Ensemble volcanic ash best of jazz albums

Jazztimes

Ensemble volcanic ash best of jazz albums

Bandcamp

“There’s no end to the melodic intensity of Ensemble Volcanic Ash. Even at its lushest and most approachable, Janel Leppin delivers the music with a resolute force of will. A mix of chamber jazz, art rock, contemporary classical, and electronic music, this music manifests not so much as the byproduct of its influences but more as an evolutionary process, where the direct line between cause and effect isn’t nearly so clear. Joined by bassist Luke Stewart, harpist Kim Sator, guitarist Anthony Pirog, drummer Larry Ferguson, alto saxophonist Sarah Huges, and tenor saxophonist Brian Settles, the cellist delivers one of the most dramatic recordings of 2022.”

“The concept of evolution comes up a lot in this year’s Best Jazz on Bandcamp round-up. In the context of jazz, the meaning is typically framed as one of transformative changes from the genre’s nascent rag, bop, and swing. But more to the point of this column, the evolution is viewed through the lens of individual musicians, and how their own creative trajectory manifests a notable plateau, where a recording represents a watershed moment in an artist’s life—the totality of their searching, experimentation, and striving. But in any context you choose to apply it, this evolution represents the strength of the modern scene.”

Ensemble volcanic ash best of jazz albums

Capital Bop

2. JANEL LEPPIN’S ENSEMBLE VOLCANIC ASH, ‘ENSEMBLE VOLCANIC ASH’

“Cinematic. Unrelenting. Brash. Tender. These are just a few terms that might help capture the majesty and mystique of the debut recording of cellist Janel Leppin’s Ensemble Volcanic Ash. The ensemble includes an all-star cast of area musicians: Brian Settles on tenor saxophone, Sarah Hughes on alto, Larry Ferguson on drums, Kim Sator on harp, Luke Stewart on bass and Anthony Pirog on guitar.

Listening to the album’s 11 tracks in one sitting feels like getting lost in an ever-changing dreamscape, surrounded by a midsummer night’s kaleidoscope of textures, colors, rhythms and emotions. Compositions can change mode and mood in an instant: the nine-minute expanse of “Woven Forest” starts in a roiling sea of drums, bass, guitar, cello and saxophone before transforming into a sharp, chamber music-meets-the Stooges sprint. That track reveals the deep influence that Alice Coltrane has throughout the record, with Leppin drawing particularly from Coltrane’s early-1970s work. Settles channels Joe Henderson on “Forest,” blowing a deep sound that could wake the dead; the group builds a delicate-yet-firm baroque monument on “A Palace for Alice,” balancing heavenly melodies with free-improv brash. Leppin’s genius is on full display here, with wonderfully penned compositions and masterful playing throughout. Her best moment might be her solo on the penultimate “Leaving The Woods,” which evolves from an enveloping dance of long and short, mid-range bowing to a haunting keen. It shakes the soul to its core, as truly great music can.” — J.S.

Ensemble volcanic ash best of jazz albums

Bandcamp july

“It’s rare to encounter a recording with the kind of melodic richness delivered by the latest from Janel Leppin. The magic of the melodies on Ensemble Volcanic Ash is in both their voicing and their motion, behaving like a river that marks the path and carries passengers along by the force of its currents. The mix of chamber jazz, art rock, contemporary classical, and electronic music are merely facets through which the melodies becomes focused, like glass soaking in sunbeams and spitting it back out in a prismatic light show. I’m pretty addicted to this record, and don’t anticipate that waning any time soon; your results may vary—but I doubt it. Joining Leppin are bassist Luke Stewart, harpist Kim Sator, guitarist Anthony Pirog, drummer Larry Ferguson, alto saxophonist Sarah Huges, and tenor saxophonist Brian Settles.”

Ensemble volcanic ash best of jazz albums So far

Capital Bop

“Janel Leppin has, blessedly and finally, allowed her 10-year-old musical project Ensemble Volcanic Ash to take recorded wings and fly into the universe. Featuring harpist Kim Sator, saxophonists Brian Settles and Sarah Hughes, bassist Luke Stewart, guitarist Anthony Pirog, drummer Larry Ferguson and Leppin on cello and keyboards, Ensemble Volcanic Ash has, thus far, been a D.C.-specific institution whose music could only be experienced live, usually within the confines of the city. Now, with the release of her group’s self-titled debut — which is already getting wide attention — Leppin delivers a potent dose of beauty to a world in desperate need of it. Her medicine is as boundless and rewarding as ever.

