In Chemical Transit – All Men Unto Me

"In Chemical Transit",

Album Release Show (2023)

“Music is vital to the cultural life of Scotland and CMS is committed to working together with musicians, audiences, and venues to create sustainable conditions for Scottish chamber music to develop, grow, and thrive. …”

Presented in partnership with Chamber Music Scotland as an Embedded Musician, 2023

Reviews

‘…a brave, fascinating and triumphant view of transition’ – The Wire

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‘… Voi che sapete is the clever throughline; the aria, heard twice on the album, serves as a reference point for Gleave’s changing voice. And, as a pants-role aria traditionally sung by a woman playing a horny adolescent boy, the queer subtext has been there since day one.’ – I Care If You Listen

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‘In Chemical Transit is an utterly singular work, the sort of daring project that sits at the forefront of art in both the musical and sociological sense. ’ – Noob Heavy

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PHOTOGRAPHY BY MARILENA Vlachopoulou

"In Chemical Transit",

Album (2023)

DESIGN BY JOSCHA BAUER

“In Chemical Transit is All Men Unto Me’s debut release, a time capsule of Rylan Gleave’s voice spanning over a decade, his vocal transition via Testosterone clearly audible. Cherubino’s aria Voi che sapete from Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro is the framework for this album, serving as a reference point for his changing voice. Originally a trouser-role, Cherubino is performed onstage by a mezzo-soprano acting the role of a teenage boy. Recordings of Gleave’s long-gone mezzo-soprano range weave around a now-breaking tenor voice, with snapshots from pre-transition, then 8 weeks, 1 year, and 2 years on Testosterone. The effects of hormone replacement therapy on the voice give Gleave a singular colour in his vocals, likened to ‘Tilt-era Scott Walker’” – C.M. Queen

Recorded live at The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland by Ollie Hawker and Bob Whitney (Abbey Road Studios, Sony Music Studios), In Chemical Transit captures the volatile transmasculine voice at its mid-settling point, rough and cracking vocals splintering amidst classical piano, minimalist percussion soundscapes, angular cello, and ambient electronics. It was mixed by engineer Scott McLean (Falloch, Ashenspire), and mastered by Alex Wharton (Abbey Road Studios), with a launch in partnership with Chamber Music Scotland at St Vincent’s Chapel, Edinburgh, in 2023.

Straddling the line of contemporary classical music, merging elements of avant-garde, post-metal, Baroque opera, and drone, In Chemical Transit is a non-linear journey through Gleave’s relationship with his late-breaking voice, with both original Italian and English translations as text. Since release, In Chemical Transit has featured in lectures for Bath Spa University, Manchester University, the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music, project KITH with Forecast Edition 6, Berlin, and on air with EHFM, Radio Buena Vida, Clyde Built Radio, The Sampler, Trans Radio UK, Classical Queer Podcast, Radio Študent, Norway, and Deutschlandfunk, Germany.