The art critic Walter Pater once said that all art constantly aspires to the condition of music. You could also argue that all musical instruments ultimately aspire to the condition of the human voice. We want instruments to sing and ring, to howl and growl, to serve as a conduit for the artist’s emotions. This is something the American singer Eliza Bagg, AKA Lisel, has done on her latest album, a piece of chamber music where the ensemble comprises her multitracked voice, fed through myriad effects units. However, this album also asks fundamental questions about the human voice. Once it has been drenched in digital delay or fed through software such as Ableton, is this a mere simulacrum of the human voice or the real thing? If it has been sampled and radically manipulated, is it just a synth voicing?