This is an omnivore’s recording that flutters between definitional boundaries. Ensemble Volcanic Ash will fit neatly into any number of music libraries, whether focused on jazz, punk, spiritual music, various forms of classical music, or the rewarding spaces in between those traditions. The music itself is exquisite. Each listen uncovers delicious new experiences, whether through the blast of Pirog and Leppin’s ripping interplay on “She Had Synesthesia,” the spine-tingling opening chords of “I Pose,” or one of the rare and precious moments throughout the record when Sator’s harp is exposed and leading the band.

This artwork is truly the sum of its parts; each song is a world in an infinitely textured universe, and each musician is a vibrant thread sewn within an expertly crafted weaving.” - Abe Mamet

The 17th Annual Francis Davis Jazz Poll: A Profusion of Geniuses

EVA #46 out of 510 jazz releases voted on by 150+ jazz journalists

The Heart Sutra and Sister Mirror featured on Bandcamp read here

The Wire Magazine reviews The Heart Sutra

read here

JAZZTIMES EDITOR'S PICK  

"Janel Leppin is a picture of versatility. Not only has she been a pillar of Washington, D.C.’s cre- ative music community for the last 20 years, but the cellist, composer, arranger, and singer has made significant marks in other scenes as well. She’s contributed cello arrangements to the Messthetics, played with punk outfit Priests, and records art-pop under the Mellow Diamond moniker. Leppin leans into a jazz-centric vision on the majestic and occa- sionally abrasive Ensemble Volcanic Ash, which affirms her place as a boundless musician who constantly leaves the listener intrigued. It’s a puzzle in which jazz, chamber music, contemporary classical, and punk seamlessly coalesce with bracing results. 

Ensemble Volcanic Ash, comprising Leppin, bassist Luke Stewart, harpist Kim Sator, guitarist Anthony Pirog, alto saxophonist Sarah Hughes, tenor saxophonist Brian Settles, and drummer Larry Fergu- son, exquisitely captures strings-driven melody, harmony, and noise at a furious clip. They both tug at the heartstrings and bust ears. Leppin’s shimmering yet melancholy cello opens on a classical note on “Children of the Water,” setting a charged tone. “Woven Forest” is uplifting in a Coltrane-esque sense before putting the pedal to the metal at the halfway point, in which Pirog (also of the Messthetics, and Lep- pin’s husband and frequent collaborator) sprays heavy doses of guitar skronk.

The nine-minute epic establishes Leppin as clear leader of this mighty troupe, her bows, scrapes, and clatter illuminating a wide range of soul-baring emotions while her band serves as a rhythmic beacon of light. Ensemble Volcanic Ash runs the gamut of the meditative (“Her Hand Is His Score”), the spiritual-jazzy (“Clarity”), and the punkish freakout (“She Had Synesthesia”) with near-effortless command on its dazzling debut." – Brad Cohan / Jazztimes EDITOR'S PICK  

THE BEST JAZZ ON BANDCAMP: JULY 2022 

"It’s rare to encounter a recording with the kind of melodic richness delivered by the latest from Janel Leppin. The magic of the melodies on Ensemble Volcanic Ash is in both their voicing and their motion, behaving like a river that marks the path and carries passengers along by the force of its currents. 
The mix of chamber jazz, art rock, contemporary classical, and electronic music are merely facets through which the melodies becomes focused, like glass soaking in sunbeams and spitting it back out in a prismatic light show. 

