(A Robot Cometh) Folks, I couldn't begin to know how to properly express what I think is going on with this album. Marcos Fernandes is the percussion, field recordings, and electronic noise man. Emily Hay is the voice artist, flute, piccolo, piano, and electronic noise lady. Now that information came by easy with help from the album booklet. What is a bit more difficult is knowing how to explain what you will hear on We Are. There are quite moments, the noisy moments, and then there are the what exactly am I listening to moments. Ok, ... I am aware that this review isn't shedding too much light on the album. You know that funny sound when you twiddle your lips with your fingers and go bbbvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv? Well, nobody does it better than Emily Hay - Cameron Deyhle

(New Music Box) The almost cute amoeba-cum-paisley, sea urchin-esk cover art is the first clue that you're about to enter an altered state. Emily Hay is your wordless tour guide, scatting and blabbering, sometimes laughing her way through her prepared remarks about the landscape, points of interest, and tourist traps. This is the album Björk would make if she had the gumption. Too late now, Hay and percussionist Marcos Fernandes already beat her to the punch with the drifty We Are. After a listen to the disc's title track alone, you'll be left wondering how on earth the pair manages to pack such breadth into six minutes. There's no doubt their creativity is far from drying up. - Randy Nordschow

(Tokafi) And We Are Inside The Box, Away From The Doom, looking out from the Belly of the Craft onto the Pond at the Wicked Child while undetected by us an Intrusion takes place, triggered by a Late Night Call, promising Hibiki and a Liturgy of Sound. Oh yes, Spar, We Are! Not only are we inside the box, but we can hear everything that is going on at the outside, too. We hear an excellent voice, sometimes clear and innocent like a baroque angel and then again with vulgar touches, sinister and mean, brutal and vicious, only to erupt into cascades of spheric beauty. This is Emily Hay. But this is not all of Emily. She also masters her flutes in every aspect, with excellent technical skills and a wonderful virtuosity. But most of all, there is this daring concept of exploring the world of sounds, getting away from the known into the unknown and as-yet undiscovered parts of music and – yes - art. And when I say “art” I am not thinking about musical art alone, but also about the visual arts. This aspect has to be stressed, for there are close ties. What happens in the music, which Emily and her evenly talented collaborator, Marcos Fernandes, have realised, reminds me most of paintings with colours nobody has ever seen. Daring mixtures generating what only nature has to offer, unique and unprecedented. Emily and Marcos get very close to that in terms of sound and music. What impressed me most was “Inside the Box”. This piece triggered some remarkable associations in me, starting with the the drums and rhythms of the Australian aboriginees. And then there are chaotic cascades of sound, very jazzy at times and excellently supported by Ellen Wellers saxophone play. This morphed into the picture of a nightmarish predator, roaming the realms of being like a giant calmar trying to slice a worn out motorblock with its razorsharp beak. Oh well, of course this is just me. But the fact that these kind of emotions came up prove to me that there is a significant emotional power in this particular piece. Not that it was the only track on this CD conjuring up some emotions. There is a great deal of violent force and yes, even brutality in “Spar”, as far as I am concerned. “Intrusion” leads us with a colourful variety of sounds onto a path towards the unknown, triggering fears and then catapulting us back into well-known regions. An interplay between those worlds that seems endless. Apart from all this praise, there is just one thing which raises a slight concern. Even though it might have been intended by Marcos and Emily, for my feeling some parts, especially in the flute play, though genuine and performed with virtuosity, came back like a copy in various pieces. As I said, it may be part of the big concept, but I would have wished for a little more variety there. Anyway, “We are” is a great album, and I wish not only to name Emily and Marcos as well as Ellen Weller, but also Lisle Ellis and Al Scholl for their great contributions. - Fred Wheeler

