Doing a little run with these fine folks this August to celebrate 20 Years of Six Organs. Maybe I’ll see you out there.
It is with excitement that I announce the next Hexadic record, Hexadic III:
This record is a compilation of some of my favorite musicians making music using the Hexadic System. It features:
Moon Duo
Jenks Miller
Meg Baird & Charlie Saufley (Heron Oblivion)
Tashi Dorji
Richard Youngs
Stephen O’Malley, Tim Wyskida (both ex-Khanate) & Marc Urselli
Phil Legard
Phil should be known to those who have been following the system as he has been not only composing with it but also exploring its context and possibilities in a series of posts that can be found here. The people I asked have all been very supportive of the project from the beginning. In fact, when I asked a couple of the folks (Richard Youngs and Stephen O’Malley) if they might be interested in doing something for a record, they informed me that they already recorded using the system and sent me their tracks immediately (I’ve been sitting on them for a couple of years now so it’s very cool to finally share them).
Mostly I’m just really humbled that everyone on the record took their time to compose music for this release. At first the artists may seem wildly varied but I feel the magic of this record is that the Hexadic system provides a skeleton for the music so that it all seems of one world. It is very much a Hexadic record. I will post more soon about the individual tracks. Thank you to everyone who contributed. It’s hard to convey how much it means to me.
As much as I tell myself I am going to keep this site updated when I post, I always forget. This is particularly strange since I am so horrible at most people’s preferred method of communication: Facebook and Twitter. Since I don’t have a FB account and since I always feel a slight tinge of shame with every self promotion tweet (Elisa says it is polite to retweet when people say nice things about you but I can’t get used to that), it would seem that posting here would be the most direct and least shameful way of communication. Anyway –
West Coast tour is over. Donovan and Elisa and I had a wonderful time. We’re currently preparing for the East Coast/Midwest tour which will kick off with Six Organs (and Rangda) at Big Ears festival.
Elisa and I made a video for Adoration Song featuring my sister’s dog, Apollo. He’s a good character –
Here’s a few interviews I’ve done recently for the record:
I also recently did a guest DJ thing at NTS radio in London. It’s been archived if you want to listen:
Happy to announce that John Elliot will be joining me in creating music for the Wallace Stevens play. Very stoked on that.
Here’s a track from Burning The Threshold. That’s Corsano on Drums, Cooper Crain on keys, and Haley Fohr singing on the chorus and those 3 part harmonies. I should note – there is bass on this song that is completely lost if you only play it through your computer speaker. To get the best sound, if you aren’t plugged into a stereo, I highly recommend listening on headphones.
Haley and Cooper released one of my favorite records of last year, the Jackie Lynn record. I’m very stoked to have them on the record. Cooper also engineered Burning The Threshold in Chicago.
Lately, I’ve been working on music for a play about Wallace Stevens, which will be premiering in Cleveland in May. It’s an original play, written by David Todd. David asked me to write some original music to be incorporated into the action of the play. Being a huge Wallace Stevens fan, I agreed. We are very pleased that the estate of Wallace Stevens has granted us rights to perform his poems and work for 5 years, as well, which will allow us to really bring his work to life. The first song on Burning The Threshold is inspired by the play David wrote, though it won’t actually be in the play.
Until then, I will be concentrating on these upcoming tours. The band will be mostly acoustic. I’m looking forward to playing acoustic in the states. The last time was in 2011 for the Asleep on the Floodplain tour.
A new Six Organs of Admittance record will be arriving in 2017. Burning The Threshold will be released Feb 24th on Drag City.
A song from the record can be listened to at NPR here.
This record is the first non-hexadic acoustic oriented record since 2011’s Asleep On The Floodplain. It features a few friends throughout the record (Alex Neilson, Chris Corsano, Haley Fohr, Cooper Crain, Damon and Naomi, Ryley Walker). The acoustic guitar was recorded at Gladtree Studios in Vermont (see below post for photo of the shed I recorded in). The tracks were then taken to Chicago where the record was finished by recording with Cooper Crain (Bitchin Bajas) in a few locations.
We will be having a special record release party on Feb 22nd in London at St Pancras Old Church. Tour dates in the US will follow. Tickets here.
Track Listing –
1. Things As They Are
2. Adoration Song
3. Reservoir
4. Under Fixed Stars
5. Around The Axis
6. Taken By Ascent
7. Threshold Of Light
8. St. Eustace
9. Reflection
More thoughts on the record soon. Thank you.