“Angels falling from heaven, falling like crumbs from the table of God.” This is the opening lyric that sets the tone for Animal Saint’s second album, Burning Empire. Animal Saint is an art-music collaboration between composer/instrumentalist Paul Amiel and multi-media artist John Feodorov.
"Burning Empire" was written, recorded, and mixed remotely between Seattle and Tucson. The songs contemplate the current political and cultural moment while referencing both historical and mythological fictions. Videos for seven of the new songs are available below and on their Youtube channel.
Amiel and Feodorov have been performing, writing, and recording together intermittently over the past four decades. Together they founded several original music projects between 1981 and 2007, as well as what they refer to as “Insta-bands”, unique impromptu multi-media performance art events presented at house parties of friends and acquaintances. After moving to Santa Fe N.M. in the mid-1980s, Amiel and Feodorov founded the medieval music trio Sans Merci, while also working with other musicians and vocalists on original music loosely based upon their shared enthusiasm for various music traditions. In 2020, they released their debut album, “The History of the United States as Performed by Animal Saint”, critically re-examining the roughly 250 years of official U.S. history.
Important early influences include: Bowie, Eno, Peter Gabriel, Tom Waits, Laurie Anderson, Ray Davies, Pete Townshend, Kate Bush, Kurt Weill, Bertolt Brecht, and Sergei Prokofiev. They are also influenced by traditions such as Turkish folk music, Greek Rebetiko, Japanese Noh Theater, and Medieval Trouvère and Minnesang.
Animal Saint is:
Paul Amiel: voice, keyboards, gothic harp, assorted flutes, shakuhachi, guzheng, guqin, accordion, and programming.
John Feodorov: voice, guitars, sanxian, bass, violin, keyboards, percussion, and programming.
For more info and inquiries please contact us at: animalsaintmusic (at) gmail.com.
