IFYFOM Release Party at The Loyola Chapel: Filled With Good Souls

It was truly expected, given the long, vast & troubled story of the last four years, that the moments leading up to June 25th echoed the writing of "I Found Your Faces of Montreal". For several weeks, I had been searching for the right venue to both host my friends & family and to mirror the mood that I had envisaged for this album's first showcase. On a chance evening drive to a comedy club in the western Quebec countryside is where Paris-mate Stu & Helen fell into a conversation about multiculturalism & artistic possibilities, centered around The Loyola Chapel. This once Catholic stone church with high arched ceilings had been handed over to the University and it's up-keep & personality was being groomed daily by Helen. A few afternoons later, we sat on the side-door steps and charted out the initial ideas for the release party.

Over the coming weeks, I had the pleasure of rehearsing through the night in this ancient space, becoming familiar with her lights, shadows, acoustics & rustic smells. Like the strongest thread of "I Found Your Faces of Montreal", this first and most special show was pulled forward with the hands of my friends & family.

Truest thanks to Mar for sitting at the center of the chapel & listening for the right mix balance, Roshini for sacrificing 24 hours on a bus to only spend 24 hours in Montreal which most were filled with frantic preparations, Davy for stitching together & projecting the places that we've visited, My dear Toronto friends who made the trip to this city, The many friends that helped move pews & kept the energy flowing, Matei for preserving these moments through photographs, Helen & her crew for their support and extremely gratifying atmosphere, The passersby that walked in & enjoyed these moments, All the souls, both in body & spirit, that couldn't be at the Chapel, your support and love took a seat among us in the intimate cluster of pews.

The night surpassed all of my desires & my fingers felt nimble on the guitar and piano. I had the opportunity to speak with each of you after the performance about your reactions & feelings. I sensed your deep kinship with the music, visuals, atmosphere & their encircling stories. The success of the evening was revealed in those telling moments, when you felt how much you all are intertwined with this 8-song personal diary.

Your incredible generosity through the evening led to a total possible donation of 110$ towards charity. As many of you know, I have been a volunteer with the Canadian Red Cross and I have taken part in various relief efforts. Half of the donation has been given to the Canadian Red Cross to continue to support the victims of the Quebec flooding which began during the spring-thaw. My sister has spearheaded a few programs on behalf of the Lung Association aimed at enhancing our air quality & health. Breath is one of the basic & simple elements of life which is also directly linked to our emotions. The remaining half of the donation has been given to the New Brunswick Lung Association to help contribute to clean air initiatives.

I remember feeling awkward when answering that almost generic question when you meet new people: "So, what do you do?". Standard responses include listing the top line of your resume. Momentum gathered from the immense journey of "I Found Your Faces of Montreal" & this very special evening showcase with you all has solidified that my pool of words to draw from should always begin with musician, artist & to wherever that leads.

The Very Best,

Vish (You Are My Symphonic)

Photography by Matei Dragutescu Photography Alex and Matei

www.alex4d.deviantart.com & www.alexwedding.deviantart.com

From I Found Your Faces of Montreal

From I Found Your Faces of Montreal

I Found Your Faces Of Montreal

Mastered by Mark Beazley of Trace Recordings

300 Limited Edition CD & Digital

Total Running Time: 52:18

Release Date & Launch Event: June 25th, 2011

The Loyola Chapel, Montreal, Canada

Live Set, Visuals, Cocktails for Charity

Event Details Click Here

Press Release:

It seems almost fated that You Are My Symphonic’s love-letter to Montreal would be usurped by his previous stomping-ground but that’s what happened when, during a Toronto stay in 2008, Vishal Kassie’s laptop was stolen. For fans well aware of how location often shapes this songwriter’s muse, the symbolism was particularly treacherous; that the near-finished recordings – which chronicled the forward-thinking changes in Kassie’s Montreal life – managed to evaporate mere hours after he’d stepped foot onto Toronto concrete suggested he’d never left, or grown, at all.

