Vince Mendoza

Um, uh, Vespertine Live by Bjork.

Um, that's just some astonishing music and some astonishing, um, string arrangements by Vince Mendoza.

Um, a full, full orchestra arrangements.

I mean, that, that record is...

I think the lift of the strings in the chorus is very lovely.

Again, Björk composes all the strings, this time with Vince Mendoza.

Yeah.

How did you feel about it, Lucas? What did

Right.

Okay.

The rest of the album is samples of a choir arranged by Björk and Vince Mendoza and then played with MIDI, which I thought was interesting.

Okay.

Instead, it makes the question seem increasingly beside the point.

It is a sprawling 20-song project produced by Larry Klein, with string arrangements by Vince Mendoza, horn charts by Jerry Hay, and musicians like Larry Goldings, John Coward, Gilad Hexelman, Christian McBride, and Dean Parks, alongside her working quartet, which includes her husband, Dan Pugach, on drums.

The conceit of the project, which is broken into five parts, the mirror, the martyr, the malediction, the reckoning, and the requiem, came when a friend described a moment in her own life when she realized that after seeing herself as the victim, she had become the villain in someone else's story.

Nicole was fascinated by the idea that the hero and the villain could be the same person.

What we do seems very small as a write-off.

But of course, to make a record with strings and horns between LA and New York and all these people, you brought in this incredible crew of people.

Is it Vince Mendoza's arrangements on the strings?

Yep.

the initial drafts of everything are just acoustic, just guitar and voice, but eventually some of them became orchestral.

Like the one that I just played, Vince Mendoza arranged for the Metropole Orchestra to play with Liz Wright and Camila Meza singing with me and Camila playing the guitar.

So But for arranging, yeah, I think if the song is there, it can become anything.

Yeah, but as far as like when I'm arranging, Um, I don't know.

She composed the strings herself.

She brought in arranger Vince Mendoza to conduct this large orchestra that she had.

Yeah, and I think Björk's place as a composer is becoming even more evident than it was on Homogenic.

Like, this is...

But to answer your question specifically, I've done both.

I've written lyrics to existing melodies like I did with Vince Mendoza's Angelicus.

I wrote a lyric to that called Hearing Your Voice.

I also wrote a lyric to Edgar Meyer's Sliding Down and also his composition First Impressions.

What's a song that represents your love of Joni?

Joni Mitchell's 2000 version of Both Sides Now arranged by Vince Mendoza is godly.

It's just breathtaking.

Her lyrics take on a whole other meaning with the voice being dropped after years of smoking and living.

And as always, be well, my friends.

We're going to hear Orchestra Philharmonica de la UNAM with Vince Mendoza.

The track is Minotauro from the album Jazz Sinfonico Mexicano.

Take it easy, everyone, and we will see you next week.