Metamorphosis by Hayoung Lyou

released May 1, 2020

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"stunning ... draw[s] a comparison with Jarrett's American Quartet" — The Vinyl District 

Hayoung Lyou – piano
Jasper Dütz – alto saxophone, clarinet, bass clarinet
Jacob Shulman – tenor saxophone
Simón Willson – bass
​Dayeon Seok – drums
Wonmi Jung – voice (track 7 only)

Track Listing (all compositions by Hayoung Lyou)
  1. Reason
  2. Metamorphosis
  3. Animus I 
  4. Night Person 
  5. Demian 
  6. Animus II 
  7. Heaven (feat. Wonmi Jung) 
  8. Busan
  9. Animus III
  10. Solitude 
  11. A Sunny Day at Yankee Stadium 

Endectomorph Music Catalog No.
EMM-008
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Recorded by Aaron Nevezie at the Bunker Studio, Brooklyn, NY on September 6-7, 2019 - Mixed by Aaron Nevezie - Mastered by Alex DeTurk - Produced by Jacob Shulman - Cover photo by Eleanor Petry - Design by Knar Hovakimyan - Liner notes by Hayoung Lyou - Total length: 43:39
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Liner Notes

All nine songs on this album were to a certain degree based on my experiencing and contemplating existing works of art. I composed the title song “Metamorphosis” after attending an Ethan Iverson performance at the Village Vanguard. When I came home, I sat at the piano and searched for a melody that reminded me of Ethan. Another inspiration was the novel Demian by German author Hermann Hesse from the 1920s. One section of the book discusses how life is good and evil, and how those two exist at the same time in the shape of Abraxas, the god of the light and dark realms. “Animus” was also inspired by this book, which is a theory by the psychiatrist Carl Jung that refers to “the unconscious masculine side of a woman,” and it relates to the mixed feeling of the good and evil metaphor as well. The reason that “Animus” is split into three tracks and spread out in the album is to evoke the repetition of the dream, where an extremely beautiful woman with masculine features continually appears to the novel’s protagonist.
 
I wanted to integrate these different influences with some important musical considerations as well. The first of these is economy of notes and spaces. I chose fewer notes to allow good notes to ring and have more space, and I also chose appropriate lengths of solo improvisations for the listeners’ peace of mind. The second consideration is a noticeable variety in style, employing by different meters, tempos, and tonalities. The third is the richness of emotion. Emotional music engages audiences more effectively because it more closely resembles the real world, with its combination of love and hatred. To provoke emotional development, I carefully orchestrated dynamics and range to create moments of climax. All of these factors were thoughtfully chosen to enrich the sound and bring the melody closer to the listener.

—Hayoung Lyou

November 2019
New York, NY

Dates

—January 3, 2020: Moonak HOM (Seoul)
—January 8, 2020: N.W.A. Studio (Seoul)
​—January 9, 2020: Club Evans (Seoul)
—December 15, 2020: Scholes Street Studio (Brooklyn)

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