(14944,1,'2016-09-28 13:18:05','2016-09-28 05:18:05','[et_pb_section fullwidth=\"off\" specialty=\"on\" background_color=\"#050505\" inner_shadow=\"off\" parallax=\"off\" parallax_method=\"css\"][et_pb_column type=\"3_4\" specialty_columns=\"3\"][et_pb_row_inner][et_pb_column_inner type=\"4_4\"][et_pb_text admin_label=\"Text\" background_layout=\"dark\" text_orientation=\"left\"]\r\n<h1>Kramies</h1>\r\n<a href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Antonymes_1.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft  wp-image-8971\" src=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Kramies-2013-Press-Shot-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"Kramies\" width=\"232\" height=\"232\" /></a><em>“It’s rare to find dream-pop that resolves with such assured optimism, in which you can sense experience shifting into its proper place... Kramies seems to have mastered the talent of simply breathing it into shape”<strong> – Misfit City</strong></em>\r\n\r\nDutch-American singer-songwriter Kramies has been honing his inimitable craft for many years, bewitching all who have heard his music along the way. Fusing masterful songwriting with electronics and atmospherics, stepping into a Kramies song means being swept up into an emotionally resonant vortex of swooning pop that simply demands repeat listens.\r\n\r\n<strong><a href=\"https://geo.itunes.apple.com/us/artist/kramies/id271914759?at=11lRii&amp;mt=1&amp;app=music\"><img class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-12412\" src=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/badge_itunes-sm.png\" alt=\"iTunes\" width=\"44\" height=\"15\" /></a> <a title=\"Facebook\" href=\"https://www.facebook.com/kramies\" target=\"_blank\"> <img class=\"alignnone wp-image-8763 size-full\" src=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Facebook.png\" alt=\"Facebook\" width=\"26\" height=\"20\" /></a>  <a title=\"Twitter\" href=\"https://twitter.com/kramies\" target=\"_blank\"><img class=\"alignnone wp-image-8766 size-full\" src=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Twitter.png\" alt=\"Twitter\" width=\"26\" height=\"20\" /></a>  <a title=\"SoundCloud\" href=\"https://soundcloud.com/kramies\" target=\"_blank\"><img class=\"alignnone wp-image-8764 size-full\" src=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/SoundCloud.png\" alt=\"SoundCloud\" width=\"26\" height=\"20\" /></a>   </strong>\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider admin_label=\"Divider\" color=\"#ffffff\" show_divider=\"off\" /][et_pb_tabs admin_label=\"Artist Tabs\"][et_pb_tab title=\"Discography\"]\r\n<h3>Discography</h3>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h4>Into The Sparks (Single)</h4>\r\n<div></div>\r\n<iframe style=\"border: 0; width: 500px; height: 208px;\" src=\"https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=2137271471/size=large/bgcol=333333/linkcol=ffffff/artwork=small/transparent=true/\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\" seamless=\"\"><a href=\"http://kramies.bandcamp.com/album/into-the-sparks-by-kramies-alma-forrer\">Into The Sparks by Kramies &amp; Alma Forrer by Kramies &amp; Alma Forrer</a></iframe>\r\nMay 2016\r\n\r\nA duet with French singer-songwriter <a title=\"Alma Forrer\" href=\"https://almaforrer.bandcamp.com/music\" target=\"_blank\">Alma Forrer</a>, ‘Into The Sparks’ is a gorgeous anti-gravity ballad. Kramies and Alma’s voices reverberate amidst open acoustic guitar chords, backed by aching synths. The release also includes a stripped back acoustic version of the single.\r\n<h4>forêts antiques</h4>\r\n<div></div>\r\n<iframe style=\"border: 0; width: 500px; height: 307px;\" src=\"https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=513788054/size=large/bgcol=333333/linkcol=ffffff/artwork=small/transparent=true/\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\" seamless=\"\"><a href=\"http://kramies.bandcamp.com/album/for-ts-antiques\">forêts antiques by Kramies</a></iframe>\r\nOctober 2015\r\n\r\nRecorded live on April 8th 2015 at The Grand Théâtre in Angers, France\r\n\r\nOn a spring evening in 2015, the setting sun cast deep shadows over The Grand Théâtre in Angers, France, where Kramies was due to play to a sold-out crowd. As the 700 ticket-holders took to their seats and the theatre dimmed to a single amber light, Kramies walked on stage to perform his haunting, romantic songs. This is a recording of that night.\r\n\r\n<em>forêts antiques</em> is the new live EP by singer-songwriter Kramies, featuring recordings of tracks from his acclaimed EPs, plus a previously unreleased song.\r\n<h4>The Fate That Never Favored Us</h4>\r\n<div></div>\r\n<iframe style=\"border: 0; width: 500px; height: 120px;\" src=\"https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=4058454627/size=large/bgcol=333333/linkcol=ffffff/tracklist=false/artwork=small/transparent=true/\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\" seamless=\"\"><a href=\"http://kramies.bandcamp.com/album/the-fate-that-never-favored-us\">The Fate That Never Favored Us by Kramies</a></iframe>\r\nMarch 2015\r\n\r\nAhead of his forthcoming French tour, dream-pop troubadour Kramies has dropped another gorgeous track produced by Jason Lytle (Grandaddy). ‘The Fate That Never Favored Us’ is a lilting, swaying cosmic waltz, delicately built around melancholy acoustic guitar and eerie synths, through which Kramies weaves his languid vocals. As with so much of his music, Kramies delivers soundtracks to moments rather than mere songs.\r\n<h4>The Folklore Sessions</h4>\r\n<div></div>\r\n<iframe style=\"border: 0; width: 500px; height: 274px;\" src=\"https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=2676132242/size=large/bgcol=333333/linkcol=ffffff/artwork=small/transparent=true/\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\" seamless=\"\"><a href=\"http://kramies.bandcamp.com/album/the-folklore-sessions\">The Folklore Sessions by Kramies</a></iframe>\r\nMay 2014\r\n<div></div>\r\n<em>The Folklore Sessions</em> is the free new EP by dream-pop singer-songwriter Kramies, featuring acoustic versions of songs from his two acclaimed Hidden Shoal EPs <em>The European</em> and <em>The Wooden Heart</em>, plus the beautiful piano talents of Grant Wilson (from Syfy\'s Ghost Hunters). While his previous EPs mined a wonderfully rich seam of atmospheric yet epic songcraft, <em>The Folklore Sessions</em> demonstrates that Kramies’ songwriting is just as stunning without the undeniable production talents of Jason Lytle (Grandaddy) and Todd Tobias (Guided By Voices, Robert Pollard, Circus Devils). With just his voice and acoustic guitar, plus languid piano backing by Grant Wilson (of Ghost Hunters TV show fame), these stripped-back versions of <em>The European</em>’s ‘Antiquarian Days’, <em>The Wooden Heart</em>’s title track and ‘Sea Otter Cottage’ are given vivid new life through Kramies’ genuinely affecting performances.\r\n<h4>The Wooden Heart</h4>\r\n<div></div>\r\n<iframe style=\"border: 0; width: 500px; height: 340px;\" src=\"https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=2389044161/size=large/bgcol=333333/linkcol=ffffff/artwork=small/transparent=true/\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\" seamless=\"\"><a href=\"http://kramies.bandcamp.com/album/the-wooden-heart\">The Wooden Heart by Kramies</a></iframe>\r\nOctober 2013\r\n<div></div>\r\n<em>The Wooden Heart</em> is the luscious and expansive new EP from Colorado-based dream-pop artist Kramies. The EP features the production and instrumental talents of Jason Lytle of Grandaddy fame, along with the inimitable production and additional instrumentation of Robert Pollard co-conspirator Todd Tobias. <em>The Wooden Heart</em> mines a wonderfully rich seam of atmospheric yet epic songcraft that Kramies has made his own. From the throbbing ambient introduction of ‘The Beginning’ through to the delicate folk of ‘The Ending’, Kramies’ new EP covers vast emotional and musical terrain during its 23-minute run-time. The title track’s windswept grandeur is married to an emotional directness that demands your attention and doesn’t let go, ‘Sea Otter Cottage’ sways and swoons with an almost unbearable poignancy, and ‘Clocks Were All Broken’ both alludes to and embodies this music’s timeless appeal. In addition to Todd Tobias’s production (on ‘The Beginning’, ‘The Wooden Heart’, ‘Upon The Northern Isles’ and ‘The Ending’), <em>The Wooden Heart</em> EP also features the production and instrumental talents of Jason Lytle of Grandaddy fame (on ‘Sea Otter Cottage’ and ‘Clocks Were All Broken’). Rounded out by the beautiful artwork of French photographer Jérôme Sevrette, The Wooden Heart EP is a lovingly constructed work of art.\r\n<h4>The European</h4>\r\n<div></div>\r\n<iframe style=\"border: 0; width: 500px; height: 307px;\" src=\"https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=2414891436/size=large/bgcol=333333/linkcol=ffffff/artwork=small/transparent=true/\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\" seamless=\"\"><a href=\"http://kramies.bandcamp.com/album/the-european\">The European by Kramies</a></iframe>\r\nNovember 2011\r\n<div></div>\r\nProduced by Todd Tobias (Guided By Voices, Robert Pollard, Circus Devils), <em>The European</em> sets Kramies’ gorgeous voice and acoustic guitar within a glowing tableau, epic in scope yet delicate in detail. The EP fades into view with ‘Intro’, a simple cyclical pattern of guitar, piano and vocals gradually subsumed by drones and distortion. This leads into the majestic, glacial sway of the title track, guaranteed to make the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end. Then, ‘Inventors’ is the album’s dark, shadowy heart, a ballad of subtle intensity. Single ‘Coal Miners Executive Club’ is an emotionally resonant vortex of swooning pop built around an absolutely heartbreaking chord progression on synthesizer, carried skyward as layers and layers of instruments build and build. And the closing ‘Antiquarian Days’ is a fitting fade towards a sepia horizon, burbling loops and chiming guitars accompanying Kramies’ gentle lament.\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"Bio\"]\r\n<h3>Biography</h3>\r\nDutch-American singer-songwriter Kramies Windt began writing songs at the age of 14 after buying his first synth, acoustic guitar and four-track cassette recorder at an estate sale in his home town of Cleveland, Ohio. Even though he was never really exposed to any music other than old Dutch Christmas records his family had lying around when he was a kid, their haunting sound would shape the direction of his future songwriting.\r\n\r\nKramies started forming and playing in bands around the age of 16, and by the age of 19, the bands he formed became based around the songs he was writing. The bands took on many forms, playing the underground music scene from Ohio to Chicago. Come the late ’90s, Kramies developed his own sound, based around old-world imagery of cobblestone streets, old trains and castles, and romantic, poetic moments. Kramies and his band went on to open for Spiritualized, Grandaddy, Yo La Tengo, Calexico, Stereolab, Dirty Three and Red House Painters.