I’m pretty addicted to this record, and don’t anticipate that waning any time soon; your results may vary—but I doubt it." – Dave Sumner / The Best Jazz on Bandcamp: July 2022 

4.5/5 STARS ALL MUSIC

"Washington D.C.-based cellist Janel Leppin introduces her stylistically wide-ranging and experimental collective Ensemble Volcanic Ash on their 2022 eponymous debut. An impressively hard-to-pin-down artist, Leppin is a conservatory-trained performer whose music has often straddled the line between ambient pop, edgy, guitar-based indie rock, and avant-garde improvisation. With Ensemble Volcanic Ash, Leppin leans heavily into the latter, bringing together her ear for classical composition with spiraling, free jazz improvisation and cinematic soundscapes. Joining her in the group is her husband, guitarist/keyboardist Anthony Pirog, with whom she first became known for their equally genre-crossing duo albums. Also featured are bassist Luke Stewart, harpist Kim Sator, drummer Larry Ferguson, alto saxophonist Sarah Hughes, and tenor saxophonist Brian Settles. Together, they play a deeply textural and atmospheric brand of instrumental music that feels like it could be a soundtrack for an art film.

The opening "Children of Water" has a mournful quality, like a film noir theme for a movie set in the Middle Ages. Equally compelling, "Woven Forest" has a roiling, minor-key cello groove over which the group trade twisting, harmonically adventurous solos. Yet more languid, "I Pose" is a shimmering tone poem in which Leppin's darkly attenuated cello is offset by fairy-wing flute and harp accents before crashing together against waves of saxophone and electric guitar. The rest of the album follows suit, much of which sounds like a fever-dream collaboration between chamber string ensemble Bang on a Can, saxophonist Roscoe Mitchell, and noise-rock outfit Sonic Youth."

Salt Peanuts

"American cellist-composer (and textile artist) Janel Leppin’s Ensemble Volcanic Ash materialized after years of incubation on Washington D.C.’s verdant new music, art rock jazz and improvised music scenes. Leppin has worked with most of the musicians of this seven-piece ensemble for over a decade, including husband Anthony Pirog (with whom Leppin played in the duo Janel & Anthony) and bassist Luke Stewart (of Irreversible Entanglements fame), and created a unique, genre-bending sonic palette, with fascinating cinematic qualities.

Leppin’s compositions for the Ensemble Volcanic Ash tell suggestive, colorful stories. The opening, brief piece «Children of the Water» set the chamber and elegant, emphatic yet deeply sensual emotional territory of the album. The following «Woven Forest» relies on a driving groove that propels the solos of Leppin and alto sax player Sarah Hughes and later a scorching one of Pirog. The mini-suite «She Had Synesthesia» and «Her Hand is his Score» cement the telepathic dynamics of Leppin and Pirog, both are not shy from raw and ecstatic eruptions. «I Pose» patiently builds an incantatory, powerful cello-driven climax evoking transcendence. «Silvia’s Path», referring to poet Sylvia Plath, is a minimalist piece that celebrates Philip Glass-like repetitive patterns.

Leppin’s most impressive compositions are the last ones on the albums. The album’s centerpiece, the nine-minute «Volcano’s Song», was inspired by Leppin’s flight during the 2010 eruption of Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull volcano after a long European tour, but its seductive, cyclical melody owes much to the avant-klezmer of John Zorn’s Masada book of compositions. «A Palace for Alice» was inspired by the mystic-spiritual music of Alice Coltrane, and especially by Coltrane’s «Journey in Satchidananda» (Impulse, 1971), and highlights the playing of harpist Kim Sator and sax player Hughes. Leppin closes the album with the first song she ever composed, the beautiful melancholic but somehow unsentimental ballad «Leaving the Woods», which she first recorded on the 2012 album of Janel & Anthony (Pirog) «Where is Home» (Cuneiform). - Eyal Hareuveni, Salt Peanuts

