Laurel MacDonald • Luscinia's Lullaby • The Songs

Luscinia (pronounced 'loo-SHI-nee-ya') is the latin name for the genus nightingale: the nocturnal songbird, the night singer.

1. Nenia Sirenes
Philip Strong wrote this piece for Toronto Dance Theatre's 2001 production Persephone's Lunch. The original version was a collage made from a small number of individual sung phrases - outtakes from Laurel's vocal recordings for another project - which Phil looped, pitch-shifted and reassembled into this new composition. Laurel then rerecorded each of the parts to eliminate the digital processing artifacts that had come about as a result of the pitch-shifting, to reclaim the sonic fidelity.

2. Ysaiophony • translation
This piece is Phil's adaptation of the vocal work Ysaias Cecinit, by an anonymous composer associated with the school of Notre Dame in Paris during the late 12th century. (Ysaiophony is an invented word, however the text Ysaias cecinit is latin.) Ysaiophony was adapted for Toronto Dance Theatre, also for the production Persephone's Lunch. Ian de Souza plays electric bass.

3. Luscinia's Lullaby
Laurel wrote this song for Moze Mossanen's 2003 film The Year of the Lion, to accompany a dance trio choreographed by Matjash Mrozewski. Andrew Downing is featured on acoustic bass, Kim Ratcliffe on electric guitar, Daniel Barnes on drums and Jayne Maddison on violin.

4. Flutter
Philip Strong originally wrote this piece for Toronto Dance Theatre's 2003 production Sly Verb. Phil asked Laurel to sing the main melodic figure with random breathing: that is, breathing in unexpected places, and never at the same place from one overdubbed layer of the melody to the next. He likened the effect to that of a flock of birds, trying to fly in synchronization, and stumbling a little, dropping a beat every now and again. Phil plays clay drum and Andrew Downing appears on acoustic bass.

5. Envelope of Many
A study in long envelopes of crescendo and decrescendo, this piece also appears in the dance Sly Verb. The long crossfade relationship between Envelope of Many and the previous piece Flutter has been retained here as it is in the stage version.

6. Song for this Child
Laurel wrote this piece on the occasion of the birth of her first niece Jillian. Andrew Downing is on double bass and Kim Ratcliffe is on acoustic guitar; Laurel plays electric guitar.

7. Cadal Chan Fhaigh Mi • translation
A traditional scottish gaelic song; the title means 'I can get no sleep'. Here Phil plays his toob drum, an instrument which he built using a series of tuned ABS tubes. He also plays a Cajun triangle, and Laurel is spinning a vacuum hose through the air - at varying speeds, to create movement up and down the harmonic series - producing the sound featured on the instrumental breaks.

8. Beauty Found Me • lyrics
Phil and Laurel wrote the original version of this song for Moze Mossanen's 2002 dance film The Rings of Saturn, to accompany a duet by choreographer Robert Desrosiers. Jayne Maddison is on violin, Anne Bourne plays cello, Ian de Souza is on electric bass, and Phil plays electric guitar.

9. Murmur of Pearl
This is a minimal variation of another piece that Laurel wrote for Moze Mossanen's dance film The Year of the Lion. Jayne Maddison again appears on violin, and Andrew Downing on double bass.

10. Sirenaria
Phil also wrote the original version of this piece for Toronto Dance Theatre's production Persephone's Lunch. Andrew Downing is featured on acoustic bass, with Kim Ratcliffe on acoustic guitar, and Phil on percussion.