\r\n\r\nCome 2004, Kramies decided to focus on writing and recording in the studio, and began working with producer and engineer Todd Tobias (Guided By Voices, Robert Pollard) and guitarist David Paolucci. Working with Todd and David, Kramies released two albums to critical acclaim: Golden Like A New Thing (ACM, 2008) and Castle of Ghosts (ACM, 2010).\r\n\r\nIn 2010 Kramies began writing the songs for his first Hidden Shoal release, The European EP, in his coat closet in Colorado. The songs were demoed on four-track, painting a vivid sonic picture of the direction the release would take, drawing on the haunting old-world imagery he loved so much as a kid. The demos were sent to David Paolucci to start working on guitar parts in Ohio. Kramies then toured Ireland, playing really old pubs and small concert halls, which brought new ideas and layers to the songs. The European EP was recorded in June and July 2011 with Todd Tobias, with prominent, swirling guitar work from Dave Paolucci.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"News\"]\r\n<h3>News</h3>\r\n[catlist name=kramies-news content=yes pagination=no title_tag=h4 title_class=lcp_title]\r\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\"><strong><a title=\"More Kramies News\" href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/category/news/kramies-news/\">More News</a></strong></p>\r\n[/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"Reviews\"]\r\n<h2>Reviews</h2>\r\n[catlist name=kramies-reviews content=yes pagination=no title_tag=h4 title_class=lcp_title]\r\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\"><a title=\"Kramies Reviews\" href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/category/reviews/kramies-reviews/\"><strong>More Reviews</strong></a></p>\r\n[/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"Press Releases\"]\r\n<h3>Press Releases</h3>\r\n<a href=\"../../publicity/press-releases/Press_Release-Kramies-The_Folklore_Sessions_EP.pdf\">Kramies <em>The Folklore Sessions</em> EP Release</a>\r\n\r\n<a href=\"../../publicity/press-releases/HSR_Press_Release-Kramies-The_Wooden_Heart_EP.pdf\">Kramies <em>The Wooden Heart</em> Album Release</a>\r\n\r\n<a href=\"../../publicity/press-releases/HSR_Press_Release-Kramies-The_Wooden_Heart%28Single%29.pdf\">Kramies ‘The Wooden Heart’ Single Release</a>\r\n\r\n<a href=\"../../publicity/press-releases/HSR_Press_Release-Kramies-The_European.pdf\">Kramies – <em>The European</em> EP Release</a>\r\n\r\n<a href=\"../../publicity/press-releases/HSR_Press_Release-Kramies-Coal_Miners_Executive_Club.pdf\">Kramies – ‘Coal Miners Executive Club’ Single Release</a>\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"Gallery\"]\r\n<h3>Artist Photos</h3>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n[gallery ids=\"9000,8999,9001\"]\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"Video\"]\r\n<h3>Music Videos</h3>\r\n<iframe src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/RM6BtRhdOzM?rel=0\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"></iframe> <iframe src=\"//www.youtube.com/embed/uM1_Ov-ont0?rel=0\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"></iframe> <iframe src=\"//www.youtube.com/embed/-l4F8vCH8MM?rel=0\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"></iframe> <iframe src=\"//www.youtube.com/embed/vOHV7ZWshkM?rel=0\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"></iframe> <iframe src=\"//www.youtube.com/embed/TdmV4aOSmxE?rel=0\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"></iframe> <iframe src=\"//www.youtube.com/embed/C5865MiACPA?rel=0\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"></iframe> <iframe src=\"//www.youtube.com/embed/KxAnc3dj3b0?rel=0\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"></iframe>[/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"Licensing\"]\r\n<h3>Licensing</h3>\r\nKramies\' music is  available for licensing (master &amp; sync cleared) through Hidden Shoal. Please <a title=\"Contact Us\" href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/contact-us/\">contact us</a> with some basic details about your project and the track(s) you wish to use and we’ll be sure to get back to you straight away.\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_tab][/et_pb_tabs][/et_pb_column_inner][/et_pb_row_inner][/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=\"1_4\"][et_pb_sidebar admin_label=\"Sidebar\" orientation=\"left\" area=\"sidebar-1\" background_layout=\"light\" module_id=\"shoalsidebar\" /][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_section]','Kramies','','inherit','closed','closed','','8970-revision-v1','','','2016-09-28 13:18:05','2016-09-28 05:18:05','',8970,'http://www.hiddenshoal.com/8970-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(14945,1,'2016-09-28 17:49:47','2016-09-28 09:49:47','[et_pb_section fullwidth=\"off\" specialty=\"on\" background_color=\"#050505\" inner_shadow=\"off\" parallax=\"off\" parallax_method=\"css\"][et_pb_column type=\"3_4\" specialty_columns=\"3\"][et_pb_row_inner][et_pb_column_inner type=\"4_4\"][et_pb_text admin_label=\"Text\" background_layout=\"light\" text_orientation=\"left\"]\r\n<h1>Craig Hallsworth</h1>\r\n<a href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Craig-Edit-4-BW.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft  wp-image-14807\" src=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Craig-Edit-4-BW-300x255.jpg\" alt=\"Craig Hallsworth\" width=\"287\" height=\"244\" /></a><i>“Craig Hallsworth knows his way around a tune with this set of sparkling power-pop, set with a country twang and cosmic touch”</i><strong><i> –</i> <b>2ser on Tangled Star’s album </b><em><b>Let’s Adjourn to the Garden</b></em></strong>\r\n\r\nCraig Hallsworth attempts to resingularise, for himself, the experience of a rock or pop song. He doesn’t approach it from the outside, in terms of styles or genres, but from the inside, as a field of affects and intensities. For him, songs are about the desire to play guitars and drums and to sing, expressing the poetry, humour and absurdity of a person finding themselves in this situation.\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider admin_label=\"Divider\" color=\"#ffffff\" show_divider=\"off\" /][et_pb_tabs admin_label=\"Artist Tabs\"][et_pb_tab title=\"Discography\"]\r\n<h4>Discography</h4>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h4> \'We’re Too Far Away (My Other Future, My Other Youth)\'</h4>\r\n<iframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;\" src=\"https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/track=4011905121/size=large/bgcol=333333/linkcol=ffffff/tracklist=false/artwork=small/transparent=true/\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\" seamless=\"\"><a href=\"http://craighallsworth.bandcamp.com/track/were-too-far-away-my-other-future-my-other-youth\">We\'re Too Far Away (My Other Future, My Other Youth) by Craig Hallsworth</a></iframe>\r\n\r\n‘We’re Too Far Away (My Other Future, My Other Youth)’ is the first single taken from <em>What’s The Story With This Hole?</em>, the debut solo album by Western Australian songwriter Craig Hallsworth, featuring single\r\n\r\nWith over 30 years of songwriting experience under his belt, Craig Hallsworth makes <em>What’s The Story With This Hole?</em> feel effortless yet boundless. Recorded and produced with long-time collaborator Al Smith (DrAlienSmith, Bergerk Studios), the album represents the most musically developed and fully realised recording the pair have delivered to date. On the surface, these are perfectly composed and innately melodic pop/rock songs, with Hallsworth’s guitars alternately shimmering and snarling around his unmistakably keening vocals. The real magic, however, lies a little concealed; songs often end up somewhere very different from where they started, and Hallsworth’s often surreal lyrical excursions act in striking counterpoint to the music.\r\n\r\nIt’s this juxtaposition that makes <em>What’s The Story With This Hole?</em> so special – musically rich and familiar sounds taken into unrelated narrative territories. In Hallsworth’s own words, <em>“To me, the mysterious undecidability in the words plays a crucial part in the overall experience of the songs, making them events of sense and sensation. It isn’t so much that I consider the lyrics to be poetry, but I think a sense of poetry would be useful in approaching these songs.”</em>\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"Bio\"]\r\n<h3>Biography</h3>\r\nCraig Hallsworth was the singer, guitarist and principal songwriter in Perth bands and projects The Bamboos, The Healers, wild palms, Zuvuya, Outstation, <a title=\"The Slow Beings\" href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/project/the-slow-beings/\">The Slow Beings</a> and <a title=\"Tangled Star\" href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/project/tangled-star/\">Tangled Star</a>. <i>What’s The Story With This Hole? </i>is his debut solo release on Hidden Shoal. He is currently working on his second.\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"News\"]\r\n<h3>News</h3>\r\n[catlist name=craighallsworth-news content=yes pagination=no title_tag=h4 title_class=lcp_title] [/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"Reviews\"]\r\n<h2>Reviews</h2>\r\n[catlist name=craighallsworth-reviews content=yes pagination=no title_tag=h4 title_class=lcp_title]\r\n\r\nNo reviews yet, sorry.\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"Lyrics\"]\r\n<h3>Lyrics</h3>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h4>Let\'s Adjourn To The Garden</h4>\r\n<h4>Lyrics by Craig Hallsworth</h4>\r\n<h5>CRAZY BIT O’ TRUTH</h5>\r\nso don’t build a stage so high\r\nway up to the sky\r\nand expect me to climb up there and play\r\nlike a dream it’s crashing down\r\nway down to the ground\r\nin the middle of the night I heard you leave\r\nyou can’t see where you’re going\r\nwho’s tugging at your sleeve\r\na sorcerer of death’s construction\r\nbaby you’re the last to know\r\nhard won insights turn into throwaway lines\r\nwell dressed gentlemen sidestep a dying world\r\nthen a cold calculating slob\r\nmeets a bitch with no illusions\r\natrocious pessimism\r\nwell I’ve never heard it called that before\r\nmaybe I’m the last to know\r\nit’s not so wonderful anymore\r\nso sorry children\r\nlife’s not beautiful anymore\r\nyour inheritance is grief\r\nyou might want to borrow a handkerchief\r\noh\r\nso they say they’re searching for the one\r\nwhose signs are in disarray and fading now\r\nso they say there are ten bottles of champagne\r\nin the car but we can’t remember where\r\nwe parked it now\r\nso they say they’re searching for the one\r\nwhose signs are in disarray and fading now\r\nso I say I’m cool with it\r\nI’m not trying to make the pieces fit\r\nI got a crazy bit o’ truth in my eye ...