Meredith Monk’s debut album Key reissued on vinyl

“Each song became a world in itself.”

Tompkins Square label will reissue counterculture artist, composer and filmmaker Meredith Monk’s 1971 debut album Key for Record Store Day 2017.

Composed and performed between 1967 add 1970, the album includes Monk’s earliest compositions for voice and forms a 45-minute “invisible theatre” experience. In her words:

“In Key I wanted to create a constantly shifting ambience. Each song dealt with a different vocal character, landscape, technical concern or emotional quality. I was trying for a visceral, kinetic song form that had the abstract qualities of a painting or a dance.

“I knew that I didn’t want to set music to a text; for me, the voice itself was a language which seemed to speak more eloquently than words. I chose certain phonemes for their particular sound qualities. In a sense, each song became a world in itself with its own timbre, texture and impulse.”

Available on Record Store Day, which takes place on 22 April, the reissue features a textured cover and original inset images and notes.