Variations On A Prayer
This is my first full-length release since graduating from Bennington, so it is a departure from the RULE FOLLOWER/ORCHIDIST sound. But it continues to be inspired by similar themes, namely improvisation and the creative manipulation of past improvisations. Variations On A Prayer distinguishes itself from my other work by being somewhat consistent in timbre for its duration. It is entirely built off of seven recordings of electric and acoustic guitar, bass, and voice, so all sounds (drums included) have some grounding in those relatively natural timbres.
The album consists of 10 variations on these original recordings, so that listening through provides a constantly shifting perspective on the material, rather than a gradual and inevitable descent into madness, or further and further from the start. In this order, I believe it’s a nice balance of beat-driven tracks and more atmospheric or tonal tracks. Available on all digital platforms.
RULE FOLLOWER TWO (Live)
RULE FOLLOWER TWO is the “Live” album version of my senior show from May 2022, performed in Martha Hill at Bennington College. It features Blair Jasper on synth and sampler, and Garrett Crusan on drums. I play electric and upright bass, and sing. It has no overdubs (unlike all my other albums, which could be considered a collective ode to the overdub-heavy music production practice); everything was played live in that room and recorded by a few mics around us. The show was the result of two years of consistent exploration/rehearsal by the ensemble, roughly in the realm of free improvisation. We enjoy lots of music and follow the guidance of the moment more than any doctrine of genre. The concert can be viewed in visual form on youtube. I demand you watch it to see the outstanding improvisatory work of dancers Surabhee Arjunwadkar, Ulyana Shkel, and Zo Williams; and the lighting design of Flo Gill. The music is a reflection of their visual statements, and the environment created by the movement, light, and audience.
ORCHIDIST
Orchidist is my most recent full-length release. Garrett Crusan (drums) and I (bass) tracked it together in the Bennington College recording studio - all the drums, bass, and vocals were recorded live. We're used to playing as a trio, with the brilliant Blair Jasper, but this session with just the two of us allowed a more focused, angry, and determined sound. In producing the album, I took one of the drum mics for each track, and saturated and warped it until it became an entirely new sonic creature, but still generated by Garrett's playing, and as such responded to their dynamics, orchestrations, and rhythms. The highlight of the production process was the last song, "if it were a dream". This was the first track that I put together, and it's cluttered/offset chaos was the product of a happy accident when importing audio. The sixth track, "chorale", is a byproduct of the same improvisation as “if it were a dream”, but paired with a contrapuntal composition for sine wave quartet. This is an angry, chaotic album, but at its core, it's about the loving friendship between me and Garrett, a friendship built on playing this music together. Many thanks to Garrett, and many thanks to you for listening!
RULE FOLLOWER
This album is the beginning of the RULE FOLLOWER project, which features Garrett Crusan on drums and Blair Jasper on synth and sampler. The core drums, bass, and synth were recorded on 5/20/2021, and the upright bass improvisation was recorded on 9/20/2021. I added additional layers of guitars and vocals and effects in Oct, Nov, and Dec 2021. It is the first album I released with other musicians playing on it, but the lyrics and themes and ideas behind the album are more personal than previous works. There's an undeniable power to improvised music that conveys something deeper from within the performer. I feel that there are many points on this record where such emotion is evident. The album wanders amongst the blurred boundaries between most of the popular genres of western popular music of the past century. “Physical Drone” is an obvious outlier, being the only track without Garrett and Blair — it is just a raw excerpt from the upright bass improvisation. After recording for 45 minutes or so, I found a resting place in the repetitive, sawing bow on a single interval, and felt suddenly driven to sing. RULE FOLLOWER is a celebration of raw, impulsive, and chaotic improvisation.