\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h5>IN BED WITH THE AVERYS</h5>\r\ndo you want to know what’s stronger than death\r\nwhat always wakes up with wonderful breath\r\nand do you want to know what’s stranger than fiction\r\nand the facts of life put together?\r\nout of focus autumn branches\r\nrubbing against the sky\r\nshe’s at home in the kitchen with a stranger\r\nhe’s out catching a lady’s eye\r\nthe fricassee is burning\r\nand you’re in bed with the Averys\r\nooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh\r\nin bed with the Averys\r\nthey’ll introduce you to Figaro\r\nhis friends call him Mike\r\nthen you’ll meet Susan and Lydia\r\nwhat’s not to like?\r\nthere’s nothing they can’t study your face\r\nand not hint at\r\nnothing they won’t exactly deny\r\nuntil your mind is reeling\r\ncoz something in this world wants to kill you\r\nyou have no defence\r\nit gets in your head like the man said\r\nit makes perfect sense\r\nit’s black and white\r\nit’s as clear as it can be\r\nthen somehow it’s incomprehensible\r\nand you’re in bed with the Averys\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h5>SOMEONE’S WALKING</h5>\r\nsomeone’s free and someone’s got it together\r\nsomeone’s lost in someone’s head forever\r\nsomeone’s dead and someone’s dialling a number\r\nsomeone’s dreaming someone’s coming\r\nsomeone’s passing someone’s staring\r\nsomeone’s waiting someone’s walking home\r\nsomeone’s turning away\r\nsomeone’s just walking home\r\nsomeone’s famous someone’s youth is stolen\r\nsomeone’s cool and someone’s feet are aching\r\nsomeone’s bad and someone must be joking\r\nsomeone’s crying someone’s changing\r\nsomeone’s begging someone’s smoking\r\nsomeone’s searching someone’s walking home\r\nsomeone’s running way\r\nsomeone’s just walking home\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h5>HASN’T MADE FOR FREEDOM</h5>\r\nit’s been all right for a change\r\nbut it hasn’t made for freedom\r\nthey’re hitting the bottle about it at least\r\nyou and I were restless dreamers\r\nin another life\r\nto tell the truth I’m falling asleep on a bus\r\nand it feels like someone else’s life\r\nand it’s all about capitalism\r\nit’s been all right for a change\r\nbut it hasn’t made for freedom\r\nas far as impulsive gestures go\r\ntaking your hand as we ride\r\ngazing out the window\r\nis right up there\r\nwith jumping off at a random stop\r\nas if I’m being followed\r\nand it’s all about patriotism\r\njust another eerie dawn\r\nI know what you mean\r\nbut how’re you gonna mean it all day?\r\noh yeah I know what you mean\r\nbut how’re you gonna make it pay?\r\njust another spooky coffee break\r\ntakes a plant to understand your longing\r\nand your pain\r\noh well I know what you mean\r\nthat doesn’t mean I’m not politely insane\r\nit was all right for a change\r\nbut it didn’t make for freedom\r\nit was the sun now it’s about to fall\r\nit was just an optical illusion\r\nand it wasn’t really there at all\r\ndon’t feel bad\r\nand don’t get crushed in the rush\r\nfor the experimental poem\r\nmy guess is it’s about capitalism\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h5>PAINTED DAYS</h5>\r\npainted days have found us\r\nin some seaside town\r\nwith the blinds pulled down\r\nlying low\r\nsupposing we mustn’t have died\r\nat 27\r\nwe must have lived\r\noh we must have lived after all\r\npainted doors have opened and closed\r\nand packages have arrived\r\nthere’s something mysterious about it\r\nbut ours is not to reason why\r\nours is but to squeeze the stuff\r\nout of a tube\r\nuntil it’s all used up\r\npainted whores have loved us\r\nand worried about our health\r\nwhen we didn’t deserve them at all\r\nthey never pushed us away\r\nand the things we would say\r\nwere just the things we would say\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h5>ATTIC SPACE CONVERSION # 1</h5>\r\nsend a beam of light into the world\r\nand pour the tea\r\nall your heroes were so lost\r\nwithout your penury\r\nand you were just this skinny little girl\r\nwho dug the sound\r\naudacity not veracity makes it all go ‘round\r\nnot everything with rings can be called hoop-la\r\nand the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty\r\nto Anastasia\r\nare they with us or against us?\r\nsend a ray of hope into the night\r\nand scrub the pan\r\nkeep a summer breeze inside a rusty old tin can\r\nbut to be more beautiful you have to concentrate\r\non the mystery\r\nlike a revolutionary becoming escaping\r\nall the failed revolutions of history\r\nhundreds of smiling people\r\nrode the silver tinselled escalators\r\none was a soft metal killer\r\nI remember I wasn’t feeling well\r\nI want to lose you in the morning\r\nin the deserted city\r\nI want to lie down any place\r\nand slowly forget your face\r\nI want to explain all of this\r\nbut not if it takes all night\r\nthis darkness is not endless\r\nonly everyone you know\r\nfilling their pockets full\r\nthis darkness is not endless\r\nonly anyone who knows you\r\nflying out for ...\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h5>99% OK</h5>\r\nit was 99% OK so I plucked it out of the air\r\n99% OK sounded better than only fair\r\nbut what about the darkness that spreads her wings\r\nand what about the darkness that makes her sing\r\nso what about the darkness that sips her wine\r\nso what about the darkness that makes her shine\r\nin a galaxy of faces\r\nin love and out of line\r\nthe vandal and the valentine\r\nforget that you and I were one\r\nforget what’s wrong with having fun\r\nhere’s to the tears that burn\r\nwe’re never to return\r\ndon’t break a heart and drop a hat\r\nthey’ve got servants here for that\r\nand though the names may change\r\na thief will call\r\njust to bring back the crystal ball\r\ndon’t you feel like a weathervane\r\nthat’s never known the wind and rain\r\nbut even psychics make mistakes my dear\r\nand bones point the way out of here\r\nforget that you and I were one\r\nforget the places in the sun\r\nhere’s to the tears that burn\r\nwe’re never to return\r\nforget when you and I were one\r\nthose days were like shots from a gun\r\nhere’s to the tears that burn\r\nwe’re never to return\r\ngo find someone to park your car\r\nand tell these dead men who you are\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nHEAD IN THE SAND\r\n\r\nso dry your thighs and don’t worry anymore\r\nlisten to all my outlandish proposals\r\nsmile when you slip through the cracks\r\ntake an abyss for a walk and never look back\r\nyou’ve got an hour to kill in the heat of the day\r\nhow many mornings are fresh and new\r\nand here you are wondering what to do\r\nshall I go against all my principles for you\r\nshall I draw a diagram or something?\r\nhow many nights do you feel like praying\r\nbut you never learned how to pray\r\nhow many nights do you feel like praying\r\nbut you wouldn’t know how to pray\r\nlike a rich man washing his hands\r\nyou had an hour to kill in the heat of the day\r\nan hour to kill in the heat of the day\r\nlike a daughter of this holy land\r\nbut don’t sleep with the messenger you understand\r\nthe carotid artery is severed as planned\r\nI can say I’m not burying my head in the sand\r\nI can say I’m not burying my head in the sand\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h5>THEME</h5>\r\nnow the wind picks up\r\nthe door creaks I think my cup\r\nis overflowing\r\na triumph of the human spirit\r\nto wake at 7\r\nand lie in bed until 11\r\nbring me your altered states\r\nand what exalts\r\nand bring to me your heaven\r\ndon’t wait for the ironic undercut\r\nnobody wants to wait for that today\r\nfor all anyone knows you really are\r\npassionate and driven\r\nyou’d go all the way to the mountain\r\nif only you could leave the room\r\nnow everything’s changing\r\nit’s like gazing through a splotch\r\non the window\r\nis anything behind everything\r\nis it wrong to wonder\r\nis it just to keep from going under?\r\nembrace the worthless life\r\nif it falls into your arms\r\nlet it reveal its charms\r\nso slowly\r\nyou’ll lose your taste for clever subtle things\r\nand I’ll go hungry analysing things\r\nI might decide to take up the guitar\r\nand there you are\r\nlet’s adjourn to the garden\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"Gallery\"]\r\n<h3>Artist Photos</h3>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n[gallery ids=\"14808,14804,14807\"]\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"Video\"]\r\n<h3>Music Videos</h3>\r\nNo music videos yet, sorry.\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"Licensing\"]\r\n<h3>Licensing</h3>\r\nCraig Hallsworth\'s music is  available for licensing (master &amp; sync cleared) through Hidden Shoal. Please <a title=\"Contact Us\" href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/contact-us/\">contact us</a> with some basic details about your project and the track(s) you wish to use and we’ll be sure to get back to you straight away.\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_tab][/et_pb_tabs][/et_pb_column_inner][/et_pb_row_inner][/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=\"1_4\"][et_pb_sidebar admin_label=\"Sidebar\" orientation=\"left\" area=\"sidebar-1\" background_layout=\"light\" module_id=\"shoalsidebar\" /][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_section]','Craig Hallsworth','','inherit','closed','closed','','14670-revision-v1','','','2016-09-28 17:49:47','2016-09-28 09:49:47','',14670,'http://www.hiddenshoal.com/14670-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(14946,1,'2016-09-28 17:50:31','2016-09-28 09:50:31','[et_pb_section fullwidth=\"off\" specialty=\"on\" background_color=\"#050505\" inner_shadow=\"off\" parallax=\"off\" parallax_method=\"css\"][et_pb_column type=\"3_4\" specialty_columns=\"3\"][et_pb_row_inner][et_pb_column_inner type=\"4_4\"][et_pb_text admin_label=\"Text\" background_layout=\"light\" text_orientation=\"left\"]\r\n<h1>Craig Hallsworth</h1>\r\n<a href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Craig-Edit-4-BW.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft  wp-image-14807\" src=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Craig-Edit-4-BW-300x255.jpg\" alt=\"Craig Hallsworth\" width=\"287\" height=\"244\" /></a><i>“Craig Hallsworth knows his way around a tune with this set of sparkling power-pop, set with a country twang and cosmic touch”</i><strong><i> –</i> <b>2ser on Tangled Star’s album </b><em><b>Let’s Adjourn to the Garden</b></em></strong>\r\n\r\nCraig Hallsworth attempts to resingularise, for himself, the experience of a rock or pop song. He doesn’t approach it from the outside, in terms of styles or genres, but from the inside, as a field of affects and intensities. For him, songs are about the desire to play guitars and drums and to sing, expressing the poetry, humour and absurdity of a person finding themselves in this situation.