Recap - Count to Five (2021) Hi-Res

Spellbinding and transcendent, Recap’s debut album, Count to Five, showcases new generations of powerful music makers giving new breath to the world of percussion and contemporary classical music.

A professional percussion quartet of BIPOC women, all alumni of Mantra Youth Percussion, Arlene Acevedo, Alexis Carter, Tiahna Sterling, and Aline Vasquez joined MYP while students at Rahway High School. Recap reevaluates the white male-dominated world of percussion — Arlene Acevedo explains: “We want to show the world that anyone can do this. We’re young women of color doing this... and you can too!”

Recap releases their debut album, Count to Five, on Innova Recordings on September 24th 2021 with music by Angélica Negrón, Allison Loggins-Hull, Ellen Reid, Lesley Flanigan, Mary Kouyoumdjian, and Caroline Shaw. The first track and album’s namesake, written by Angélica Negrón, uses found objects to create a unique and engrossing soundscape, while Hammers by Allison Loggins-Hull reflects on the sound of New York construction and our built environment. Ellen Reid’s Fear | Release is about reframing the familiar in a new light, and is built around a five-note phrase that is echoed and developed in both melodic and textural ways. The Glacial wash of sound on Hedera by Lesley Flanigan is immersive and mesmerizes with swirling transformational voice and percussion. Children of Conflict: "Samar's Song" composed by Mary Kouyoumdjian takes a haunting and heartbreaking story and brings light and hope to our darkest times. Count to Five resolves with Caroline Shaw’s Will there be any Stars in my Crown whichmelds histories and traditions into a contemplative space.

In 2022, Recap will collaborate with indigenous artists from Alaska to present a new hybrid-work that is part performance/part documentary with support from Found Sound Nation, the Wildshore Festival for New Music, and the United States National Parks Service.

Recap aims to tour their new repertoire across the globe and to inspire other young musicians who might not have considered following a path into contemporary arts.

Recap is a new percussion quartet from a new generation of musicians dedicated to music reflecting the diverse society we live in today. Arlene Acevedo, Alexis Carter, Tiahna Sterling and Aline Vasquez, four musicians from Rahway, NJ, formed Recap through music, friendship and a desire to share their story. As recent alumni of Mantra Youth Percussion, the free-tuition teenage ensemble of Mantra Percussion, Inc., the members of Recap worked closely with different music creators, performing both in their community as well as nationally, learning skills that would provide the groundwork for establishing their own group.

Now as a newly-formed professional ensemble, Recap headlines the 2021 New Music Gathering in Saint Paul, MN in August. Recap releases their debut album “Count to Five” with premiere recordings of music by Angelica Negron, Allison Loggins-Hull, Ellen Reid, Lesley Flanigan, Mary Kouyoumdjian, and Caroline Shaw. Recap will showcase select pieces from the album at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention in Indianapolis, In November, continuing with winter and spring 2022 dates across the country.