THE QUIETUS

COMPLETE COMMUNION: JAZZ FOR JULY REVIEWED BY PETER MARGASAK

Like an increasing number of creative musicians Washington D.C. cellist and composer Janel Leppin has no interest staying within the confines of any given genre or musical world. She’s worked in various contexts with her guitar-playing husband Anthony Pirog and a couple of years ago she released a stunning chamber ensemble performance of The Heart Sutra, a Susan Alcorn suite. On this new album she carries on, open to where curiosity leads her, with a dedicated, versatile group going along with her…her knack for multi-partite compositions that keep opening up new sound worlds is all her own. ‘Woven Forest’, one such piece, ricochets through numerous shifts, with tender melody and heady grooves supported by nifty arrangements that endlessly reorient the rhythm section (bassist Luke Stewart and drummer Larry Ferguson), the horns (saxophonists Brian Settles and Sarah Hughes) and the strings (Leppin, Pirog, and harpist Kim Sator), while carving out space for extended improvisation, including a ripping guitar solo. The richly varied improvisations are seamlessly interwoven into lapidary arrangements, whether rock-driven or propelled by off-kilter swing. Her ease in so many contexts never attracts attention in and of itself. Instead, her writing seems to simply require such range..there’s a lot of goodness to digest.” - Peter Margasak, The Quietus

On a really good night, it only takes seven people on a stage to make you feel impossibly hopeful for the other 7.8 billion or so on Earth. Like on Saturday night at Rhizome, where Janel Leppin’s Ensemble Volcanic Ash created a 30-minute jazzlike surge that embodied all the complexity and grace of human cooperation — that intuitive, empathetic, semi-telepathic teamwork thing that helps set us apart as a species." - The Washington Post on Ensemble Volcanic Ash

"Two collaborators, two performances, two live recordings and when you add everything up, it sounds something like infinity... Listen deeply, then listen again. " - The Washington Post on The Heart Sutra

"These nine songs press heavenward with exquisite emotion." - The Wire Adventures in Modern Music on The Heart Sutra

"Leppin’s ability to transcend classical training on the cello to this new wave of eclectic, experimental music makes her music so interesting to listen to. Leppin is bringing a whole new style to the table." - Aquarian Weekly on Janel Leppin

"Instrumental intimacy swept up in arrangements that cluster around her voice, as delicate and as imposing as a sheet of falling ice.” NPR Music on Janel Leppin

Janel Leppin’s Ensemble Volcanic Ash Live Washington Post review

On a really good night, it only takes seven people on a stage to make you feel impossibly hopeful for the other 7.8 billion or so on Earth. Like on Saturday night at Rhizome, where Janel Leppin’s Ensemble Volcanic Ash created a 30-minute jazzlike surge that embodied all the complexity and grace of human cooperation — that intuitive, empathetic, semi-telepathic teamwork thing that helps set us apart as a species.

As a cellist and a composer, Leppin has been leading this revolving-cast ensemble for years, but its current iteration includes the most exciting musicians in D.C.’s jazz and improvised music scene: bassist Luke Stewart, saxophonists Sarah Hughes and Brian Settles, guitarist Anthony Pirog, harpist Kim Sator and drummer Larry Ferguson. Each player has their own distinct touch, and inside Leppin’s compositions, the collective seemed to be approaching maximum sensitivity, generating momentum without grandeur, cultivating intimacy without sentimentality.

Everyone on the bandstand clearly wanted everyone else to be heard. Stewart is one of the community’s most reliable mainstays (he plays in Irreversible Entanglements, Blacks’ Myths and other pathfinding groups), and his stout bass lines provided the steppingstones in Leppin’s music. The saxophonists were an astonishing pair: Hughes’s inquisitive phrases seemed to ask questions of Settles’s monumental tone. Ferguson was precise on his drums and dashing on his cymbals — the sound a typewriter might make if it could shimmer. On the harp, Sator spoke in euphoric glissandi and thoughtful pinpricks, while Pirog’s wobbling guitar tone replied in playful smears.

Leppin sat at the center of it all, physically and sonically, maintaining an imposing posture over her cello, as if literally trying to wrestle new sounds out of it. The plunging groans she summoned from her strings felt like an invitation to sink deeper into the music, and whenever Leppin threw her head back toward her bandmates, she didn’t seem to be signaling changes so much as expressing her approval of where everything was going.

And everything was going great. Here were seven very different people making those differences work together — true model-of-utopia stuff, especially in the concert’s hushed denouement, when the division of labor finally got a little smudged. Where were those music-box twinkles coming from? Pirog’s guitar or Sator’s harp? And was that soft-focus circular melody coming from Hughes’s saxophone or Leppin’s cello? After a half-hour of speaking to one another, the players now seemed to be speaking for one another, establishing an equanimity that no one individual could take credit for.