\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider admin_label=\"Divider\" color=\"#ffffff\" show_divider=\"off\" /][et_pb_tabs admin_label=\"Artist Tabs\"][et_pb_tab title=\"Discography\"]\r\n<h4>Discography</h4>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h4> \'We’re Too Far Away (My Other Future, My Other Youth)\'</h4>\r\n<iframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;\" src=\"https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/track=4011905121/size=large/bgcol=333333/linkcol=ffffff/tracklist=false/artwork=small/transparent=true/\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\" seamless=\"\"><a href=\"http://craighallsworth.bandcamp.com/track/were-too-far-away-my-other-future-my-other-youth\">We\'re Too Far Away (My Other Future, My Other Youth) by Craig Hallsworth</a></iframe>\r\n\r\n‘We’re Too Far Away (My Other Future, My Other Youth)’ is the first single taken from <em>What’s The Story With This Hole?</em>, the debut solo album by Western Australian songwriter Craig Hallsworth, featuring single\r\n\r\nWith over 30 years of songwriting experience under his belt, Craig Hallsworth makes <em>What’s The Story With This Hole?</em> feel effortless yet boundless. Recorded and produced with long-time collaborator Al Smith (DrAlienSmith, Bergerk Studios), the album represents the most musically developed and fully realised recording the pair have delivered to date. On the surface, these are perfectly composed and innately melodic pop/rock songs, with Hallsworth’s guitars alternately shimmering and snarling around his unmistakably keening vocals. The real magic, however, lies a little concealed; songs often end up somewhere very different from where they started, and Hallsworth’s often surreal lyrical excursions act in striking counterpoint to the music.\r\n\r\nIt’s this juxtaposition that makes <em>What’s The Story With This Hole?</em> so special – musically rich and familiar sounds taken into unrelated narrative territories. In Hallsworth’s own words, <em>“To me, the mysterious undecidability in the words plays a crucial part in the overall experience of the songs, making them events of sense and sensation. It isn’t so much that I consider the lyrics to be poetry, but I think a sense of poetry would be useful in approaching these songs.”</em>\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"Bio\"]\r\n<h3>Biography</h3>\r\nCraig Hallsworth was the singer, guitarist and principal songwriter in Perth bands and projects The Bamboos, The Healers, wild palms, Zuvuya, Outstation, <a title=\"The Slow Beings\" href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/project/the-slow-beings/\">The Slow Beings</a> and <a title=\"Tangled Star\" href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/project/tangled-star/\">Tangled Star</a>. <i>What’s The Story With This Hole? </i>is his debut solo release on Hidden Shoal. He is currently working on his second.\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"News\"]\r\n<h3>News</h3>\r\n[catlist name=craighallsworth-news content=yes pagination=no title_tag=h4 title_class=lcp_title] [/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"Reviews\"]\r\n<h2>Reviews</h2>\r\n[catlist name=craighallsworth-reviews content=yes pagination=no title_tag=h4 title_class=lcp_title]\r\n\r\nNo reviews yet, sorry.\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"Lyrics\"]\r\n<h3>Lyrics</h3>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h4>Let\'s Adjourn To The Garden</h4>\r\n<h5>Lyrics by Craig Hallsworth</h5>\r\n<h5>CRAZY BIT O’ TRUTH</h5>\r\nso don’t build a stage so high\r\nway up to the sky\r\nand expect me to climb up there and play\r\nlike a dream it’s crashing down\r\nway down to the ground\r\nin the middle of the night I heard you leave\r\nyou can’t see where you’re going\r\nwho’s tugging at your sleeve\r\na sorcerer of death’s construction\r\nbaby you’re the last to know\r\nhard won insights turn into throwaway lines\r\nwell dressed gentlemen sidestep a dying world\r\nthen a cold calculating slob\r\nmeets a bitch with no illusions\r\natrocious pessimism\r\nwell I’ve never heard it called that before\r\nmaybe I’m the last to know\r\nit’s not so wonderful anymore\r\nso sorry children\r\nlife’s not beautiful anymore\r\nyour inheritance is grief\r\nyou might want to borrow a handkerchief\r\noh\r\nso they say they’re searching for the one\r\nwhose signs are in disarray and fading now\r\nso they say there are ten bottles of champagne\r\nin the car but we can’t remember where\r\nwe parked it now\r\nso they say they’re searching for the one\r\nwhose signs are in disarray and fading now\r\nso I say I’m cool with it\r\nI’m not trying to make the pieces fit\r\nI got a crazy bit o’ truth in my eye ...\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h5>IN BED WITH THE AVERYS</h5>\r\ndo you want to know what’s stronger than death\r\nwhat always wakes up with wonderful breath\r\nand do you want to know what’s stranger than fiction\r\nand the facts of life put together?\r\nout of focus autumn branches\r\nrubbing against the sky\r\nshe’s at home in the kitchen with a stranger\r\nhe’s out catching a lady’s eye\r\nthe fricassee is burning\r\nand you’re in bed with the Averys\r\nooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh\r\nin bed with the Averys\r\nthey’ll introduce you to Figaro\r\nhis friends call him Mike\r\nthen you’ll meet Susan and Lydia\r\nwhat’s not to like?\r\nthere’s nothing they can’t study your face\r\nand not hint at\r\nnothing they won’t exactly deny\r\nuntil your mind is reeling\r\ncoz something in this world wants to kill you\r\nyou have no defence\r\nit gets in your head like the man said\r\nit makes perfect sense\r\nit’s black and white\r\nit’s as clear as it can be\r\nthen somehow it’s incomprehensible\r\nand you’re in bed with the Averys\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h5>SOMEONE’S WALKING</h5>\r\nsomeone’s free and someone’s got it together\r\nsomeone’s lost in someone’s head forever\r\nsomeone’s dead and someone’s dialling a number\r\nsomeone’s dreaming someone’s coming\r\nsomeone’s passing someone’s staring\r\nsomeone’s waiting someone’s walking home\r\nsomeone’s turning away\r\nsomeone’s just walking home\r\nsomeone’s famous someone’s youth is stolen\r\nsomeone’s cool and someone’s feet are aching\r\nsomeone’s bad and someone must be joking\r\nsomeone’s crying someone’s changing\r\nsomeone’s begging someone’s smoking\r\nsomeone’s searching someone’s walking home\r\nsomeone’s running way\r\nsomeone’s just walking home\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h5>HASN’T MADE FOR FREEDOM</h5>\r\nit’s been all right for a change\r\nbut it hasn’t made for freedom\r\nthey’re hitting the bottle about it at least\r\nyou and I were restless dreamers\r\nin another life\r\nto tell the truth I’m falling asleep on a bus\r\nand it feels like someone else’s life\r\nand it’s all about capitalism\r\nit’s been all right for a change\r\nbut it hasn’t made for freedom\r\nas far as impulsive gestures go\r\ntaking your hand as we ride\r\ngazing out the window\r\nis right up there\r\nwith jumping off at a random stop\r\nas if I’m being followed\r\nand it’s all about patriotism\r\njust another eerie dawn\r\nI know what you mean\r\nbut how’re you gonna mean it all day?\r\noh yeah I know what you mean\r\nbut how’re you gonna make it pay?\r\njust another spooky coffee break\r\ntakes a plant to understand your longing\r\nand your pain\r\noh well I know what you mean\r\nthat doesn’t mean I’m not politely insane\r\nit was all right for a change\r\nbut it didn’t make for freedom\r\nit was the sun now it’s about to fall\r\nit was just an optical illusion\r\nand it wasn’t really there at all\r\ndon’t feel bad\r\nand don’t get crushed in the rush\r\nfor the experimental poem\r\nmy guess is it’s about capitalism\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h5>PAINTED DAYS</h5>\r\npainted days have found us\r\nin some seaside town\r\nwith the blinds pulled down\r\nlying low\r\nsupposing we mustn’t have died\r\nat 27\r\nwe must have lived\r\noh we must have lived after all\r\npainted doors have opened and closed\r\nand packages have arrived\r\nthere’s something mysterious about it\r\nbut ours is not to reason why\r\nours is but to squeeze the stuff\r\nout of a tube\r\nuntil it’s all used up\r\npainted whores have loved us\r\nand worried about our health\r\nwhen we didn’t deserve them at all\r\nthey never pushed us away\r\nand the things we would say\r\nwere just the things we would say\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h5>ATTIC SPACE CONVERSION # 1</h5>\r\nsend a beam of light into the world\r\nand pour the tea\r\nall your heroes were so lost\r\nwithout your penury\r\nand you were just this skinny little girl\r\nwho dug the sound\r\naudacity not veracity makes it all go ‘round\r\nnot everything with rings can be called hoop-la\r\nand the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty\r\nto Anastasia\r\nare they with us or against us?\r\nsend a ray of hope into the night\r\nand scrub the pan\r\nkeep a summer breeze inside a rusty old tin can\r\nbut to be more beautiful you have to concentrate\r\non the mystery\r\nlike a revolutionary becoming escaping\r\nall the failed revolutions of history\r\nhundreds of smiling people\r\nrode the silver tinselled escalators\r\none was a soft metal killer\r\nI remember I wasn’t feeling well\r\nI want to lose you in the morning\r\nin the deserted city\r\nI want to lie down any place\r\nand slowly forget your face\r\nI want to explain all of this\r\nbut not if it takes all night\r\nthis darkness is not endless\r\nonly everyone you know\r\nfilling their pockets full\r\nthis darkness is not endless\r\nonly anyone who knows you\r\nflying out for ...\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h5>99% OK</h5>\r\nit was 99% OK so I plucked it out of the air\r\n99% OK sounded better than only fair\r\nbut what about the darkness that spreads her wings\r\nand what about the darkness that makes her sing\r\nso what about the darkness that sips her wine\r\nso what about the darkness that makes her shine\r\nin a galaxy of faces\r\nin love and out of line\r\nthe vandal and the valentine\r\nforget that you and I were one\r\nforget what’s wrong with having fun\r\nhere’s to the tears that burn\r\nwe’re never to return\r\ndon’t break a heart and drop a hat\r\nthey’ve got servants here for that\r\nand though the names may change\r\na thief will call\r\njust to bring back the crystal ball\r\ndon’t you feel like a weathervane\r\nthat’s never known the wind and rain\r\nbut even psychics make mistakes my dear\r\nand bones point the way out of here\r\nforget that you and I were one\r\nforget the places in the sun\r\nhere’s to the tears that burn\r\nwe’re never to return\r\nforget when you and I were one\r\nthose days were like shots from a gun\r\nhere’s to the tears that burn\r\nwe’re never to return\r\ngo find someone to park your car\r\nand tell these dead men who you are\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nHEAD IN THE SAND\r\n\r\nso dry your thighs and don’t worry anymore\r\nlisten to all my outlandish proposals\r\nsmile when you slip through the cracks\r\ntake an abyss for a walk and never look back\r\nyou’ve got an hour to kill in the heat of the day\r\nhow many mornings are fresh and new\r\nand here you are wondering what to do\r\nshall I go against all my principles for you\r\nshall I draw a diagram or something?