& Pages Burn Like Candles....
Hey everybody, happy Summer. Hope you’re all enjoying the long, hot days as much as I am. Right now it’s 85 degrees here and expected to be just shy of 100 degrees on Thursday. Yeehaw!
Today I harvested the first two pounds of blueberries off of some young bushes that I’ve spent the last few weeks pruning, fertilizing, and mulching. Feels good to see the work pay off. I share this anecdote because on the other hand our garden vegetables and strawberries are being ravaged by a groundhog that I cannot seem to thwart. a dozen pepper plants chomped, 30 heads of lettuce chomped, and just this morning the broccolini… chomped. I’m all for sharing with the wildlife but this guy is a greedy little bastard. We’ve also been hit this year with a busted well pump, severe transplant shock on nearly all of our seedlings, bees swarming like I’ve never seen, etc. etc. etc.
Point being, the blueberry win feels huge and necessary to celebrate so I don’t drown in a sea of failure. Working land is difficult. I’m grateful to be learning it in such an immersive way and to be in such close communion with nature even if it means seemingly endless trials and tribulations. Anyhow, that’s what’s up with me, let’s talk about music!
In case you missed it, I put a new album out Friday called & Pages Burn Like Candles. It’s the sister album to the record I released last month, Seasons Turn Like Pages and together they complete a cycle. A little more on the process…
The new record takes the compositions from the Seasons Turn Like Pages and morphs them into an entirely different zone. Constructed exclusively from the final masters of Seasons Turn Like Pages and heavily manipulated field recordings, & Pages Burn Like Candles melts the original breezy, morning-flavored material down into something dusky and swamp-like. Where Seasons Turn Like Pages reflects on how quickly time passes, & Pages Burn Like Candles explores the inverse sensation. …& Pages Burn… conjures up moments that linger, distort, and become stuck in memory.
The processes behind the record’s creation informed this concept: melodic fragments were often slowed to a near halt, passed repeatedly through tape machines and amplifiers, chopped into pieces and reassembled completely disfigured, and layered with field recordings transformed into uncanny textures. Together, the two albums function as a complete work, one documenting time slipping away, the other dwelling inside its residue. In conversation with each other, they reveal two sides of the same landscape, where one glides through the trees with river-like motion, while the other smolders at the bottom of a marsh.
I’m very excited that both of these records are finally out. They took me a good long while to get just right and it’s time to release them into the wild. There are a few cassette tapes remaining for each album plus a very special double CD that contains both records. There’s been strong demand at shows for CDs so I’m thinking a few of you readers will be happy to hear that I’ve finally made it happen. I’ll share links below for each record but before that, I just want to thank everyone who made this album possible.
Ben Etter mastered both of these albums and was with me every step of the way (aka dealing with my nitpicks about the smallest frequency resonances). Thanks to Maria Araya who did the Seasons Turn… cover/tape layout and to Clare McCarthy who did the & Pages Burn… cover/tape layout, both of which I love. Thanks to Paige Murphy Ditta who did the CD layout. Thanks to Connor, Gil, and Matthew for believing in my music and releasing the digital and physical formats. Thanks to Ari, Early, Jesse, River, Chaz, and all the other friends who weighed in on mixes and continue to fuel this little creative community. And of course thanks to you for listening and reading. It’s very much appreciated. On to the next one.
& Pages Burn Like Candles Tapes
Some other updates:
Summer Shows: This Summer I’m playing a few very special shows with Isaac Sherman who’s flying from LA to hit the east coast for the first time. We’re doing my neighborhood haunt, Avalon Lounge in Catskill NY on 7/22 with Elori Saxl & Booker Stardrum. They’re doing a duo set (SICK). We’re also playing Cassette in Queens NY on 7/23 with Matt Evans (glitched percussion & floaty zones), and Henry Fraser (experimental upright bass player) (ALSO SICK). I think that both of these shows will sell out so grab tickets here for Catskill and here for Cassette before they’re gone. The very very beautiful flyers for these shows are down below. They were made by Ben Rogers. I’ve got a few other shows that are still firming up. More on that soon. Hope to see you out there.
Caravan: As promised, I will continue hitting everyone over the head with the album I released a few months ago with my friend Connor under the name Saltpuppet. It’s an hour long trek that documents a three year journey across an increasingly deranged and mystical landscape. Heavily conceptual and heavily vibey, Caravan was extremely fun to make and I highly recommend you listen to it if you like The Hired Hand soundtrack, Oregon trail, freak folk, instrumentals with nature sounds, etc. You can listen and/or pick up a CD here.
Great Big Pond: This Saturday we hosted the second installment of the Great Big Pond series alongside the Atmospheric Music Alliance, right here at Will o’ Wisp farm. Slow music outside, while the sun is shining. It was a lovely time. People swam, people slept, people picnicked - good fun all around. More of these to come.
Music Recommendations: I need music recs! Got an album you’ve been playing on repeat? Get in touch and let me know. Here’s what’s been on heavy rotation for me (warning: it’s mostly dungeon synth)
Fief - I-IV
Ulk - Submerged and Forgotten
Cate Kennan - Shadows
Angels in America - Asphalt Green
Robert Turman - ANDROMEDA FLX-260
The Herbalists - The Feast of St. Silabreh
Field Commander Ali - The Next From Field Commander
Thanks for reading & ciao 4 now.
-saapato
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