In that delicate, group-mind moment, it was easy to think about the fate of our big, dumb species; how human cooperation, even on a planetary scale, will depend on listening; and how so vast an undertaking might start on a humble Saturday night like this. - Chris Richards, The Washington Post

The Soft Pink Truth features The Heart Sutra on BBC 6 Freak Zone

"Another evening the cellist Janel Leppin created arrangements for a number of Alcorn’s compositions, leading an exquisite chamber ensemble featuring violist Eyvind King, clarinetist Doug Weiselman, bassist Skuli Sverrisson, guitarist Anthony Pirog and vocalist Jessika Kenney, the results of which were released this year as The Heart Sutra on Stephen O’Malley’s Ideologic Organ imprint. The recording reveals the tempestuous grandeur, dramatic scale, and lyric splendor of her compositions - rippled with traces of Indian and Arabic overtones - which had previously been used only in her solo performances." - Shan Wallace The Wire Adventures in Modern Music

“Four new digital-only (for now) deep listens from Stephen O’Malley’s Ideologic Organ imprint open paths of possibility for inward exploration… On The Heart Sutra, the stunning melodies of celebrated improvisor and pedal steel guitarist Susan Alcorn are given lush life through arrangements by cellist and composer Janel Leppin. Performed as by an ensemble curated by Leppin during Alcorn’s 2012 Issue Project Room residency, these nine songs press heavenward with exquisite emotion. On “Suite for Ahl”, viola, cello, bass, clarinet, and guitar wind around Jessika Kenney’s peerless mezzo-soprano as it soars to piercing heights before dividing into a squall of squeaking strings. The cover art for this release features a weaving by Leppin of an abstracted portrait of Alcorn, bent over her pedal steel in a gesture of devotion. The Marian quality of this image is underscored by the title of the album’s final composition, “And I Await The Resurrection Of The Pedal Steel Guitar”. This track was arranged by violist and composer Eyvind Kang who emphasizes the pockets of silence between densely teeming melodic gestures.” - Emily Pothast The Wire Magazine  

“Susan Alcorn’s pedal steel guitar appears everywhere and nowhere on The Heart Sutra, recorded during a 2012 Issue Project Room residency in Brooklyn. There is nothing casual about cellist Janel Leppin’s eight arrangements (plus one by violist Eyvind Kang), which translate Alcorn’s nuanced bends, slides, whispers, and extended techniques into avant-chamber music. Holding a quiet tension between healing glissandos and bristling disruptions, The Heart Sutra is live music in the classical sense, created for the occasion of a specific performance. Alcorn’s pedal steel emerges as an ambient ghost between voice, bass clarinet, and other tonalities that draw out the richness of the compositions, normally confined to a single (albeit absurdly complex) instrument. Alcorn and Leppin’s ongoing collaboration can also be heard on Sister Mirror, a recent live cassette from a duo improv set in Baltimore the same year as Alcorn’s Issue Project Room residency, capturing a quiet, close conversation between the two.” - Jesse Jarnow Bandcamp Daily https://daily.bandcamp.com/lists/new-live-albums-list

"The Heart Sutra sees the music of steel guitar player Susan Alcorn, taking unexpected paths under the guidance of Janel Leppin who offers an elegant and timeless vision, with his post-classical arrangements flying over avant-garde border areas.

The recording made during a residency in 2012 at the Issue Project Room, is a lesson in balance and finesse, carnal drifts and acoustic abstraction, where strings, clarinet, bass, guitar and voice give the whirlwind, driving the listener in a strange world, with dazzling rustles and poetic tremors.