\r\nhow many nights do you feel like praying\r\nbut you never learned how to pray\r\nhow many nights do you feel like praying\r\nbut you wouldn’t know how to pray\r\nlike a rich man washing his hands\r\nyou had an hour to kill in the heat of the day\r\nan hour to kill in the heat of the day\r\nlike a daughter of this holy land\r\nbut don’t sleep with the messenger you understand\r\nthe carotid artery is severed as planned\r\nI can say I’m not burying my head in the sand\r\nI can say I’m not burying my head in the sand\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h5>THEME</h5>\r\nnow the wind picks up\r\nthe door creaks I think my cup\r\nis overflowing\r\na triumph of the human spirit\r\nto wake at 7\r\nand lie in bed until 11\r\nbring me your altered states\r\nand what exalts\r\nand bring to me your heaven\r\ndon’t wait for the ironic undercut\r\nnobody wants to wait for that today\r\nfor all anyone knows you really are\r\npassionate and driven\r\nyou’d go all the way to the mountain\r\nif only you could leave the room\r\nnow everything’s changing\r\nit’s like gazing through a splotch\r\non the window\r\nis anything behind everything\r\nis it wrong to wonder\r\nis it just to keep from going under?\r\nembrace the worthless life\r\nif it falls into your arms\r\nlet it reveal its charms\r\nso slowly\r\nyou’ll lose your taste for clever subtle things\r\nand I’ll go hungry analysing things\r\nI might decide to take up the guitar\r\nand there you are\r\nlet’s adjourn to the garden\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"Gallery\"]\r\n<h3>Artist Photos</h3>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n[gallery ids=\"14808,14804,14807\"]\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"Video\"]\r\n<h3>Music Videos</h3>\r\nNo music videos yet, sorry.\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"Licensing\"]\r\n<h3>Licensing</h3>\r\nCraig Hallsworth\'s music is  available for licensing (master &amp; sync cleared) through Hidden Shoal. Please <a title=\"Contact Us\" href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/contact-us/\">contact us</a> with some basic details about your project and the track(s) you wish to use and we’ll be sure to get back to you straight away.\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_tab][/et_pb_tabs][/et_pb_column_inner][/et_pb_row_inner][/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=\"1_4\"][et_pb_sidebar admin_label=\"Sidebar\" orientation=\"left\" area=\"sidebar-1\" background_layout=\"light\" module_id=\"shoalsidebar\" /][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_section]','Craig Hallsworth','','inherit','closed','closed','','14670-revision-v1','','','2016-09-28 17:50:31','2016-09-28 09:50:31','',14670,'http://www.hiddenshoal.com/14670-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(14947,1,'2016-09-28 17:51:39','2016-09-28 09:51:39','[et_pb_section fullwidth=\"off\" specialty=\"on\" background_color=\"#050505\" inner_shadow=\"off\" parallax=\"off\" parallax_method=\"css\"][et_pb_column type=\"3_4\" specialty_columns=\"3\"][et_pb_row_inner][et_pb_column_inner type=\"4_4\"][et_pb_text admin_label=\"Text\" background_layout=\"light\" text_orientation=\"left\"]\r\n<h1>Craig Hallsworth</h1>\r\n<a href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Craig-Edit-4-BW.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft  wp-image-14807\" src=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Craig-Edit-4-BW-300x255.jpg\" alt=\"Craig Hallsworth\" width=\"287\" height=\"244\" /></a><i>“Craig Hallsworth knows his way around a tune with this set of sparkling power-pop, set with a country twang and cosmic touch”</i><strong><i> –</i> <b>2ser on Tangled Star’s album </b><em><b>Let’s Adjourn to the Garden</b></em></strong>\r\n\r\nCraig Hallsworth attempts to resingularise, for himself, the experience of a rock or pop song. He doesn’t approach it from the outside, in terms of styles or genres, but from the inside, as a field of affects and intensities. For him, songs are about the desire to play guitars and drums and to sing, expressing the poetry, humour and absurdity of a person finding themselves in this situation.\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider admin_label=\"Divider\" color=\"#ffffff\" show_divider=\"off\" /][et_pb_tabs admin_label=\"Artist Tabs\"][et_pb_tab title=\"Discography\"]\r\n<h4>Discography</h4>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h4> \'We’re Too Far Away (My Other Future, My Other Youth)\'</h4>\r\n<iframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;\" src=\"https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/track=4011905121/size=large/bgcol=333333/linkcol=ffffff/tracklist=false/artwork=small/transparent=true/\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\" seamless=\"\"><a href=\"http://craighallsworth.bandcamp.com/track/were-too-far-away-my-other-future-my-other-youth\">We\'re Too Far Away (My Other Future, My Other Youth) by Craig Hallsworth</a></iframe>\r\n\r\n‘We’re Too Far Away (My Other Future, My Other Youth)’ is the first single taken from <em>What’s The Story With This Hole?</em>, the debut solo album by Western Australian songwriter Craig Hallsworth, featuring single\r\n\r\nWith over 30 years of songwriting experience under his belt, Craig Hallsworth makes <em>What’s The Story With This Hole?</em> feel effortless yet boundless. Recorded and produced with long-time collaborator Al Smith (DrAlienSmith, Bergerk Studios), the album represents the most musically developed and fully realised recording the pair have delivered to date. On the surface, these are perfectly composed and innately melodic pop/rock songs, with Hallsworth’s guitars alternately shimmering and snarling around his unmistakably keening vocals. The real magic, however, lies a little concealed; songs often end up somewhere very different from where they started, and Hallsworth’s often surreal lyrical excursions act in striking counterpoint to the music.\r\n\r\nIt’s this juxtaposition that makes <em>What’s The Story With This Hole?</em> so special – musically rich and familiar sounds taken into unrelated narrative territories. In Hallsworth’s own words, <em>“To me, the mysterious undecidability in the words plays a crucial part in the overall experience of the songs, making them events of sense and sensation. It isn’t so much that I consider the lyrics to be poetry, but I think a sense of poetry would be useful in approaching these songs.”</em>\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"Bio\"]\r\n<h3>Biography</h3>\r\nCraig Hallsworth was the singer, guitarist and principal songwriter in Perth bands and projects The Bamboos, The Healers, wild palms, Zuvuya, Outstation, <a title=\"The Slow Beings\" href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/project/the-slow-beings/\">The Slow Beings</a> and <a title=\"Tangled Star\" href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/project/tangled-star/\">Tangled Star</a>. <i>What’s The Story With This Hole? </i>is his debut solo release on Hidden Shoal. He is currently working on his second.\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"News\"]\r\n<h3>News</h3>\r\n[catlist name=craighallsworth-news content=yes pagination=no title_tag=h4 title_class=lcp_title] [/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"Reviews\"]\r\n<h2>Reviews</h2>\r\n[catlist name=craighallsworth-reviews content=yes pagination=no title_tag=h4 title_class=lcp_title]\r\n\r\nNo reviews yet, sorry.\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"Lyrics\"]\r\n<h3>Lyrics</h3>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h4>Let\'s Adjourn To The Garden</h4>\r\n<h5>Lyrics by Craig Hallsworth</h5>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h5>CRAZY BIT O’ TRUTH</h5>\r\nso don’t build a stage so high\r\nway up to the sky\r\nand expect me to climb up there and play\r\nlike a dream it’s crashing down\r\nway down to the ground\r\nin the middle of the night I heard you leave\r\nyou can’t see where you’re going\r\nwho’s tugging at your sleeve\r\na sorcerer of death’s construction\r\nbaby you’re the last to know\r\nhard won insights turn into throwaway lines\r\nwell dressed gentlemen sidestep a dying world\r\nthen a cold calculating slob\r\nmeets a bitch with no illusions\r\natrocious pessimism\r\nwell I’ve never heard it called that before\r\nmaybe I’m the last to know\r\nit’s not so wonderful anymore\r\nso sorry children\r\nlife’s not beautiful anymore\r\nyour inheritance is grief\r\nyou might want to borrow a handkerchief\r\noh\r\nso they say they’re searching for the one\r\nwhose signs are in disarray and fading now\r\nso they say there are ten bottles of champagne\r\nin the car but we can’t remember where\r\nwe parked it now\r\nso they say they’re searching for the one\r\nwhose signs are in disarray and fading now\r\nso I say I’m cool with it\r\nI’m not trying to make the pieces fit\r\nI got a crazy bit o’ truth in my eye ...\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h5>IN BED WITH THE AVERYS</h5>\r\ndo you want to know what’s stronger than death\r\nwhat always wakes up with wonderful breath\r\nand do you want to know what’s stranger than fiction\r\nand the facts of life put together?\r\nout of focus autumn branches\r\nrubbing against the sky\r\nshe’s at home in the kitchen with a stranger\r\nhe’s out catching a lady’s eye\r\nthe fricassee is burning\r\nand you’re in bed with the Averys\r\nooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh\r\nin bed with the Averys\r\nthey’ll introduce you to Figaro\r\nhis friends call him Mike\r\nthen you’ll meet Susan and Lydia\r\nwhat’s not to like?\r\nthere’s nothing they can’t study your face\r\nand not hint at\r\nnothing they won’t exactly deny\r\nuntil your mind is reeling\r\ncoz something in this world wants to kill you\r\nyou have no defence\r\nit gets in your head like the man said\r\nit makes perfect sense\r\nit’s black and white\r\nit’s as clear as it can be\r\nthen somehow it’s incomprehensible\r\nand you’re in bed with the Averys\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h5>SOMEONE’S WALKING</h5>\r\nsomeone’s free and someone’s got it together\r\nsomeone’s lost in someone’s head forever\r\nsomeone’s dead and someone’s dialling a number\r\nsomeone’s dreaming someone’s coming\r\nsomeone’s passing someone’s staring\r\nsomeone’s waiting someone’s walking home\r\nsomeone’s turning away\r\nsomeone’s just walking home\r\nsomeone’s famous someone’s youth is stolen\r\nsomeone’s cool and someone’s feet are aching\r\nsomeone’s bad and someone must be joking\r\nsomeone’s crying someone’s changing\r\nsomeone’s begging someone’s smoking\r\nsomeone’s searching someone’s walking home\r\nsomeone’s running way\r\nsomeone’s just walking home\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h5>HASN’T MADE FOR FREEDOM</h5>\r\nit’s been all right for a change\r\nbut it hasn’t made for freedom\r\nthey’re hitting the bottle about it at least\r\nyou and I were restless dreamers\r\nin another life\r\nto tell the truth I’m falling asleep on a bus\r\nand it feels like someone else’s life\r\nand it’s all about capitalism\r\nit’s been all right for a change\r\nbut it hasn’t made for freedom\r\nas far as impulsive gestures go\r\ntaking your hand as we ride\r\ngazing out the window\r\nis right up there\r\nwith jumping off at a random stop\r\nas if I’m being followed\r\nand it’s all about patriotism\r\njust another eerie dawn\r\nI know what you mean\r\nbut how’re you gonna mean it all day?