Vyvienne Long
‘Live with The Balenscu Quartet and The Blunnie Sisters’
Vyvienne dissappeared and re-emerged with a crop of her songs completely rearranged for the addition of The Balenscu Quartet. The newly formed quintet embarked on a gruelling Irish tour and the hard work paid off. The Blunnie backing vocal machine kept the wheels from falling off the wagon and they eventually made a live recording of her monumental effort. I did some posters and flyers for the tour and wrapped the resulting CD.
“Vyvienne Long is a boldly inventive creator of silken riches and her first live album strikes a pose, with staccato drama. Her cello insinuates itself across the Balanescu’s filigree of sound, with percussive plucking and bowing, whorls of layered sound. A careful lyricist, Long enunciates her songs with striking clarity. It is important to her that her words are heard and that the sound pictures fire in her listeners’ imaginations.”