKN (April 5, 2025)
Radio — Liminal Scores, CJSW (April 17, 2024)
Radio — Not Brahms and Liszt, WMBR (March 4, 2024)
Radio — Mornings Are Hard, CHSR (February 15, 2024)
Radio — Obladada, Soniko, CAMP Radio (January 5, 2024)
Radio — Pop Art, Concertzender (December 15, 2023)
Radio — Expansive Prairie Skies, UMFM (December 13, 2023)
Radio — Flight Risk, KOPN (December 6, 2023)
Radio — Liminal Scores, CJSW (November 29, 2023)
Radio — The Luminous Chord, KBRP (November 15, 2023)
Radio — Liminal Scores, CJSW (November 1, 2023)
Radio — Obladada, Soniko, CAMP Radio (October 13, 2023)
Radio — Liminal Scores, CJSW (October 11, 2023)
Radio — Alternative To What?, CJSW (October 5, 2023)
Radio — Liminal Scores, CJSW (October 4, 2023)
Radio — Nightmare Delirium, CJSW (September 24, 2023)
Radio — Vocal Cords, CJSW (September 18, 2023)
Radio — Don’t Trip w/ Margarita, NTS Radio (September 18, 2023)
Radio — Mental Maps, Franfurter Stadtradio / Radio X (September 13, 2023)
Radio — Present Edge, KGNU (September 11, 2023)
Radio — Jazz Today, CJSW (August 31, 2023)
Radio — Liminal Scores, CJSW (August 30, 2023)
Radio — Vocal Cords, CJSW (August 28, 2023)
Radio — A Different Nature, KBOO (August 28, 2023)
Radio — Don’t Trip w/ Margarita, NTS Radio (August 21, 2023)
Radio — Nightmare Delirium, CJSW (August 20, 2023)
Radio — FFFoxy Podcast, KMSU (August 14, 2023)
Radio — Muzyka Ucha Trzeciego / Third Ear Music, Rockserwis (August 10, 2023)
Radio — Permanent Connection, WESU (August 4, 2023)
Radio — Mint Condition, CJSW (July 28, 2023)
Radio — Vocal Cords, CJSW (July 24, 2023)
Radio — Nightmare Delirium, CJSW (July 23, 2023)
Radio — Under The Floorboards, AfterFM (July 22, 2023)
Radio — What’s This Called?, Freeform Portland (July 22, 2023)
Radio — Nightmare Paradise, WRUV (July 21, 2023)
Radio — Not Brahms and Liszt, WMBR (July 17, 2023)
Radio — Symbiose, CISM (July 16, 2023)
Radio — Noise, CJSW (July 13, 2023)
Radio — Zeit-Ton Magazin, ORF (July 12, 2023)
Radio — Elysian Fields, KXCI (July 7, 2023)
Radio — Liminal Scores, CJSW (July 5, 2023)
Radio — Music From Other Minds, KALW (July 2, 2023)
Radio — Left of the Dial, KOPN (June 29, 2023)
Radio — Liminal Scores, CJSW (June 29, 2023)
Radio — The Floating Head of Zsa Zsa, WRUV (June 27, 2023)
Radio — Tonotopicalia, KUZU (June 25, 2023)
Radio — Obladada Soniko, CAMP Radio (June 23, 2023)
Radio — Alternative To What, CJSW (June 22, 2023)
Radio — Vocal Cords, CJSW (June 19, 2023)
Radio — The Transmitter Down, CRMK (June 16, 2023)
Radio — Liminal Scores, CJSW (June 14, 2023)
Radio — Nightmare Delirium, CJSW (June 11, 2023)
Radio — Tapes and Beyond, Kootenay Co-op Radio (June 8, 2023)
Radio — The Luminous Chord, KBRP (June 8, 2023)
Radio — Expansive Prairie Skies, UMFM (June 7, 2023)
Radio — Electric Sense, CIUT (June 7, 2023)
Radio — Flight Risk, KOPN (June 7, 2023)
Radio — In the Margin of the Other (June 3, 2023)
Radio — Esoterica Etc., WPKN (June 2, 2023)
Radio — The Floating Head of Zsa Zsa, WRUV (May 30, 2023)
Radio/ Interview — Parts Unknown, CITR (May 22, 2023)
Radio — The Freeform NW Show, KAOS (May 17, 2023)
Radio — Other Aspects, WAYO (May 14, 2023)
Radio — Noise, CJSW (May 11, 2023)
Radio — Other Aspects, WAYO (May 7, 2023)
Radio — No Pigeonholes, KOWS (May 4, 2023)
Radio — The Floating Head of Zsa Zsa, WRUV (May 2, 2023)
Radio — Night Light, KVLU (April 29, 2023)
Radio — Electric Sense, CIUT (April 27, 2023)
Radio — New Music Tuesday, Pop Can Radio (April 25, 2023)
Radio — Journey Into Mystery, KMNO (April 20, 2023)
Radio — Lost, Found and Lost Again, CAMP Radio (April 13, 2023)