\r\noh yeah I know what you mean\r\nbut how’re you gonna make it pay?\r\njust another spooky coffee break\r\ntakes a plant to understand your longing\r\nand your pain\r\noh well I know what you mean\r\nthat doesn’t mean I’m not politely insane\r\nit was all right for a change\r\nbut it didn’t make for freedom\r\nit was the sun now it’s about to fall\r\nit was just an optical illusion\r\nand it wasn’t really there at all\r\ndon’t feel bad\r\nand don’t get crushed in the rush\r\nfor the experimental poem\r\nmy guess is it’s about capitalism\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h5>PAINTED DAYS</h5>\r\npainted days have found us\r\nin some seaside town\r\nwith the blinds pulled down\r\nlying low\r\nsupposing we mustn’t have died\r\nat 27\r\nwe must have lived\r\noh we must have lived after all\r\npainted doors have opened and closed\r\nand packages have arrived\r\nthere’s something mysterious about it\r\nbut ours is not to reason why\r\nours is but to squeeze the stuff\r\nout of a tube\r\nuntil it’s all used up\r\npainted whores have loved us\r\nand worried about our health\r\nwhen we didn’t deserve them at all\r\nthey never pushed us away\r\nand the things we would say\r\nwere just the things we would say\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h5>ATTIC SPACE CONVERSION # 1</h5>\r\nsend a beam of light into the world\r\nand pour the tea\r\nall your heroes were so lost\r\nwithout your penury\r\nand you were just this skinny little girl\r\nwho dug the sound\r\naudacity not veracity makes it all go ‘round\r\nnot everything with rings can be called hoop-la\r\nand the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty\r\nto Anastasia\r\nare they with us or against us?\r\nsend a ray of hope into the night\r\nand scrub the pan\r\nkeep a summer breeze inside a rusty old tin can\r\nbut to be more beautiful you have to concentrate\r\non the mystery\r\nlike a revolutionary becoming escaping\r\nall the failed revolutions of history\r\nhundreds of smiling people\r\nrode the silver tinselled escalators\r\none was a soft metal killer\r\nI remember I wasn’t feeling well\r\nI want to lose you in the morning\r\nin the deserted city\r\nI want to lie down any place\r\nand slowly forget your face\r\nI want to explain all of this\r\nbut not if it takes all night\r\nthis darkness is not endless\r\nonly everyone you know\r\nfilling their pockets full\r\nthis darkness is not endless\r\nonly anyone who knows you\r\nflying out for ...\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h5>99% OK</h5>\r\nit was 99% OK so I plucked it out of the air\r\n99% OK sounded better than only fair\r\nbut what about the darkness that spreads her wings\r\nand what about the darkness that makes her sing\r\nso what about the darkness that sips her wine\r\nso what about the darkness that makes her shine\r\nin a galaxy of faces\r\nin love and out of line\r\nthe vandal and the valentine\r\nforget that you and I were one\r\nforget what’s wrong with having fun\r\nhere’s to the tears that burn\r\nwe’re never to return\r\ndon’t break a heart and drop a hat\r\nthey’ve got servants here for that\r\nand though the names may change\r\na thief will call\r\njust to bring back the crystal ball\r\ndon’t you feel like a weathervane\r\nthat’s never known the wind and rain\r\nbut even psychics make mistakes my dear\r\nand bones point the way out of here\r\nforget that you and I were one\r\nforget the places in the sun\r\nhere’s to the tears that burn\r\nwe’re never to return\r\nforget when you and I were one\r\nthose days were like shots from a gun\r\nhere’s to the tears that burn\r\nwe’re never to return\r\ngo find someone to park your car\r\nand tell these dead men who you are\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\nHEAD IN THE SAND\r\n\r\nso dry your thighs and don’t worry anymore\r\nlisten to all my outlandish proposals\r\nsmile when you slip through the cracks\r\ntake an abyss for a walk and never look back\r\nyou’ve got an hour to kill in the heat of the day\r\nhow many mornings are fresh and new\r\nand here you are wondering what to do\r\nshall I go against all my principles for you\r\nshall I draw a diagram or something?\r\nhow many nights do you feel like praying\r\nbut you never learned how to pray\r\nhow many nights do you feel like praying\r\nbut you wouldn’t know how to pray\r\nlike a rich man washing his hands\r\nyou had an hour to kill in the heat of the day\r\nan hour to kill in the heat of the day\r\nlike a daughter of this holy land\r\nbut don’t sleep with the messenger you understand\r\nthe carotid artery is severed as planned\r\nI can say I’m not burying my head in the sand\r\nI can say I’m not burying my head in the sand\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h5>THEME</h5>\r\nnow the wind picks up\r\nthe door creaks I think my cup\r\nis overflowing\r\na triumph of the human spirit\r\nto wake at 7\r\nand lie in bed until 11\r\nbring me your altered states\r\nand what exalts\r\nand bring to me your heaven\r\ndon’t wait for the ironic undercut\r\nnobody wants to wait for that today\r\nfor all anyone knows you really are\r\npassionate and driven\r\nyou’d go all the way to the mountain\r\nif only you could leave the room\r\nnow everything’s changing\r\nit’s like gazing through a splotch\r\non the window\r\nis anything behind everything\r\nis it wrong to wonder\r\nis it just to keep from going under?\r\nembrace the worthless life\r\nif it falls into your arms\r\nlet it reveal its charms\r\nso slowly\r\nyou’ll lose your taste for clever subtle things\r\nand I’ll go hungry analysing things\r\nI might decide to take up the guitar\r\nand there you are\r\nlet’s adjourn to the garden\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"Gallery\"]\r\n<h3>Artist Photos</h3>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n[gallery ids=\"14808,14804,14807\"]\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"Video\"]\r\n<h3>Music Videos</h3>\r\nNo music videos yet, sorry.\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"Licensing\"]\r\n<h3>Licensing</h3>\r\nCraig Hallsworth\'s music is  available for licensing (master &amp; sync cleared) through Hidden Shoal. Please <a title=\"Contact Us\" href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/contact-us/\">contact us</a> with some basic details about your project and the track(s) you wish to use and we’ll be sure to get back to you straight away.\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_tab][/et_pb_tabs][/et_pb_column_inner][/et_pb_row_inner][/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=\"1_4\"][et_pb_sidebar admin_label=\"Sidebar\" orientation=\"left\" area=\"sidebar-1\" background_layout=\"light\" module_id=\"shoalsidebar\" /][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_section]','Craig Hallsworth','','inherit','closed','closed','','14670-revision-v1','','','2016-09-28 17:51:39','2016-09-28 09:51:39','',14670,'http://www.hiddenshoal.com/14670-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(14949,1,'2016-09-28 18:02:00','2016-09-28 10:02:00','[et_pb_section fullwidth=\"off\" specialty=\"on\" background_color=\"#050505\" inner_shadow=\"off\" parallax=\"off\" parallax_method=\"css\"][et_pb_column type=\"3_4\" specialty_columns=\"3\"][et_pb_row_inner][et_pb_column_inner type=\"4_4\"][et_pb_text admin_label=\"Text\" background_layout=\"light\" text_orientation=\"left\"]\r\n<h1>Craig Hallsworth</h1>\r\n<a href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Craig-Edit-4-BW.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft  wp-image-14807\" src=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Craig-Edit-4-BW-300x255.jpg\" alt=\"Craig Hallsworth\" width=\"287\" height=\"244\" /></a><i>“Craig Hallsworth knows his way around a tune with this set of sparkling power-pop, set with a country twang and cosmic touch”</i><strong><i> –</i> <b>2ser on Tangled Star’s album </b><em><b>Let’s Adjourn to the Garden</b></em></strong>\r\n\r\nCraig Hallsworth attempts to resingularise, for himself, the experience of a rock or pop song. He doesn’t approach it from the outside, in terms of styles or genres, but from the inside, as a field of affects and intensities. For him, songs are about the desire to play guitars and drums and to sing, expressing the poetry, humour and absurdity of a person finding themselves in this situation.\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider admin_label=\"Divider\" color=\"#ffffff\" show_divider=\"off\" /][et_pb_tabs admin_label=\"Artist Tabs\"][et_pb_tab title=\"Discography\"]\r\n<h4>Discography</h4>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h4> \'We’re Too Far Away (My Other Future, My Other Youth)\'</h4>\r\n<iframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;\" src=\"https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/track=4011905121/size=large/bgcol=333333/linkcol=ffffff/tracklist=false/artwork=small/transparent=true/\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\" seamless=\"\"><a href=\"http://craighallsworth.bandcamp.com/track/were-too-far-away-my-other-future-my-other-youth\">We\'re Too Far Away (My Other Future, My Other Youth) by Craig Hallsworth</a></iframe>\r\n\r\n‘We’re Too Far Away (My Other Future, My Other Youth)’ is the first single taken from <em>What’s The Story With This Hole?</em>, the debut solo album by Western Australian songwriter Craig Hallsworth, featuring single\r\n\r\nWith over 30 years of songwriting experience under his belt, Craig Hallsworth makes <em>What’s The Story With This Hole?</em> feel effortless yet boundless. Recorded and produced with long-time collaborator Al Smith (DrAlienSmith, Bergerk Studios), the album represents the most musically developed and fully realised recording the pair have delivered to date. On the surface, these are perfectly composed and innately melodic pop/rock songs, with Hallsworth’s guitars alternately shimmering and snarling around his unmistakably keening vocals. The real magic, however, lies a little concealed; songs often end up somewhere very different from where they started, and Hallsworth’s often surreal lyrical excursions act in striking counterpoint to the music.\r\n\r\nIt’s this juxtaposition that makes <em>What’s The Story With This Hole?</em> so special – musically rich and familiar sounds taken into unrelated narrative territories. In Hallsworth’s own words, <em>“To me, the mysterious undecidability in the words plays a crucial part in the overall experience of the songs, making them events of sense and sensation. It isn’t so much that I consider the lyrics to be poetry, but I think a sense of poetry would be useful in approaching these songs.”