Andria Degens
Pantaleimon is Andria Degens an English artist, musician, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. She has released four studio albums, several EPs and singles to date. 2023 brings new music from Pantaleimon. After a period of prolonged dormancy, the new single is an offering of peace in our loud and fractured world, a meditation played entirely on Appalachian dulcimer and recorded at Andria’s home studio in Devon. Andria says 'The Conversation came to me during the pandemic and after a chain of personal challenges over some years, which prevented me from releasing new music until now. It's a calling to one's higher consciousness in times of losing faith and finding it again.' It will be the first single from a new EP due soon.
For over a decade, Pantaleimon’s sound has carried the listener through layered and repeated motifs merging to produce a glistening, almost devotional air. Pantaleimon’s music explores themes of embodiment in landscape, duality, transformation, and being.
“Over gently plucked acoustic guitar, bouzouki, dulcimer and cello, Degens sings simple, devotional paens to God and nature. Her voice, often double-tracked or harmonised with guests Isobel Campbell and Baby Dee, is delicate but far from vulnerable. Anne Briggs, Vashti Bunyan and Bjork's Vespertine are touchstones for an album of humble joy.” - Uncut Mag
Andria Degens has been independently creating and releasing a beguiling body of work as a composer and performer. She has consistently developed her instrumental craft and lyrical landscape to create highly original works.
As a self-taught musician, Andria Degens has not been constrained by received assumptions about particular musical pairings or forms. Rather, she has experimented and intuited her way towards instruments and treatments that allow her to best represent her sonic ideas. Her use of guitar effects pedals in conjunction with Appalachian Dulcimer is a case in point. Taking a quintessential folk instrument and processing it heavily to achieve a new repertoire of sounds is atypical, highly creative and a hallmark of Andria Degen’s music.
As an independent female artist without the backing of a label, Andria Degens has always succeeded in getting her work recorded, published, promoted, distributed and performed. She is a collaborative force who regularly seeks and is sought out by international artists working as filmmakers, painters, writers and musicians. Most notable contributions: music for Susan Stenger’s ‘Soundtrack for an Exhibition’ at the Musée Art Contemporain, Lyon, in 2006 / Forma / featured on day 31/32 of the exhibition. Music for the feature film Wild Tigers I Have Known, the 2006 début film by New York director Cam Archer, produced by Gus Van Sant and officially selected for the Sundance Film Festival. Performed at Patti Smith’s Meltdown supporting Antony and the Johnsons (Anohni); Sinsal Festival, Spain. Support for Bonnie Prince Billy, 16 Horsepower, Anohni.
Pantaleimon’s tracks
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