War Footing (2021—process)

“Dear Friends,

Thank you very much for trying this.

I wanted to say a little about how I approached the music here, hoping that might provide a sense of possibility, first and foremost, as you think about making your own ways through these songs and pieces.

Everything started with words. I wrote poetry imagining other music in mind, simple music that was actually kind of “bad” I suppose, like templates, even cliches, of rhythmic and tonal schemes. That was to get the words out and then all the music in my head got replaced; most often I re-started with a single sound in my right hand that would set the first word or line, and then tried to destabilize that sound with the left hand.

(I want to highlight that destabilizing sound idea. Many of the ways I added parts here were with that desire in mind: pull against what is there.)

For a long time the songs on this record lived small: piano and voice. I then experimented with a beat layer, but tried to make the beats a little different than the repeated drum machine patterns I’d used on the last project like this (am-jt). On this new record, instead, there’s a sort of template for each pattern, but I’ve randomized whether and how each point in the pattern gets realized.

Once I recorded the song-poems that way, I started experimenting with layers of different synthesizer sounds. Again, it was not to orchestrate or embellish the piano; rather, I wanted to make things exist in tension with each other, to feel contrapuntal and rich.

After COVID shut everything down I used what I had at home. Luckily I had been amassing a set of synth forces for a long time, so there was no real deficit of beautiful instruments to play and learn.

This was a joyous phase. Just listening and contributing a new sound or line. On and on, to a saturation point. And that’s one way I would love for you all to contribute. Yes, on your “home instruments,” but I wouldn’t feel limited to instruments per se, necessarily, or even things you know how to play, necessarily. And rather than say “play these notes,” I invite you to “do this process.” Listen, layer, experiment. Maybe check out these tunes and pick one that speaks to you, and then see how you can turn towards or away from what is there with what you do, hear, with how your body wants to move in response. (A reasonable response could be, also, to double a line or sound. To add coloration and richness, or complication.)

One line, one sound, one moment, or intricate lines, lots of sounds, lots of moments. Lead with listening and being curious and trying something and not worrying about going too far or not far enough. Then I’ll listen, or we’ll listen together. Something will come of it.

While I am not sure where all of this is headed, I do want to say that much of what characterizes this project right now is alone-ness and in-my-head-ness, so it feels like a significant change to open this up, one that might even have narrative power in the piece itself. But wise words were once imparted to me: if you need help, ask for it. If you’re asked for help, give it.

Thank you, so much.

07.26.2020”

Oddly enough, as I mix these full arrangements, what came of the above request, I find myself playing alone a lot: