Livestream Added for Recap's 'Count To Five' Release Show, Starting October 10

The percussion quartet known as Recap has announced the release of its debut album, Count to Five, out Friday, September 24 on Innova Recordings.

A professional ensemble of BIPOC women, the members of Recap - Arlene Acevedo, Alexis Carter, Tiahna Sterling, and Aline Vasquez -joined the acclaimed tuition-free Mantra Youth Percussion program while students at Rahway High School in central New Jersey. Now, with its members in their early 20s, Recap has coalesced into a formidable performing unit.

On Count to Five, Recap shows its power and finesse in works by Angélica Negrón, Allison Loggins-Hull, Ellen Reid, Lesley Flanigan, Mary Kouyoumdjian, and Caroline Shaw. To develop the album, Recap worked closely with these creators, refining their interpretations through national and local performances. The entire recording will be available digitally, and two of the tracks - Negrón's title work and Loggins-Hull's Hammers - will be issued at a later date as a 12" vinyl single.

To mark the release of Count to Five, Recap will perform music from the album on Wednesday, September 29 (8 pm) at Tenri Cultural Institute, 43A West 13th Street, NYC. Seating is limited; tickets are available at recapalbumrelease.com. The concert will be streamed at Mantra Percussion's YouTube channel beginning Sunday, October 10 (7 pm), and will remain online for two weeks.

With Count to Five, Recap aims to inspire other young musicians who might not have considered following a path into contemporary arts. As Arlene Acevedo explains: "We're young women of color doing this... and you can too!" Recap recently headlined at the 2021 New Music Gathering in St. Paul, Minnesota; in November, the ensemble will showcase select pieces from the album at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention, continuing with winter and spring dates across the country.

In 2022, Recap will collaborate with indigenous artists from Alaska to present a new hybrid work that is part performance/part documentary with support from Found Sound Nation, Wild Shore New Music, and the United States National Parks Service.

Count to Five was recorded & mixed by Jude Traxler & Traxler Studios (NYC), and mastered by Andrew McKenna Lee at Still Sound Music. It was produced by Joe Bergen & Mantra Percussion, Inc.

The first track and album's namesake, written by Angélica Negrón, uses found objects to create a unique and engrossing soundscape, while Hammers by Allison Loggins-Hull reflects on the sound of New York construction and our built environment. The piece includes a solo role for Recap's Tiahna Sterling on flute.

Ellen Reid's Fear | Release is about reframing the familiar in a new light, and is built around a five-note phrase that is echoed and developed in both melodic and textural ways.

The glacial wash of the composer's live-looped vocals in Lesley Flanigan's Hedera is immersive, and mesmerizes with swirling voices and percussion. Children of Conflict: "Samar's Song," composed by Mary Kouyoumdjian, features violinist Andie Tanning; it originates in a haunting, heartbreaking story and finds light and hope. Count to Five resolves with Caroline Shaw as both composer and vocalist in Will there be any Stars in my Crown, melding histories and traditions into a contemplative space. On this final track, Shaw and Recap are joined by the TRANSIT New Music ensemble.

Recap initially formed under the auspices of Mantra Youth Percussion. Established in 2014, MYP offers underrepresented students unique percussion music education and high-level performance opportunities, giving students the tools to realize their own potential, and fostering artistic excellence and inclusiveness.

MYP's directors are percussionist Joe Bergen of Mantra Percussion and composer Miguel Bolivar, the program's directors. Like the members of Recap, Bergen and Bolivar are New Jersey natives and people of color. In an interview in I Care If You Listen, Bergen commented, "Rahway is a working-class urban city in central New Jersey serving a predominantly black and Hispanic student body. The high school enrollment is a little over 1,000 students with just under 50% eligible for free or reduced meals... I started working as the head percussion teacher for the Rahway School District through my dear friend Miguel Bolivar, a brilliant educator and Peabody trained composer, who had just started his tenure as the high school band director there. The fine arts program has historically been a source of pride for the community, and Miguel and I were looking to build upon that.

"Many other great new music groups have an educational wing tied to their organization, and they provide amazing opportunities in the form of workshops, masterclasses, composer readings, summer music festivals, and residencies, among other things. What was particularly important to us was having a program that ran week-to-week where we could develop students over a longer period." The fruits of this strategy, which emphasizes long-term sustainability and artistic growth, are strikingly and tangibly evident in Recap's Count to Five.

MYP focuses exclusively on performing and commissioning music by living composers. To date, MYP has commissioned or premiered works by more than 25 living composers. The group has performed at Carnegie Hall, National Sawdust, Juilliard, NYU, The New Music Gathering, Princeton Unruly Sounds Festival, the NJ Day of Percussion, the Cell, Roulette, MYCincinnati, Times Square, the Necessary Noise Festival, and on the Make Music NY Festival, for which The New York Times praised for their "ear-opening" performance.

Recap: Count to Five

Track List

1. Count to Five - Angélica Negrón (6:17)

2. Hammers - Allison Loggins-Hull (5:33)

 Tiahna Sterling - Flute

3. Fear | Release - Ellen Reid (8:31)

4. Hedera - Lesley Flanigan (20:25)

 Lesley Flanigan - voice

5. Children of Conflict: "Samar's Song" - Mary Kouyoumdjian (5:11)

 Andie Tanning - violin

Mary Kouyoumdjian - voice

6. Will there be any Stars in my Crown ­­- Caroline Shaw (3:58)

 Caroline Shaw - Voice

 with TRANSIT New Music

 Andie Tanning - violin/voice

 Evelyn Wadkins - cello/voice

 Sara Budde - clarinets/voice

 David Friend - piano/voice

 Joe Bergen - percussion/voice