Album Cover, Release Date & Aquarium Drunkard
The Words and Silences project is steadily coming together, and below you can find both a release date (JANUARY 31, 2022, Thomas Merton's birthday), and the newly designed album cover. This will be my ninth (or so) full-length album, and each time, I love the risks and rewards of bringing a project from nascent ideas, to concrete form, to publication. And now, I am looking forward to sharing it with you.
All along, my hope for Words and Silences has been to be "in conversation": not only with the Merton material and the contributing musicians, but also others writing and thinking and making work connected to the subjects surrounding the project: mindfulness, contemplative practices, solitude, and the power of listening as a means of healing and self-care.
And, as part of this effort to be in conversation, I'm also proud of a recent article in Aquarium Drunkard, shared with my friend Dao Strom (see below). In addition, my friend Nat Segnit just published a remarkable book called Retreat that explores the above ideas with depth, humor, and a profound sense of wonder. Part of the book explores our shared time together at Marble House, a family artist residency in Vermont. Highly recommended!
In the coming months, I'll also be able to share some performance dates, for late 2022...
Happy listening! Brian
PS: If you are a writer and would like to write about Words and Silences (or know someone who might be interested), please contact me here!
WORDS AND SILENCES:
ALBUM COVER AND RELEASE DATE
Words and Silences, my forthcoming album based on the archival hermitage tapes of Thomas Merton, now has a release date and album cover.
The release will be JANUARY 31, 2022, on Winesap Records. This also happens to be Thomas Merton's birthday, which seemed appropriate to me.
The album cover, designed by Amanda McCorkle at ColorQuarry Press, features a simple line drawing of Merton's hermitage in rural Kentucky. To satisfy the need for something tactile to hold while listening, the recordings (digital/CD) will be accompanied by a limited edition letterpress booklet (also designed by Amanda), which includes transcriptions of Merton's recordings and my own long-form essay on the project.
More news soon!
(And, in case you missed it, you can listen to two tracks from the album here):
AQUARIUM DRUNKARD:
IN CONVERSATION WITH DAO STROM
I am happy to share a long-form conversation with my friend Dao Strom in Aquarium Drunkard, to support her album Traveler's Ode and book Instrument. Both are phenomenal, and I can't recommend them enough. In this conversation, we talk of sound, language, and memory. We also discuss Words and Silences, creative process, "grain of the voice," hybrid projects, and more. It is an extension of the rich dialogue we have had together since meeting at the 2016 Creative Capital retreat. I hope you enjoy it.