News

My new album Wild And Weary (the extended soundtrack to the film Laetitia) will be released in October 2016.  It was recorded with members of The Hiddentracks and features Reyn Ouwehand.

I produced and wrote arrangements for the new Contrebrassens record which will be released in January 2017.  It is finished and we're very proud.  Brassens was a great base to work from, obviously.

I just finished producing an EP of the songs of Jean-Louis Roubira, inventor of the game Dixit.  Pauline Dupuy (contrebrassens) sings and plays bass and we wrote the arrangements together.  It was also the start of our collaboration with the fabulous musicien Lenny Barouk.  There will be more with him later.  The EP will be released next year.

I composed the music for two French documentaries which will be shown later this year.  The first, La Belle Vie, premiers in St. Malo on May 14th as part of the Etonnants Voyageurs festival and the second, Jo Spiegel, will make it's TV debut on France 2 in August.

You can go and see my Facebook page if you want more news, and like it if you like my music!

Vinyl edition of Submarine Dreams
MonsterK7 and What A Mess! have released a limited edition vinyl of Submarine Dreams.  It comes with a free immediate download and features 13 postcards with drawings by Gabríela Friðriksdóttir and is truly a beautiful object / preorder vinyl from MonsterK7 or What A Mess! 

CD / Download
The album features 14 original drawings by Gabríela Friðriksdóttir / order Digipack or download here. 
Also available in all good record stores via We Are Unique Records and on itunes, deezer, spotify...

Listen to Submarine Dreams

Live with Contrebrassens

Reviews
The most rewarding of the pieces for toys on the program. A fairground tune unfolded on the toy piano, a bittersweet interlude evoked loss, and a syncopated bluesy melody evolved in a melancholic haze.
The New York Times

A brilliant composer of lunatic cabaret songs.
LES INROCKUPTIBLES - 15 Mai 2013 - JD Beauvallet

Cajun music and New Orleans jazz are never far. A whimsical, playful world with a few melancholic strokes and carnival-like frenzy. 
Obsküre Magazine (Mai-Juin 2013)

A charming formula with plenty of unique arrangement ideas and the same kind of energy as in Patrick Watson's music. 
France Musique - Vincent Théval - LABEL POP

From string-filled popsongs that could have been composed by Sufjan Stevens to sparkling folk ballads through to darker tones, these songs are flawless!
POPNEWS

American Premiere of Coney Island Sous l'Eau.

The American premiere of Michael's Toy piano concerto was performed in New York at the Washington Square Music Festival on the 16th of July 2013. 

Reviews:

The New York Times - Vivien Scheitzer (in print on July 18, 2013)
Two toy pianos were surrounded by grown-up instruments in Michael Wookey’s “Coney Island Sous l’Eau” (“Coney Island Under the Water”), written after Hurricane Sandy and the most rewarding of the pieces for toys on the program. A fairground tune unfolded on the toy piano, a bittersweet interlude evoked loss, and a syncopated bluesy melody evolved in a melancholic haze.

www.concertonet.com - Harry Rolnick
By far, the most interesting music was Michael Wookey’s Coney Island Under the Sea, originally for two toy pianos and other toy instruments à la Leopold Mozart. But Mr. Wookey’s purpose was far more serious. He had seen the amusement park after our monstrous Sandy hurricane last year, with a result of bitter irony. The little orchestra and piano alternated merry–go-round carousel-style songs along with dissonances and atonal observations. A clever concept that was short, gave its message and left us with a strange sadness.

Photo of the world premiere of the concerto in Paris at Théâtre du Chatelêt. (Photo by Mickagio)