Janel Leppin's arrangement work is very subtle, with its moments of suspended silence and its chiaroscuro streaks flirting with strangeness, creating stretches of elastic tension, twirling between traditional music and contemporary approach. Superb." - Roland Torres Silence and Sound

"Susan Alcorn, The Heart Sutra: The pedal steel player makes seeking, self-contained symphonies with atmospheric glissando. Janel Leppin arranges Alcorn's pieces for a sextet sympathetic to endless possibility." - Lars Gotrich Vikings Choice

SUSAN ALCORN AND JANEL LEPPIN, "THE HEART SUTRA" AND "SISTER MIRROR"

Two collaborators, two performances, two live recordings and when you add everything up, it sounds something like infinity. First, the players. Alcorn is a pedal steel guitarist who won’t stop testing the limits of her instrument. Leppin is a cellist who can sound at home in any context. “The Heart Sutra” is a 2012 live recording of Alcorn’s vaporous music, arranged by Leppin and performed by a sextet that includes violist Eyvind Kang. “Sister Mirror,” out May 29, features an umpteen-minute improvisation between Leppin and Alcorn that wanders into Olivier Messiaen’s “O Sacrum Convivium!” Listen deeply, then listen again. -Chris Richards, The Washington Post

“There is great emotional power in Leppin’s acoustic, chamber abstraction of Alcorn’s music, highlighting the infinite palette of colors and shades. An irreverent modesty, with no great dramas, but with transparent dynamics and poetic imagination.” - Salt Peanuts

“Nadler has enlisted some sturdy female clout for this record, including Angel Olsen and Sharon Van Etten for vocal cameos. Though it’s the multi-instrumentalist Janel Leppin who really shines, her strings meeting the tremor in Nadler’s voice in a way that at moments feels profound. In such company, and with a new strength to her songs, Nadler’s force has never seemed greater.” Four Stars - Q Magazine 

"American God is Mellow Diamond's third album in just two years — always arriving in spring — written and recorded during a fraught election and its fall-out. While those references are rarely explicit, you can locate a desperate urgency here. Where past efforts pulled in an arsenal of instruments, Leppin sticks to cello and Mellotron keyboard; that instrumental intimacy swept up in arrangements that cluster around her voice, as delicate and as imposing as a sheet of falling ice.

Like the crystals featured in the video for "Ashes To Breathe," director Dan Sharnoff reflects and refracts images of Leppin and her cello in a prism to mimic the beautifully fervid track. In the burnt-out remains of humanity, Leppin looks for healing: "What once was a curse / Now is paradise / And scorched earth remains / That's what we found." - NPR Music

Poised and prolific, Janel Leppin is just getting started

Janel Leppin isn’t holding back. In addition to playing cello in the forward-thinking folk duo Janel and Anthony alongside her husband, guitarist Anthony Pirog, the Virginia native has dropped two distinctive solo albums this year: a lyrical songbook called “Mellow Diamond” and the more spartan, straightforwardly titled “Songs for Voice and Mellotron.” Leppin has suddenly given us a lot to listen to, and if it makes our ears dizzy, she might take it as a compliment. “My favorite records are very confusing,” she says.

Classically trained as a cellist, Leppin says she first started putting words to melody a few years back, following a mysterious impulse that she hasn’t questioned since. “It was very spontaneous,” she says of her turn to lyricism. “I think these things all the time and I finally started writing them down. A lot of it just came in total waves, and I liked that process. I liked trusting myself.”

That level of self-trust flows through all of her music, whether she’s singing avant-rock ballads or improvising on the cello — confidence as a renewable resource for the long road ahead. “This is my first round of solo recordings and I’m already 35,” Leppin says. “I still have a lot of ground to cover.”- Chris Richards, The Washington  Post

PRIESTS, ‘THE SEDUCTION OF KANSAS’

“After making a name for themselves with the whirlwind fury of their live shows and early releases, this Washington, D.C., band disavowed the word “punk” entirely in interviews around their second album. The music backed up that promise, flying through art-damaged disco (the title track), dark minimalism (“I’m Clean”), eerie pop (“Carol”), and more — even a few all-out ragers like opener “Jesus’ Son” (rhymes with “I think I’m gonna hurt someone”). In the end, Priests made all of those labels irrelevant by burning with the same incandescent heat no matter what sounds they were trying on. The Seduction of Kansas is a pretty great album about American dysfunction, but it’s an even better album about how to make a guitar band feel essential in 2019.” - Rolling Stone

“The Seduction of Kansas features prominent contributions from multi-instrumentalist and co-writer Janel Leppin, along with Priests’ core line-up.” - Rolling Stone

"This is a captivating album that if anything doesn’t hang around for long enough, being only a tad over half an hour long. This leaves me wanting more!" - Roger Trenwith (on American God)

