Charming French seasides, passionate flamenco, Italian fishing villages, Istanbul markets full of all sorts of wonderful spices. On ‘Mediterranean’ Belle Chen takes inspiration from the structural construct of concept albums by artists such as Marvin Gaye and Frank Zappa, and combines the language of classical music with reconstructed field recordings to recreate locations from around the Med.

Belle captured hours of on-location field recordings and sourced additional samples in attempt to construct sonic images specific to her experiences and observations. The hours of listening back to captured material allowed her to pick out specific ambience and musicality of interesting sounds. Belle then researched libraries of classical music composers that were specific to the location and/or wrote works inspired by the location. Then from the filtered list, there were hours of experimenting to find the repertoire of best fit to illustrate Belle’s experiences.

The composers featured in this album include Maurice Ravel, Francis Poulenc, Isaac Albéniz, Federico Mompou, Domenico Scarlatti, Franz Liszt, and Fazıl Say. Belle’s vision is to explore how sounds from the ‘real world’ can be integrated into the realm of classical music to create a different listening experience. All her works are inspired by her love to travel and exploration, and motivated by the stories and shared experiences of the people she meets through travel.

“Original and provocative”– Brian Eno

“Hugely impressive - have a listen, she’s terrific” – James Rhodes

“At the forefront of UK’s new wave of experimental classical musicians” – China Sohu News