</em>\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"Bio\"]\r\n<h3>Biography</h3>\r\nCraig Hallsworth was the singer, guitarist and principal songwriter in Perth bands and projects The Bamboos, The Healers, wild palms, Zuvuya, Outstation, <a title=\"The Slow Beings\" href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/project/the-slow-beings/\">The Slow Beings</a> and <a title=\"Tangled Star\" href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/project/tangled-star/\">Tangled Star</a>. <i>What’s The Story With This Hole? </i>is his debut solo release on Hidden Shoal. He is currently working on his second.\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"News\"]\r\n<h3>News</h3>\r\n[catlist name=craighallsworth-news content=yes pagination=no title_tag=h4 title_class=lcp_title] [/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"Reviews\"]\r\n<h2>Reviews</h2>\r\n[catlist name=craighallsworth-reviews content=yes pagination=no title_tag=h4 title_class=lcp_title]\r\n\r\nNo reviews yet, sorry.\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"Lyrics\"]\r\n<h3>Lyrics</h3>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"Gallery\"]\r\n<h3>Artist Photos</h3>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n[gallery ids=\"14808,14804,14807\"]\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"Video\"]\r\n<h3>Music Videos</h3>\r\nNo music videos yet, sorry.\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"Licensing\"]\r\n<h3>Licensing</h3>\r\nCraig Hallsworth\'s music is  available for licensing (master &amp; sync cleared) through Hidden Shoal. Please <a title=\"Contact Us\" href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/contact-us/\">contact us</a> with some basic details about your project and the track(s) you wish to use and we’ll be sure to get back to you straight away.\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_tab][/et_pb_tabs][/et_pb_column_inner][/et_pb_row_inner][/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=\"1_4\"][et_pb_sidebar admin_label=\"Sidebar\" orientation=\"left\" area=\"sidebar-1\" background_layout=\"light\" module_id=\"shoalsidebar\" /][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_section]','Craig Hallsworth','','inherit','closed','closed','','14670-revision-v1','','','2016-09-28 18:02:00','2016-09-28 10:02:00','',14670,'http://www.hiddenshoal.com/14670-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(14948,1,'2016-09-28 17:58:45','2016-09-28 09:58:45','[et_pb_section fullwidth=\"off\" specialty=\"on\" background_color=\"#050505\" inner_shadow=\"off\" parallax=\"off\" parallax_method=\"css\"][et_pb_column type=\"3_4\" specialty_columns=\"3\"][et_pb_row_inner][et_pb_column_inner type=\"4_4\"][et_pb_text admin_label=\"Text\" background_layout=\"light\" text_orientation=\"left\"]\r\n<h1>Craig Hallsworth</h1>\r\n<a href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Craig-Edit-4-BW.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft  wp-image-14807\" src=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/Craig-Edit-4-BW-300x255.jpg\" alt=\"Craig Hallsworth\" width=\"287\" height=\"244\" /></a><i>“Craig Hallsworth knows his way around a tune with this set of sparkling power-pop, set with a country twang and cosmic touch”</i><strong><i> –</i> <b>2ser on Tangled Star’s album </b><em><b>Let’s Adjourn to the Garden</b></em></strong>\r\n\r\nCraig Hallsworth attempts to resingularise, for himself, the experience of a rock or pop song. He doesn’t approach it from the outside, in terms of styles or genres, but from the inside, as a field of affects and intensities. For him, songs are about the desire to play guitars and drums and to sing, expressing the poetry, humour and absurdity of a person finding themselves in this situation.\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider admin_label=\"Divider\" color=\"#ffffff\" show_divider=\"off\" /][et_pb_tabs admin_label=\"Artist Tabs\"][et_pb_tab title=\"Discography\"]\r\n<h4>Discography</h4>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h4> \'We’re Too Far Away (My Other Future, My Other Youth)\'</h4>\r\n<iframe style=\"border: 0; width: 100%; height: 120px;\" src=\"https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/track=4011905121/size=large/bgcol=333333/linkcol=ffffff/tracklist=false/artwork=small/transparent=true/\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\" seamless=\"\"><a href=\"http://craighallsworth.bandcamp.com/track/were-too-far-away-my-other-future-my-other-youth\">We\'re Too Far Away (My Other Future, My Other Youth) by Craig Hallsworth</a></iframe>\r\n\r\n‘We’re Too Far Away (My Other Future, My Other Youth)’ is the first single taken from <em>What’s The Story With This Hole?</em>, the debut solo album by Western Australian songwriter Craig Hallsworth, featuring single\r\n\r\nWith over 30 years of songwriting experience under his belt, Craig Hallsworth makes <em>What’s The Story With This Hole?</em> feel effortless yet boundless. Recorded and produced with long-time collaborator Al Smith (DrAlienSmith, Bergerk Studios), the album represents the most musically developed and fully realised recording the pair have delivered to date. On the surface, these are perfectly composed and innately melodic pop/rock songs, with Hallsworth’s guitars alternately shimmering and snarling around his unmistakably keening vocals. The real magic, however, lies a little concealed; songs often end up somewhere very different from where they started, and Hallsworth’s often surreal lyrical excursions act in striking counterpoint to the music.\r\n\r\nIt’s this juxtaposition that makes <em>What’s The Story With This Hole?</em> so special – musically rich and familiar sounds taken into unrelated narrative territories. In Hallsworth’s own words, <em>“To me, the mysterious undecidability in the words plays a crucial part in the overall experience of the songs, making them events of sense and sensation. It isn’t so much that I consider the lyrics to be poetry, but I think a sense of poetry would be useful in approaching these songs.”</em>\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"Bio\"]\r\n<h3>Biography</h3>\r\nCraig Hallsworth was the singer, guitarist and principal songwriter in Perth bands and projects The Bamboos, The Healers, wild palms, Zuvuya, Outstation, <a title=\"The Slow Beings\" href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/project/the-slow-beings/\">The Slow Beings</a> and <a title=\"Tangled Star\" href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/project/tangled-star/\">Tangled Star</a>. <i>What’s The Story With This Hole? </i>is his debut solo release on Hidden Shoal. He is currently working on his second.\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"News\"]\r\n<h3>News</h3>\r\n[catlist name=craighallsworth-news content=yes pagination=no title_tag=h4 title_class=lcp_title] [/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"Reviews\"]\r\n<h2>Reviews</h2>\r\n[catlist name=craighallsworth-reviews content=yes pagination=no title_tag=h4 title_class=lcp_title]\r\n\r\nNo reviews yet, sorry.\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"Lyrics\"]\r\n<h3>Lyrics</h3>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h4>Let\'s Adjourn To The Garden</h4>\r\n<h5>Lyrics by Craig Hallsworth</h5>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h5>CRAZY BIT O’ TRUTH</h5>\r\nso don’t build a stage so high\r\nway up to the sky\r\nand expect me to climb up there and play\r\nlike a dream it’s crashing down\r\nway down to the ground\r\nin the middle of the night I heard you leave\r\nyou can’t see where you’re going\r\nwho’s tugging at your sleeve\r\na sorcerer of death’s construction\r\nbaby you’re the last to know\r\nhard won insights turn into throwaway lines\r\nwell dressed gentlemen sidestep a dying world\r\nthen a cold calculating slob\r\nmeets a bitch with no illusions\r\natrocious pessimism\r\nwell I’ve never heard it called that before\r\nmaybe I’m the last to know\r\nit’s not so wonderful anymore\r\nso sorry children\r\nlife’s not beautiful anymore\r\nyour inheritance is grief\r\nyou might want to borrow a handkerchief\r\noh\r\nso they say they’re searching for the one\r\nwhose signs are in disarray and fading now\r\nso they say there are ten bottles of champagne\r\nin the car but we can’t remember where\r\nwe parked it now\r\nso they say they’re searching for the one\r\nwhose signs are in disarray and fading now\r\nso I say I’m cool with it\r\nI’m not trying to make the pieces fit\r\nI got a crazy bit o’ truth in my eye ...\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h5>IN BED WITH THE AVERYS</h5>\r\ndo you want to know what’s stronger than death\r\nwhat always wakes up with wonderful breath\r\nand do you want to know what’s stranger than fiction\r\nand the facts of life put together?\r\nout of focus autumn branches\r\nrubbing against the sky\r\nshe’s at home in the kitchen with a stranger\r\nhe’s out catching a lady’s eye\r\nthe fricassee is burning\r\nand you’re in bed with the Averys\r\nooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh\r\nin bed with the Averys\r\nthey’ll introduce you to Figaro\r\nhis friends call him Mike\r\nthen you’ll meet Susan and Lydia\r\nwhat’s not to like?\r\nthere’s nothing they can’t study your face\r\nand not hint at\r\nnothing they won’t exactly deny\r\nuntil your mind is reeling\r\ncoz something in this world wants to kill you\r\nyou have no defence\r\nit gets in your head like the man said\r\nit makes perfect sense\r\nit’s black and white\r\nit’s as clear as it can be\r\nthen somehow it’s incomprehensible\r\nand you’re in bed with the Averys\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h5>SOMEONE’S WALKING</h5>\r\nsomeone’s free and someone’s got it together\r\nsomeone’s lost in someone’s head forever\r\nsomeone’s dead and someone’s dialling a number\r\nsomeone’s dreaming someone’s coming\r\nsomeone’s passing someone’s staring\r\nsomeone’s waiting someone’s walking home\r\nsomeone’s turning away\r\nsomeone’s just walking home\r\nsomeone’s famous someone’s youth is stolen\r\nsomeone’s cool and someone’s feet are aching\r\nsomeone’s bad and someone must be joking\r\nsomeone’s crying someone’s changing\r\nsomeone’s begging someone’s smoking\r\nsomeone’s searching someone’s walking home\r\nsomeone’s running way\r\nsomeone’s just walking home\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h5>HASN’T MADE FOR FREEDOM</h5>\r\nit’s been all right for a change\r\nbut it hasn’t made for freedom\r\nthey’re hitting the bottle about it at least\r\nyou and I were restless dreamers\r\nin another life\r\nto tell the truth I’m falling asleep on a bus\r\nand it feels like someone else’s life\r\nand it’s all about capitalism\r\nit’s been all right for a change\r\nbut it hasn’t made for freedom\r\nas far as impulsive gestures go\r\ntaking your hand as we ride\r\ngazing out the window\r\nis right up there\r\nwith jumping off at a random stop\r\nas if I’m being followed\r\nand it’s all about patriotism\r\njust another eerie dawn\r\nI know what you mean\r\nbut how’re you gonna mean it all day?