"Leppin’s ability to transcend classical training on the cello to this new wave of eclectic, experimental music makes her music so interesting to listen to. Leppin is bringing a whole new style to the table." - Aquarian Weekly

"Captivating" - Washington Post
"Timeless" - The Huffington Post

"Gorgeous" - Electronic Musician Magazine
"Stunning. Her music is stunning." - Washington City Paper
 "Ethereal..conversational magic" - The Village Voice
 "An absolute virtuoso...exquisite.." - Downbeat Magazine
       
"Leppin is a rarity..ahhh-vant garde at its finest." - Capital Bop
 "Akin to a fairy-tale forest encased in glass." - Philadelphia City Paper

"Art Holds Her Hand, a funereal paced and sombre death march, atop which Janel’s lilting ice maiden tones lull us into the land of Morpheus with impressionistic tales of the primal forces of Nature." - Roger Trenwith

 “richly sepia strings artfully performed and arranged by Janel Leppin.” on For My Crimes - Drowned in Sound

"Delicate, enjoyable and translucent as white fields of grass." - Stephen O'Malley (On Susan Alcorn and Janel Leppin's recording of Thick Tarragon (Ideolgic Organ/Editions Mego))

"Janel & Anthony - guitars and 'cello respectively - play a haunting and humbly virtuosic form of music wherein the elements of electronics, looping, and lo-fi timbres live both in intimacy and in majesty in the same house as acoustic instruments and folk/blues-inspired melodies. As such, it is both timely and timeless, drenched as it is in intoxicating atmosphere; wan, quiet voices submitting to waves of sonic drama. Who could possibly resist it?" – Nels Cline

"Janel and Anthony's Where is Home is a stunning collaboration. The duo have fashioned a beautiful and singular work."- Guitar Player Magazine

"Janel Leppin brings a haunting lyricism to the cello.  Janel was an improviser at the High Zero Festival contributing to a wide range of sonic textures.  Her honest approach to creative improvisation leaves the ears more curious with each encounter." - Hurd Audio

"..one of the most stunning records this year.. Where is Home is a mind-blowing record that will stay in my listening rotation for years." - Sound Colour Vibration

On Where is Home - "A beguiling, thoughtfully crafted album" - BBC Classical

 "If your soul is downright weary from the burdens of everyday life, cellist Janel Leppin and guitarist Anthony Pirog present an ideal antidote with their intimate, intuitive music. In both bucolic acoustic numbers and immersive dronescapes, the duo offers transport from mundane matters of the world." - Time Out New York

“I would easily say that this cellist is inspirational and has the best lines and sound that I have ever heard including myself."  - David Darling 

“On lead single ‘For My Crimes’, Nadler narrates from the perspective of a person on death row. In her trademark pseudo-Southern gothic drawl, Nadler glissades between octaves as cellist Janel Leppin’s gorgeous strings unfurl. “They secure my wrist with ties”, Nadler sings, before Olsen’s spectral cries join the chorus. It’s an evocative scene-setter and one of the album’s richest moments.” -NME

"The theme of home is continued on Broome’s Orchard, a place of pastoral calm that includes a highly effective “bowed and struck vibraphone”; then it’s away ’Cross The Williamsburg Bridge and we are on our travels again, before finally wondering Where Will We Go, a question that needs an answer but the search for an answer is anxious, as an undercurrent of very slightly unsettling dissonance is never far from the calm surface, breaking through in waves of atonal cello and background noise, before a long sigh of an ending. The question remains unresolved. The Finale is restless and does not really restore any sense of natural order to the apparent dichotomy of the previous track and we have come to the end of a journey that while illuminating is not all that it seems. A fine piece of work from the Washington duo that leaves me wanting more." - DPRP

"Apparently Cuneiform had not signed a local act in more than a decade, so the capture of Janel & Anthony must indicate a mutual faith and belief. I think the duo and the label are made for each other, and hopefully their impressionistic sound palette will now reach the wider audience it deserves." - 

 "We interviewed the immensely talented cellist Janel Leppin in advance of her appearances during the Sonic Circuits Festival and she’s rounded up some of her immensely talented friends who will be performing as the Janel Leppin Group at Galaxy Hut. No telling who those guests will be, but be prepared to be surprised and impressed." - DCist

