page_title: Rebecca Foon
section_title: Founding of Esmerine
hierarchical_section_title: Rebecca Foon / Music career / Founding of Esmerine
caption_attribution_description: English: en:Esmerine
context_page_description: Rebecca Foon also credited as Beckie Foon, is a Canadian cellist, vocalist, and composer from Montreal, Quebec. Foon currently records under the alias Saltland and is a member and co-founder of the Juno Award-winning modern chamber ensemble Esmerine. She has also been a member of several groups associated with the post rock, experimental and chamber music scene of Montreal and New York City, including Set Fire to Flames, A Silver Mt. Zion, Colin Stetson’s Gorecki Symphony of Sorrow ensemble and the instrumental string/piano/accordion-based trio Fifths of Seven. Esmerine's Turkish folk influenced album Dalmak, released in 2013, was awarded the Juno Award for Instrumental Album of the Year in 2014. In 2013 she released her first Saltland album, which Exclaim.ca called "a captivating combination of genres from dream pop to chamber music to ambient and shoegaze."
context_section_description: In 2001, Foon co-founded the chamber rock group Esmerine along with percussionist Bruce Cawdron. The two had met while recording the debut album of Set Fire To Flames. However, instead of using the guitar-focused sound of their other projects, the duo initially focused on percussion and cello, drawing on minimalist classical music and chamber music. The band initially performed their original music in gigs around Montreal.
  Esmerine released their debut album If Only a Sweet Surrender to the Nights to Come Be True in 2003. Allmusic gave it 4/5 stars and called it "a sublime chamber rock album," stating "A French female name meaning quiet and sensitive, Esmerine is a fitting moniker for the overall sound." They released their second album Aurora in 2005. Afterwards Foon dedicated more time to Thee Silver Mt. Zion, though she continued to periodically perform with Esmerine in Montreal, often bringing in guest artists or collaborating with other groups.
caption: Foon (far left) playing cello with Esmerine
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