A complete do-over, then, but one Kassie doesn’t lament for a second. In fact, the robbery set the gears in motion for a better album. “It took that moment to shake my guard and help me write some of those lyrics that I truly love now,” Kassie writes from his in-home studio. With the support of his friends and family already tied into the record’s narrative, I Found Your Faces Of Montreal suddenly swelled with new purpose. The record jumped from six songs to eight, while its title track – originally an instrumental – transformed into a lyrical centerpiece. “The aftermath of that whole experience was when I put down the lyrics to the title song,” Kassie remembers. It would be but the first of countless revisions, with each alteration adapting to the promise that one can never truly go back.

Re-recorded over a three-year span, I Found Your Faces Of Montreal also recounts a gradual shift from the electronic apex of 2009’s stopgap release Afternoon Birds Of Arima back to the folky CD-Rs Kassie began handing out nearly a decade ago. Organic instrumentation provides an anchor to You Are My Symphonic’s romantic sensibilities, allowing the lilt of an acoustic guitar (on ‘Meet Me In Trinity’) or a grizzled harmonica (‘My Father And His Sister’) to share space with Kassie’s now trademarked beds of ambience. Driving many of these compositions beyond their electro-acoustic loveliness are Kassie’s vocals, which convey yearning in a way that sharpens the album’s melodious veneer.

By romancing both the city (‘Autumn Will Fall In Love’) and, occasionally, its citizens (‘Rooftop’), these instances act as intersections to the rich, emotional geography of I Found Your Faces Of Montreal. Bracing our nomadic steps with wide-eyed meditations on love, ancestry and distance, You Are My Symphonic has inadvertently written the ideal companion disc for traveling alone. “As painful as it was to restart I Found Your Faces Of Montreal, I wouldn’t trade this new version for anything,” Kassie states, “It sounds right.” And as someone who has worked so hard at rediscovering his sound, it’s befitting that You Are My Symphonic also found home in the process.

Available At:

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I Found Your Faces Of Montreal - Update

I came to Montreal and my friends and family didn't leave the old city but kept appearing to me in the streets, on the metro or at a party. It turned into some kind of a game and I would laugh to myself when I would lock eyes with someone's certain features and bits of personality. I found the faces and the fragments of the people that I knew well while taking a walk with my friends - alone in Montreal.

Last spring, I Found Your Faces Of Montreal was nearly completed but was tragically lost during a daylight robbery. Today, I'm glad to say that its being re-written and has taken on a larger personality than its younger sister.

Some of the tracks are included in the player and stay tuned for further updates! Here is it's summer shape:

1. Meet Me In Trinity

2. Autumn In Summer

3. My Father And His Sister

4. Under Your Umbrella

5. I Found Your Faces Of Montreal

6. Rooftop

7. The Light Across your Face

8. I Traveled Home

9. Tell Me How You Loved The Year

Afternoon Birds Of Arima

Last summer, my good friends Richard and Keisha asked me in their casual way to write the notes that would start their lives together. The character of the next three seasons found their way into Afternoon Birds of Arima which was played at their wedding at Santa Rosa Catholic Church in Arima, Trinidad and Tobago on May 16th, 2009. This album also marks the 22 years it took for me to return to my birthplace and to explore a life that I once knew.

The Northeast trade winds that we felt pass through the curtains recaptured those childhood images that became faded and helped paint the lines of the pages that you'll write together.

For Richard And Keisha.

(Link Replaced by Bandcamp.com)

1. Afternoon Birds Of Arima (Opening Credits)

2. Almost Time (Flower Girls)

3. Painted Lines (The Bride)

4. Walk Out With Me (Leaving Santa Rosa)

5. Rainfall In Arima (Closing Credits) - Vocals By Anna Farago

Looking forward to your comments or email me at youaremysymphonic@gmail.com !