Esmerine
Rebecca co-founded the minimalist, modern chamber music group Esmerine in 2001 with percussionist Bruce Cawdron. Anchored by Bruce's mallet playing and Rebecca's expressive cello, Esmerine has released five critically acclaimed albums.
Everything Was Forever Until It Was No More (2022)
Constellation Records
"Post-rock, neo-classical, experimental, whatever genre or sub-genre you wish to file it under, it makes no difference. Good records are good records and, whichever way you slice it, Esmerine’s return is not only needed, it’s one of the beautiful surprises of the year. The more time spent with Everything Was Forever Until It Was No More, the stronger it will get. With this record, Esmerine may just be the masters of the slow burn."
Sun-13
Awarded Instrumental Album of the Year, Juno's 2023
Mechanics of Dominion (2017)
Constellation Records
“Mechanics of Dominion is a bold, gripping and brilliantly nuanced addition to Esmerine's gorgeous catalogue, swelling with hope and brimming with energy.”
Exclaim! 9/10
Lost Voices (2015)
Constellation Records
"A dynamic nine-song collection that ranges from dark and brooding to uplifting and celebratory... Soaring, dramatic and entirely engaging."
Exclaim!
#4 Album of 2015
A Closer Listen
Winner of the 2016 Juno Award: Recording Package Of The Year
2016 Juno Nominee: Instrumental Album Of The Year
Dalmak (2013)
Constellation Records
"Meditative drones and shifting melodies of the Canadians’ strings and percussions are vamped up by an array of [Turkish] sounds...in a thrilling and meaningful conversation."
New Internationalist
“A listen of brutal intensity and beautiful celebration...At times, melodies are plucked quietly, arcing as delicately as black eyelashes, but they never deviate from what is at the center – an intense cauldron of dynamic fire and free flowing passion.”
Fluid Radio
Winner of the 2014 Juno Award: Instrumental Album of the Year
La Lechuza (2011)
Constellation Records
La Lechuza is an eulogy to Lhasa de Sela and a testament to the newfound creative relationships that she helped bring forth
snowdayforlhasa.com
"A towering achievement... emotive and powerful, delicately wrought and stunningly beautiful. The recording is outstanding... a rare pleasure from start to finish."
The 405
"What distinguishes it from so many artists skirting the overlaps between new folk and chamber music-style arrangements is the attention to composition and content. Where lesser talents are content merely to create mood, satisfying themselves with the surface rewards of alternative timbres, Esmerine wrap mood around substance."
The Wire
Aurora (2005)
Madrona Records
Esmerine released two critically-acclaimed albums on their own Madrona Records imprint. These albums had one foot in the new music/experimental terrain of contemporaries like Rachel's or Town And Country and the other in a more visceral and lyrical instrumental landscape, as cultivated by the likes of The Dirty Three and Godspeed You! Black Emperor
If Only A Sweet Surrender To The Nights To Come Be True (2003)
Resonant Records / Madrona Records