Granite to Glass
Brooklyn, NY | Established. Jan 01, 2016 | INDIE
Music
Press
Jon Kohen’s Granite to Glass is chamber ensemble is much different than others, emphasizing an indie-folk sound that is both vibrant and welcoming. He created an incredible soundscape for track “With Every Rainfall”, and the same can be said for its accompanying visual. While the song takes its time revealing its multiple layers, the video is a vivid masterpiece from the beginning, playing with color and contrast, emphasizing small moments in a relationship. A flurry of scenery changes remind us of our own memory banks. Explains Kohen:
This piece challenges time as an A to B progression, from birth and death, to love and loss. We as human beings experience time linearly. But if time is viewed from the perspective of the universe, life as we know it is one solid chunk of existence, nonlinear and unbroken, each of its moments existing forever.
Everything and everyone has been, is, and always will be. Those we loved who are gone from this world maintain a presence forever in time itself. The rainfall metaphor represents the possibility of time traveling from moment to moment. Hearing literal whispers of past conversations every time it rains. - Imperfect Fifth
Discography
- Released: 2017
- Label: Independent
- Music & Lyrics: Jon Kohen
- Engineered by: Sean Patterson & Nick Campbell
- Mixed by: Sean Patterson
- Mastered by: Brandon Vaccaro
- Orchestra & Choir Arrangements: Derek J. Weagle
Photos
Bio
Brooklyn-based indie-folk chamber ensemble Granite to Glass strives to envelop each audience in positive introspection with which to heal and reflect.
For several years, singer songwriter Jon Kohen performed as a solo act based in Lowell, MA, self-releasing electro-acoustic works such as The Heart of the Machine and Dead Reckoning. In 2016, Kohen joined forces with a string ensemble to record his acoustic project Curse the Darkness, Or Create a Light. Inspired by the emotional power of this collaboration, Kohen formed Granite to Glass in essence with his newfound artistic direction of weaving intricate strings into his arresting music.
Granite to Glass’ debut LP For When You Need This features an orchestra and choir of over 50 performing artists from the University of Massachusetts Lowell, New England Conservatory, and Greater Boston area. Imperfect Fifth described the music video behind With Every Rainfall (Track#5) as "a vivid masterpiece from the beginning, playing with color and contrast, emphasizing small moments in a relationship."
Shortly after the LP’s release, Kohen moved to Brooklyn, NY, and invited Jen Ho (violin) and Gavin Hsu (cello) to relaunch Granite to Glass with the addition of King of Nowhere frontman Jesse French, jazz multi-instrumentalist Neal Rosenthal, and percussionist Sam Parsons to comprise the 6-piece ensemble. Weaving Kohen's haunting lyrics with ethereal vocals and illustrative string arrangements, the group brings together each of their diverse artistic stories to seek fragility and hope in even the darkest and most unyielding places.
A self-titled LP, self-recorded in their cozy basement studio, is set for release late Spring 2020.
Band Members
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