Hecuba, by Oracle Hysterical

Hecuba

by Oracle Hysterical

supported by

	/

Streaming + Download

Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

Purchasable with gift card

$10 USD
Compact Disc
Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album
Includes unlimited streaming of Hecuba via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.

Sold Out

1.	Helen 04:41	buy track
2.	100 Tongues 04:08	buy track
3.	Letos Laurel 04:33	buy track
4.	He Will Close Your Eyes 07:27	buy track
5.	Where Did You Go 02:19	buy track
6.	Bolero 05:58	buy track
7.	Child's Song 01:56	buy track
8.	Galaxies 03:31	buy track
9.	No Comfort 05:39	buy track

about

Hecuba is a lush and experimental rock-leaning album based on Euripides’ play of the same name. Written sometime around 424 BCE in Athens, Hecuba displays the the disgraced Queen of Troy at her lowest fortune. Yoked into slavery, forced to watch her many children being killed, Hecuba is finally driven to a spectacularly savage revenge, blinding her betrayer and killing his children. It is a play of misplaced blame and barbarity, and is considered by some as Euripides' best work, by others as one of his most problematic.

Oracle’s portrait of Hecuba isolates her most enduring moments: her passionate pleas for mercy from her captors, her assertion that she will cling to her daughter “like ivy to the oak" in Bolero or the hallucinatory image of her body covered in screaming mouths in 100 Tongues.

Each of the songs on Hecuba were co-created by the composer-performers of Oracle. More than any other project by Oracle, Hecuba was born of the studio. The recording features Jason Treuting of So Percussion on drums and electronic production by Chris Botta. Hecuba began as improvisation and concluded as an experimental and electronic fusion of alternative classical.

"...blend[s] ideas from across time and land into elegant tunes where serpentine melodies are cradled and cajoled by exquisite arrangements...”
- Chicago Reader

Composed and Recorded
Majel Connery - vocals and keyboards
Doug Balliett - double bass, electric bass, viola da gamba
Brad Balliett - bassons
Elliot Cole - vocals, guitars and keyboards
Jason Treuting - drums, percussion

Added for Live Performance
Chris Botta - live arrangements, synths, guitar, mixing
Dylan Greene - live arrangements, drums, percussion

Album Art by Hannah Devereux
Design by Benjamin Wilkerson Tousley

Produced by Elliot Cole
Co-produced by Chris Botta and Alexander Overington
Mixed and mastered by Chris Botta
Commissioned and co-produced by Opera Cabal
Recorded at the Princeton Music Department, the Overington Farm, and Staplechest Audio

credits

released May 11, 2018

license

total		USD

about

Oracle Hysterical New York, New York

part band,
part book club

Brad Balliett
Doug Balliett
Elliot Cole
Majel Connery
Dylan Greene

oraclehysterical.com

contact / help

Contact Oracle Hysterical

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this album or account

If you like Oracle Hysterical, you may also like:

The Oracle
by Angel Bat Dawid

supported by 32 fans who also own “Hecuba”

Angel, I heard your interview with Jason Woodbury on Aquarium Drunkard's "Transmissions" podcast today. It was truly remarkable and touched my heart. I bought this album immediately afterward and am so grateful to you for this nourishing music in these strange, trying days. I hope I can time my next trip to Chicago to be able to see you perform live. Thank you! mfeltes
go to album
Breaking English
by Rafiq Bhatia

supported by 31 fans who also own “Hecuba”

Rafiq (of Son Lux), along with his dazzling collective of supporting collaborators, displays an adept ear for silence, space, texture, and energy with this record, and - aside from the ambient and experimental pieces that are aligned within this album - his guitar playing is reflective of this: adventurous in his curiosity to explore what music is capable of with a tone of experience and humility. ／人◕ ‿‿ ◕人＼
go to album
Lest We Forget What We Came Here To Do
by Sons Of Kemet

supported by 30 fans who also own “Hecuba”

Just incredible. A whole new shape for jazz. I've never heard anything like it before. The combo of two drummers, sax, and tuba is totally unique and the sounds they get out of those instruments are transcendent. Levrikon
go to album
KUMOKO
by Various Artists

featured on Bandcamp Radio Jan 19, 2016
go to album
All the Roads that Lead Us Home [2015 Album]
by Gaelynn Lea

Gaelynn Lea won NPR's Tiny Desk Contest, and it's easy to see why. Haunting, beautiful country songs, laced up with weeping fiddle lines. Bandcamp New & Notable Mar 3, 2016
go to album
Trophic Asynchrony
by Adam Stafford

A fascinating electronic exploration of nature, boasting prismatic songs that radiate color and light. Bandcamp New & Notable Jun 1, 2021
go to album
Helium
by homeshake

supported by 28 fans who also own “Hecuba”

only luv for Pete twillis151
go to album