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Deep electrifying cello, chiming clocks, music boxes, ghostly singing. Moody sweet dark emotional beauty. Porcelain dolls, distant memories attached to chiming grandfather clocks, magical delight of opening a treasure box - it plays sweet melody while the ballerina goes round and around and you wonder if she's getting dizzy yet?
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"Mountfort is a cellist with equal interest in classical composition, avant-garde and folk music and this is very much visible all through this disc’s nine tracks. The electrified cello is always the main feature but there is also ample use of bells, music boxes and the occasional vocal addition.
"Mountfort uses the full range of the cello which results in a sound that sometimes is comforting and lulling, at others emotional and heartfelt and if we turn around the corner words like nervous and claustrophobic are more likely to come to mind. That’s quite an achievement, and along the way she manages to create some of the most beautiful cello playing I’ve heard in some time."
"A seminal work made with great craft and care. Its artistry is worth your time and money."
-Sick Borg, www.thepackage.co.nz
History
Francesca started recording her electro-acoustic cello and voice compositions while experimenting with textures and manipulating sounds at Victoria University's music school in Wellington, Aotearoa. Francesca produced her first solo album, Nervous Doll Dancing, in 2004 and is currently working on her second.
Francesca won Best Music Award in the 2004 Wellington Fringe Festival.
She is now based in Melbourne to continue her musical career.
Collaborations / Other Projects
In 2002, in collaboration with dancer and film-maker Youjae Lee, Francesca performed shows integrating dance, film, shadow puppetry and mime, with composed and improvised music for cello and electronics.
In April 2005 Francesca toured Eastern Europe with a crazy cabaret / punk group, the mr sterile Assembly.
Francesca is also a member of Carousel, a quartet of cello, mandolin, guitar and vocals.
In addition, she played in Ascension Band's show 'Electric Symphony: Evolution' - which took the Best Music Award for the 2005 Wellington Fringe Festival, making her a winner for two consecutive years.
See also: Ascension Band
