Experimental cellist Jo Quail has harnessed primal and spiritual elements in her latest releases, the dual EPs Invocation and Supplication. Comprising two three-song cycles and the distinctive vocals of Heilung’s Maria Franz and O.R.k’s Lorenzo Esposito Fornasari, the EPs find The Cartographer musician moving into new sonic worlds. Quail shares the story of their creation and reveals her new-found passion for the trombone.

Words: Dom Lawson Portrait: Simon Kallas

Jo Quail is pushing boundaries in fine prog style.

“Invocation is quite powerful, it’s about the feminine archetype, whereas Supplication is almost like a glimpse of a very private moment. So that’s where the balance is.”

The stunning Invocationand Supplicationare both out now.

If progressive music is about anything beyond long-winded epics and curry-stained capes, it must be a wide-eyed and persistent disregard for the norm. The greats of the genre all had a desire to push music into new territory, and use any artistic or technical resources that came to hand. The cellowielding embodiment of that ethos, Jo Quail may not be making traditional prog rock of any kind, but her fearless, questing spirit has won countless admirers from the prog and heavy music communities over the last few years.

Her last full release, The Cartographer, was a wildly atmospheric orchestral piece that made oblique nods to Rock In Opposition bands Art Zoyd and Univers Zero. Her latest, Invocation/ Supplication is effectively two distinct collaborations with two singers: Maria Franz of runic renegades Heilung, and Italian producer and composer Lorenzo Esposito Fornasari (or Lef, as Quail calls him). Another immersive and disarming piece of deep leftfield, gleefully experimental instrumental music, Invocation/Supplication continues the cellist’s established tradition of making records that sound like nothing else on Earth.