(A Robot Cometh) Folks, I couldn't begin to know how to properly express what I think is going on with this album. Marcos Fernandes is the percussion, field recordings, and electronic noise man. Emily Hay is the voice artist, flute, piccolo, piano, and electronic noise lady. Now that information came by easy with help from the album booklet. What is a bit more difficult is knowing how to explain what you will hear on We Are. There are quite moments, the noisy moments, and then there are the what exactly am I listening to moments. Ok, ... I am aware that this review isn't shedding too much light on the album. You know that funny sound when you twiddle your lips with your fingers and go bbbvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv? Well, nobody does it better than Emily Hay. - Cameron Deyhle

(Aiding & Abetting No. 274) The first professionally-pressed CD issued by Public Eyesore, this album is right in line with its CD-R predecessors. Largely flute (Hay) and percussion (Fernandes), I'd venture a guess as to say this is largely nonimprovisational, but that doesn't mean these songs adhere to any particular mainstream concept of "normal." Flights of fancy that sound awfully nice. - Jon Worley

(Dead Angel No. 6) This is a wild-sounding disc -- Fernandes (percussion, field recordings, electronics) and Hay (voice, flute, piccolo, piano, electronics) trade off on electronically processed and acoustic instruments, drop in field recordings, and with the help of bass and additional electronics from Lisle Ellis (plus Ellen Weller on sax and Al Scholl on guitar for "Inside the Box"), they create complex beds of rhythm and sound over which Hay vocalizes like Yoko Ono possessed by the devil. Some of the tracks ("We Are," "Hibiki," and "We Are (Part 2)") are strictly Hays and Fernandes, and those are the simplest tracks structurally; other tracks include other players, who contribute electronic wailing and ambient sound to the often-muted percussion. World beat rhythms converge with unrpredictable shifts in tone, atmosphere, and structure, as Hay periodically interjects extremely unorthodox vocalizing. Much of the disc is devoted to abstract sound and atmosphere, but usually with some kind of percussive element to provide a center for the other sounds to float away from and return. Surprising bursts of sound and plenty of open space to allow things to happen create an open environment for experimentation. The ensemble is excellent, but the things that make this disc stand out are primarily Hay's wild, shaking vocals and the interplay between acoustic instruments and electronic found sound. Strange but invigorating. Just one question, though -- is that supposed to be a mutant amoeba on the cover? - RKF

(The Wire no. 269) Imagine a cross between Joan LaBarbara and Bjork and you're still only halfway to an impression of Emily Hay's singing, which seems to take in scat, flamenco and opera in equal measures. Despite the duo billing with percussionist and field recordist Fernandes, bassist Lisle Ellis is on most of the tracks, using electronic treatments in places as do the others. Saxophonist Ellen Weller and guitarist Al Scholl turn up on "Inside The Box" as well, but the focus is squarely on Hay, who works a bizarre magic on the title track. Fernandes darkens the palette considerably on "Liturgy of Sound" and on "Belly Of The Craft", which ought to be picked up as soundtrack music for someone's experimental sci-fi short. - Brian Morton

(Jazz e Arredores) Neste disco de 2005, que só agora descobri, há duas vias principais da West Cost que convergem para o centro do terreiro. Emily Hay (voz, flauta, piccolo, piano e electrónica) e Marcos Fernandes (percussão, field recordings e electrónica) assumem os principais papéis, coadjuvados, em alguns dos 12 temas de "We Are.", por Lisle Ellis (contrabaixo e electrónica), Ellen Weller (saxofone alto e flauta) e Al Scholl (guitarra eléctrica). Emily Hay e Marcos Fernandes esculpem sons a quatro mãos, de que resultam obras abertas à contaminação por sons humanos e mecanizados, com vestígios dos mundos vegetal, mineral e digital, que os músicos tocaram, o gravador captou e o estúdio processou. A voz de Emily Hay, artista de Los Angeles, é sensacional na produção de onomatopeias, versátil na cor, textura e registo, tão eficaz no canto como na flauta, de longe os aspectos mais em evidência no disco. Marcos Fernandes, membro do Trummerflora Collective, percussionista improvisador de San Diego (nascido em Yokohama, Japão), urde trama e teia, propulsionando os largos vôos de Miss Hay. O resto do ensemble acrescenta sobretudo cor a uma música espaçosa e bem-humorada, que entretém o ouvinte algures entre a estrutura da composição contemporânea e a espontaneidade da livre-improvisação para-psicadélica. Belo som em muitos e bons momentos de comunhão musical. Edição da Public Eysore, 2005.

