At first listen, Conjure One’s self-titled album (2002) is just a standard electro-pop record. Delve deeper, however, to find that each track has been masterfully composed, layering lush musical textures and combining cultural influences. The artist behind Conjure One is Vancouver native Rhys Fulber, who recorded the album over three years in Vancouver, Los Angeles, Amsterdam, and London. Stunning guest vocalist Chemda Khalili, who sings exclusively in Arabic on four of the tracks, adds a Middle Eastern feel to the album and evokes an almost primitive and primal sound. Other guest vocalists include Poe, Sinead O’Connor, and Marie-Claire D’Ubaldo, each adding a more traditional pop sound.
Essentially what Fulber has done is create a cohesive global sound by gathering instrumentation, samples, and musicians from around the world through a number of digital means. Throughout the album, Fulber samples percussive beats he collected traveling around the Mediterranean and loops them against live string orchestration and his electronic keyboard driven melodies. String orchestration was composed in London and recorded in Vancouver. Sinead O’Connor recorded her vocals on Tears From the Moon from Ireland via Ednet, a phone patch network. (As a result, Fulber and O’Connor have never physically met.) These musical contributions from around the world are harvested by Fulber and transfused together. The end product is a single global musical effort made possible by the global network of communication.
Matthew Sy