Adrianne Munden-Dixon is a violinist, improviser, and composer (in addition to being a yoga instructor and former competitive surfer!) who has been energizing the contemporary classical music scene for several years now. She is pursuing her career in Montreal and New York. Moreover, if you attend the scene of classical, improv and avant-garde music in Montreal, you see her regularly in various ensembles. Vision Mantra is her second album, following Lung in 2023, which was received with great enthusiasm right here.
READ THE REVIEW OF ADRIANNE MUNDEN-DIXON’S PREVIOUS ALBUM (LUNG) – in French
Vision Mantra stands out as a logical continuation in terms of quality and originality. I would like to quote here from the artist Rosalie Chrétien, who offers a rather successful description of the album:
“Vision Mantra is like light breaking through a fractured window after a storm. The diffused glow alleviates tension, while thunder still rumbles in the distance. A true sonic catharsis, Adrianne Munden-Dixon’s playing is raw and visceral, sometimes evoking a swarm of angry bees about to attack, sometimes the shimmer of dew covering a bed of moss at dawn.“
I have nothing more to say except that Munden-Dixon manages to blend contemporary violin and electronics in a stimulating and, above all, non-hermetic way. Unlike several other so-called avant-garde artists, it is not necessary to tear your hair out to fully enter the experimental universe of the Montreal-New Yorker. It requires our attention, as all good scholarly and creative music must do, but the pleasure is always present. The pleasure of textures, sounds, atmospheres. One of the reasons is that Munden-Dixon’s music is not strictly atonal or abstract. The violinist floats in weightlessness somewhere between abstraction and dreamlike lyricism. As a result, we are both seduced and surprised, soothed and destabilized.
The digital processing is particularly successful, with remarkably diverse and relevant sound textures. Reverberation effects, glitches, crystalline shards that recall glass scattering on the floor, etc. The album is divided into six works commissioned from as many artists, for which Adrianne Munden-Dixon collaborates by working on the creation of electronic textures. Some of the pieces are played in trio format with violist Carrie Frey and cellist Julia Henderson.
In the end, we find ourselves facing an exploration process that has nothing in common with the proverbial ivory tower. On the contrary, Munden-Dixon maintains the dialog with our ears, our minds, and our emotions with great attention and effectiveness.
Vision Mantra is a great success. Munden-Dixon is so good that we allow ourselves to be selfish and wish she would become 100% Montrealer! Sorry New York, she’s THAT good!
