Alexis Castrogiovanni - 'Upstream'
Photo credit: Rafael Claros-Flores
Montreal-based cellist Alexis Castrogiovanni plays with experimental influences in suspenseful performance video, ‘Upstream’.
Alexis Castrogiovanni combines the avant-garde folk stylings of Joanna Newsom with the smouldering trip hop meets Jazz tones of Portishead on ‘Upstream’. ‘Upstream’ is a beguiling song that makes use of moody, spacious, dramatic textures, led by hypnotic, looped Pizzicato which is interjected by raw brass textures and crashing percussion.
Castrogiovanni’s remarkable vocal haunts the track with an earthy yet ethereal folk tone, shivering with intrigue as her storytelling carries a melancholic and thumping warning for us to take agency of our own lives, as Castrogiovanni explains:
“This is a song for people who are not always proud of their "blood," or of where they come from. Like a salmon's life-and-death struggle upstream, it can be a battle to understand who we are, and to believe that our selves and our destinies are not necessarily dictated by our blood. To a large extent, for better or worse, we have the power to choose the course of our lives”.
This performance video for ‘Upstream’ was recorded live in Ottawa, Ontario in 2019. An album version will be recorded and included on Castrogiovanni’s debut album, which excitingly is scheduled for release later this year.
Words of Karla Harris