  "Unfortunately we had an act at the last-minute drop from Friday nights line-up. We were fortunate enough to find Janel Leppin & Anthony Pirog to fill in, and they did more than just meet expectations…they blew them away! Combing, improvising and building up aspects of classical, jazz, folk, and experimental among countless others. But all of these influences aren’t watered down into something intangible, Janel & Anthony bring something fresh and exciting to instrumental music. Imagine the jazz improv collective Out Of Your Head, if all the performers were fed Godspeed You Black Emperor & John Fahey." - David Banahan

  "Shoegaze? Post rock? Chamber Pop? Forget trying to find a convenient buzzword that neatly sums up the sound of Janel and Anthony; It just ain’t gonna happen, and for good reason. This Vienna-based duo write and perform what they refer to on their site as “original experimental music for cello and guitar,” and while that doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue, it makes sense when you hear them and realize their music can’t be broken down into its individual reference points or easily summed up in a clever blog post (sucks for me!). The lush compositions on their self-titled first CD could work equally well as the soundtrack for a dreamy art film, or a lazy winter afternoon stuck inside, but what’s especially impressive is seeing them live, where you can marvel at how so many layers of sound can come from just a guy, a girl and a few effects pedals." - Yes or No DC

  "I couldn't tear myself away from one sculpture. A woman sat on her sphere, the clay oozing out between her toes, playing the cello and then stepping on a small pedal that played her music back in reverse. I'm not sure what was more shocking, the woman's ability to balance up there while playing an instrument, or the fact that her cello was covered in clay." - Washington Post on "Living Sculpture"

  Sonic Circuits Festival
Twenty-first Century Chamber Ensemble - Top Pick
"Who we’re most excited to see: Twenty-First Century Chamber Ensemble. Mostly because we saw them at Pyramid Atlantic on Saturday night, where their set finished much too quickly. We're excited to find out how those sounds translate on the Kennedy Center stage." - DCist

Janel Leppin Art Exhibition DCist, Feature and Preview!

Rolling Stone “TSOK”, priests among best albums 2019

Rolling Stone announcement for Priests Second full length LP The Seduction of Kansas where Janel is featured as songwriter, collaborator, multi-instrumentalist and primary bassist.

  A lot has been going on in 2017 and 2018! My new record, American God, landed on several best of year lists as well as got a stellar review on NPR. I recorded on Priests Pitchfork pick, Nothing Feels Natural, was featured on Dischord's newest release The Messthetics, self-titled debut and recorded on Beauty Pill's forthcoming gem of a record.  I arranged strings on a sure to be classic record by Marissa Nadler's with Lawrence Rothman producing which will be out in the Fall on Bella Union and Sacred Bones. I've been touring with Priests this Spring too! I'll be opening for Priests in the mid west as well so take a look at my schedule for more info on an April/May tour.  I am thankful for your support! American God is still for sale over at bandcamp and you can write me at janelleppin@gmail.com if you prefer. Thank you!

NPR Reviews American God and debuts Ashes to Breathe video by cinematographer, Dan Sharnoff

Brightest Young Things premieres "No Treaty" from Janel Leppin's Mellow Diamond

NPR Music hosted Janel on their new music and cooking show Wax n Eggs

Electronic Musician magazine reviews Mellow Diamond

Gorilla vs. Bear radio features Mellow Diamond

The Wire reviews Arturas Bumsteinas' work Head and Shoulders featuring Janel Leppin, article below

Janel and Marissa open for The Ex at Villa Manuella Festival in Madrid

New York Music Daily writes a glowing preview for Janel and Anthony's upcoming show at beam in Brooklyn, NY on December 12 http://newyorkmusicdaily.wordpress.com/2014/12/05/janel/

Rolling Stone Germany came on tour with with Marissa Nadler and I in Spring 2014

Janel records for Orion Rigel Dommisse's beautiful new work Omicron at Electric Mami in Toulouse, France including Emmanuel Mario of Stereolab

Janel and Marissa Nadler live at FLOW Festival on the 360 Stage in Helsinki, Finland