KAY HOFFMAN - FLORET SILVA 1977-78 PROGRESSIVE FOLK w/ PIERROT LUNAIRE SEALED LP

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KAY HOFFMAN – Floret Silva. Sommor Records SOMM 029. Spanish release. FACTORY SEALED NEW VINYL RECORD ALBUM. Originally recorded between the summer of 1977 through the winter of 1978 in Florence, Italy at Maurizio Pieri’s home studio. First issue (vinyl LP) in 1985 on the Japanese label Belle Antique. This edition issued in 2015 with master tape sound. Includes a 4-page insert with liner notes and photos. MUSICIANS:  Jacqueline Darby (main vocals, chorus), Kay Hoffman (clavinet, piano, vocals), Simo Valzania (guitars, bass, violin, vocals, recorders, bouzouki, toy organ, glockenspiel, percussion, scacciapensieri), Gaio Chiocchio (electric guitar), Alessandro Raimondi (drums, percussion), Michelle Losappio (flute trombone, piano, Fender Thodes), Nicola Vernuccio (bass, plucked & bowed counter-bass), Sauro Aibisani (tenor & contralto sax, clarinet), Tolmino Marianini (trumpet), Carlo Bardi (fagott), and Gianni Salaroni (electric guitar). TRACKS:  Iste Mundus, Floret Silva, Exorcisms, Intermezzo Chume Chume, Ich Will Truren, Rondo, Mai Tanz, Quot Sunt Horae, Tot, Sonus Dulcis Lyrae, Ouverture Zum Fest, Intermezzo Fagott Sommer Nacht Promenade, Tempus Instat, Langueo Vaccilantis, Chume Chume, Nummus, and Post Communio Sancti Cyrilli. DESCRIPTION:  The tumultuous history of Kay Hoffman’s 1977 progressive folk opus Floret Silva is perhaps hazy at best among aficionados of underground psych folk and Italian prog; its story is worth mentioning for both the deep collector and the uninitiated. Hoffman was an Italian composer who endeavored to set parts of the legendary Carmina Burana — basically a Thirteenth Century Northern European manuscript containing a series of mostly anonymous religious and spiritual poetry — to music. Assisted by the Italian progressive rock band Pierrot Lunaire (and most notably the vocals of singer Jacqueline Darby and multi-instrumentalist Gaio Chiocchio), Hoffman composed and produced Floret Silva, an ambitious recording that combined elements of psych folk, psychedelic rock, and Italian prog with overtones of Medieval choral music. Due to a number of factors, including deadlines not met, and possibly the passage of the Seventies psych folk zeitgeist into the void, Floret Silva was not released in 1978 as was Hoffman’s original intention. It was not until 1985 that it received its debut on a small Japanese label, Belle Antique, where it received precious little in the way of international exposure. Finally, three decades later, Floret Silva has been issued in remastered and impeccably packaged form on Robot Records. Now that psych folk and “wyrd folk” artists such as Jan Dukes de Grey have begun to achieve renewed popularity among the indie rock/free folk scene, the album has finally been reissued to greater fanfare than Hoffman could have perhaps imagined, though still it seems destined to remain an obscurity. Sounding at times like the precursor to the music of Dead Can Dance, Floret Silva contains eerie passages of instrumental rock and medieval folk, and has the somewhat unusual distinction of featuring lyrics sung entirely in Latin, courtesy of the aforementioned Jacqueline Darby. Although the record is heavily informed by progressive rock and even a healthy dose of jazz at times and chamber prog at others, it falls firmly within the purview of what is commonly known as psych (or acid) folk. Replete with flutes, harpsichord, strings, and melancholic acoustic guitar, Floret Silva is a druggy synthesis of traditional music, medieval chants, and somewhat dated-sounding Seventies musical ornamentation. But despite Hoffman’s tendency to push the limits of the genre via her experimental and highly unorthodox arrangements (Hoffman’s métier was composition in a minimalist style), the album’s pastoral pieces sound entirely as suitable for romps around the maypole as those of, say, Clive’s Original Band (COB). On most of these tracks, particularly on the vocal pieces, there is a palpable and frequently unsettling Wicker Man vibe at work here. Unlike the more definitive progenitors of the psych-folk genre — Fairport Convention, Comus, Incredible String Band et al. — Kay Hoffman’s album is unfortunately marred by both its late emergence into the scene and its Seventies musical affectations (though I hold neither against it; a case of what goes around comes around). The production values on Floret Silva would not have been sorely out of place on one of Creed Taylor’s CTI records such as Hubert Laws Rite Of Spring, for example. Floret Silva is a strange and intriguing release that gives the listener a welcome insight into a different, more eclectic, aspect of the genre. And truth be told, it remains a hauntingly beautiful album (of any generation) that will leave its impression resonating with the listener for a considerable length of time.   

THIS ITEM IS NEW AND UNPLAYED. Used items will include condition details for the cover, disc, inserts, etc.

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SS or SLD:  Still Sealed or Sealed (or some variation of sealed depending on how many characters I have left in the title line). This item is new and unplayed. Also appears in the listing description as Sealed LP or Factory Sealed LP.

NEW LP:  This item is new and unplayed, but was received from a supplier without being shrink wrapped or cellophane wrapped; more common on imports but also many of the smaller independent US labels do not seal their LPs.

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RE:  Reissue

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MIX:  This sometimes appears in my title line and refers to a group's/artist's music having a mix of styles such a rock track with jazz then followed by a straight rock track followed by a psych rock track, etc., as opposed to a blues album with the album's tracks having predominantly one style.

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