(Kathodik) Emily Hay è una streghetta buona, Emily Hay è una streghetta cattiva cattivella. Emily Hay è una bionda cantante, flautista, pianista; rompiscatole elettronica. Chi si ricorda del suo precedente "Like Minds" saprà di cosa parlo. Marcos Fernandes dal canto suo non è che sia di meno rompiscatole (fra breve tratteremo anche del suo nuovo lavoro in compagnia di Haco, Hans Fjellestad e Jacob Riis; promesso!). Percussioni, field recordings ed elettronica stropicciata varia sono il suo pane quotidiano. Entrambi gravitano nell'orbita del collettivo agitato californiano Trummerflora (procuratevi lo spettacolare "Rubble 1" su Accretions; per favore!) che raccoglie tutta una serie di scellerati artisti multi disciplinari parecchio scossi. "We Are" rispetto al precedente lavoro della Hay è opera nettamente più sinistra e cupa, impro vocali e percussivi che puzzano di oriente lontano un miglio, ninna nanne mongole in libera uscita cubista, ectoplasmatiche lande di elettronica innervosita; planante e stonata dalle continue intrusioni acustiche. A tratti sognante ed ammaliante, a tratti brutale e vizioso; un'ombrosa circolarità ad aleggiare sul tutto. Lisle Ellis al basso (ammirevole!), Ellen Weller al sax ed al flauto e Al Scholl alla chitarra partecipano con sommo gaudio al generale sgretolamento neurale. Impro mentalmente bombardata che scalcia ed avvince, farneticante e contorta a volte; ma lasciate che questi suoni spigolosi trovino la loro naturale collocazione. Vi ritroverete tra le mani pezzi poco meno che splendidi da farvi emettere più di qualche grugnito di animalesca soddisfazione. L'iniziale sciamanica We Are, la disastrata evocazione esoterica di Liturgy of Sound, Hibiki ed il suo giocare di rimbalzo, le pulsazioni elettroniche da dopo bomba di Emergence, la circolarità metallica cigolante miagolata in Late Night Call, i notturni scuotimenti jazz di Inside The Box(umori Slapp Happy al chiaro di luna), l'ottusità incubica di Pond (industrial jazz esoterico calpestato?); la sua gemella disturbata Belly Of The Craft (stordente!). Cazzo! Ho citato otto pezzi su dodici (e gli altri quattro non sono da meno degli altri)! Che cosa vorrà dire? Azzardo un'ipotesi. Questo disco è bellissimo. (Emily Hay; IO TI AMO!) - Marco Carcasi

(Paris Transatlantic) Besides Hay (voice, flute, piccolo, piano, electronics) and Fernandes (percussion, field recordings, electronics), the musicians involved are Lisle Ellis, Ellen Weller and Al Scholl, who variously contribute bass, sax, flute, guitar and electronics. Two major elements characterize the music: Hay's voice – often similar to Shelley Hirsch's but even more malleable and unpredictable – and the utter absence of "style", which is made easier by the often pulseless approach of Fernandes, who's more interested in electronic soundscapes and fractured decompositions of barely existent metres than in churning out regular rhythms. The duo's imagination produces instant visions and moments of mystery in "Belly Of The Craft", while a track like "Away From The Doom" is downright exhilarating, the scenario continuously shifting between third-rate horror movie soundtrack and a miniature replica of Diamanda Galàs engaged in some kind of recreational activity. "Spar" is a splendid example of creative improvisation animated by clever electronics; on the other hand, the following "Wicked Child" is so complex that it sounds computer-generated. The two movements of the title track open and close the album, symbols of the irrepressible urge towards unadulterated spiritual freedom that the whole CD constantly manifests. High-quality stuff from every point of view. - Massimo Ricci