\r\noh yeah I know what you mean\r\nbut how’re you gonna make it pay?\r\njust another spooky coffee break\r\ntakes a plant to understand your longing\r\nand your pain\r\noh well I know what you mean\r\nthat doesn’t mean I’m not politely insane\r\nit was all right for a change\r\nbut it didn’t make for freedom\r\nit was the sun now it’s about to fall\r\nit was just an optical illusion\r\nand it wasn’t really there at all\r\ndon’t feel bad\r\nand don’t get crushed in the rush\r\nfor the experimental poem\r\nmy guess is it’s about capitalism\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h5>PAINTED DAYS</h5>\r\npainted days have found us\r\nin some seaside town\r\nwith the blinds pulled down\r\nlying low\r\nsupposing we mustn’t have died\r\nat 27\r\nwe must have lived\r\noh we must have lived after all\r\npainted doors have opened and closed\r\nand packages have arrived\r\nthere’s something mysterious about it\r\nbut ours is not to reason why\r\nours is but to squeeze the stuff\r\nout of a tube\r\nuntil it’s all used up\r\npainted whores have loved us\r\nand worried about our health\r\nwhen we didn’t deserve them at all\r\nthey never pushed us away\r\nand the things we would say\r\nwere just the things we would say\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h5>ATTIC SPACE CONVERSION # 1</h5>\r\nsend a beam of light into the world\r\nand pour the tea\r\nall your heroes were so lost\r\nwithout your penury\r\nand you were just this skinny little girl\r\nwho dug the sound\r\naudacity not veracity makes it all go ‘round\r\nnot everything with rings can be called hoop-la\r\nand the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty\r\nto Anastasia\r\nare they with us or against us?\r\nsend a ray of hope into the night\r\nand scrub the pan\r\nkeep a summer breeze inside a rusty old tin can\r\nbut to be more beautiful you have to concentrate\r\non the mystery\r\nlike a revolutionary becoming escaping\r\nall the failed revolutions of history\r\nhundreds of smiling people\r\nrode the silver tinselled escalators\r\none was a soft metal killer\r\nI remember I wasn’t feeling well\r\nI want to lose you in the morning\r\nin the deserted city\r\nI want to lie down any place\r\nand slowly forget your face\r\nI want to explain all of this\r\nbut not if it takes all night\r\nthis darkness is not endless\r\nonly everyone you know\r\nfilling their pockets full\r\nthis darkness is not endless\r\nonly anyone who knows you\r\nflying out for ...\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h5>99% OK</h5>\r\nit was 99% OK so I plucked it out of the air\r\n99% OK sounded better than only fair\r\nbut what about the darkness that spreads her wings\r\nand what about the darkness that makes her sing\r\nso what about the darkness that sips her wine\r\nso what about the darkness that makes her shine\r\nin a galaxy of faces\r\nin love and out of line\r\nthe vandal and the valentine\r\nforget that you and I were one\r\nforget what’s wrong with having fun\r\nhere’s to the tears that burn\r\nwe’re never to return\r\ndon’t break a heart and drop a hat\r\nthey’ve got servants here for that\r\nand though the names may change\r\na thief will call\r\njust to bring back the crystal ball\r\ndon’t you feel like a weathervane\r\nthat’s never known the wind and rain\r\nbut even psychics make mistakes my dear\r\nand bones point the way out of here\r\nforget that you and I were one\r\nforget the places in the sun\r\nhere’s to the tears that burn\r\nwe’re never to return\r\nforget when you and I were one\r\nthose days were like shots from a gun\r\nhere’s to the tears that burn\r\nwe’re never to return\r\ngo find someone to park your car\r\nand tell these dead men who you are\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h5>HEAD IN THE SAND</h5>\r\nso dry your thighs and don’t worry anymore\r\nlisten to all my outlandish proposals\r\nsmile when you slip through the cracks\r\ntake an abyss for a walk and never look back\r\nyou’ve got an hour to kill in the heat of the day\r\nhow many mornings are fresh and new\r\nand here you are wondering what to do\r\nshall I go against all my principles for you\r\nshall I draw a diagram or something?\r\nhow many nights do you feel like praying\r\nbut you never learned how to pray\r\nhow many nights do you feel like praying\r\nbut you wouldn’t know how to pray\r\nlike a rich man washing his hands\r\nyou had an hour to kill in the heat of the day\r\nan hour to kill in the heat of the day\r\nlike a daughter of this holy land\r\nbut don’t sleep with the messenger you understand\r\nthe carotid artery is severed as planned\r\nI can say I’m not burying my head in the sand\r\nI can say I’m not burying my head in the sand\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h5>THEME</h5>\r\nnow the wind picks up\r\nthe door creaks I think my cup\r\nis overflowing\r\na triumph of the human spirit\r\nto wake at 7\r\nand lie in bed until 11\r\nbring me your altered states\r\nand what exalts\r\nand bring to me your heaven\r\ndon’t wait for the ironic undercut\r\nnobody wants to wait for that today\r\nfor all anyone knows you really are\r\npassionate and driven\r\nyou’d go all the way to the mountain\r\nif only you could leave the room\r\nnow everything’s changing\r\nit’s like gazing through a splotch\r\non the window\r\nis anything behind everything\r\nis it wrong to wonder\r\nis it just to keep from going under?\r\nembrace the worthless life\r\nif it falls into your arms\r\nlet it reveal its charms\r\nso slowly\r\nyou’ll lose your taste for clever subtle things\r\nand I’ll go hungry analysing things\r\nI might decide to take up the guitar\r\nand there you are\r\nlet’s adjourn to the garden\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"Gallery\"]\r\n<h3>Artist Photos</h3>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n[gallery ids=\"14808,14804,14807\"]\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"Video\"]\r\n<h3>Music Videos</h3>\r\nNo music videos yet, sorry.\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"Licensing\"]\r\n<h3>Licensing</h3>\r\nCraig Hallsworth\'s music is  available for licensing (master &amp; sync cleared) through Hidden Shoal. Please <a title=\"Contact Us\" href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/contact-us/\">contact us</a> with some basic details about your project and the track(s) you wish to use and we’ll be sure to get back to you straight away.\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_tab][/et_pb_tabs][/et_pb_column_inner][/et_pb_row_inner][/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=\"1_4\"][et_pb_sidebar admin_label=\"Sidebar\" orientation=\"left\" area=\"sidebar-1\" background_layout=\"light\" module_id=\"shoalsidebar\" /][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_section]','Craig Hallsworth','','inherit','closed','closed','','14670-revision-v1','','','2016-09-28 17:58:45','2016-09-28 09:58:45','',14670,'http://www.hiddenshoal.com/14670-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(14950,1,'2016-09-28 18:03:24','2016-09-28 10:03:24','[et_pb_section fullwidth=\"off\" specialty=\"on\" background_color=\"#050505\" inner_shadow=\"off\" parallax=\"off\" parallax_method=\"css\"][et_pb_column type=\"3_4\" specialty_columns=\"3\"][et_pb_row_inner][et_pb_column_inner type=\"4_4\"][et_pb_text admin_label=\"Text\" background_layout=\"light\" text_orientation=\"left\"]\r\n<h1>Tangled Star</h1>\r\n<a href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Antonymes_1.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-9196\" src=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/T-Star_Band_Photo1-300x208.jpg\" alt=\"Tangled Star\" width=\"300\" height=\"208\" /></a><em>“<em>something that ripples, radiates and blossoms amid a dressage of shimmering keys and softly burnt riff cascades which had us much in mind of Hefner shimmying with the Clientele at times.</em>”</em> –<strong> Losing Today </strong>\r\n\r\nDistilling elements of indie rock and alt country married with Craig Hallsworth’s wonderful dust and liquor coated vocals and twisting lyrics, Tangled Star weaves their own magic place. Through the musics exultant shifts and wandering detours the band manages to make once familiar territory foreign and offset.\r\n[/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider admin_label=\"Divider\" color=\"#ffffff\" show_divider=\"off\" /][et_pb_tabs admin_label=\"Artist Tabs\"][et_pb_tab title=\"Discography\"]\r\n<h3>Discography</h3>\r\n<div></div>\r\n<div></div>\r\n<h4>Let\'s Adjourn To The Garden</h4>\r\n<div></div>\r\n<iframe style=\"border: 0; width: 500px; height: 439px;\" src=\"http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=2116748307/size=large/bgcol=333333/linkcol=ffffff/artwork=small/transparent=true/\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\" seamless=\"\"><a href=\"http://tangled-star.bandcamp.com/album/lets-adjourn-to-the-garden\">Let\'s Adjourn to the Garden by Tangled Star</a></iframe>\r\nJune 2013\r\n<div></div>\r\n<em>Let’s Adjourn To The Garden</em> sees Craig Hallsworth’s Tangled Star project shift gears while continuing to distill the inimitable songcraft Hallsworth is so well known for. <em>Let’s Adjourn To The Garden</em> is, in typically contrarian fashion, their least bucolic offering yet, blending more driving power-pop flavours into their distinctive soup of song. Hallsworth’s wonderful dust-and-liquor-coated vocals and twisting lyrics combine with exultant shifts and melodic detours allowing the music to make once familiar territory somehow foreign and offset.\r\n\r\nTracks such as ‘Head In The Sand’ and ‘Hasn’t Made For Freedom’ streamline Tangled Star’s brilliant hooks and melodic turns into immediately addictive and electric slices of slow burn power-pop. ‘Attic Space Conversion #1’ exemplifies the band\'s compositional and stylistic shifts even more, stitching rousing ramshackle rock with almost Doors’esque cosmic guitar pop. And there amidst the fuzz and driving drums lay some quiet gems in the beautifully stripped back, drumless guitar pop of ‘99% Ok’ and ‘Someone’s Walking’. Just when you think you have the album pegged, the final track ‘Theme’ takes a left turn employing sweeping synths and electronic percussion in some sort of beatific yet melancholic final postcard to the world.\r\n<div></div>\r\n<div></div>\r\n<h4>That Time</h4>\r\n<div></div>\r\n<iframe style=\"border: 0; width: 500px; height: 274px;\" src=\"http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=3107117187/size=large/bgcol=333333/linkcol=ffffff/artwork=small/transparent=true/\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\" seamless=\"\"><a href=\"http://tangled-star.bandcamp.com/album/that-time\">That Time by Tangled Star</a></iframe>\r\nJune 2009\r\n<div></div>\r\n<em>That Time</em> sees Tangled Star at their most immediately accessible and deliciously hooky. Like a trapdoor spider hidden by a welcome doormat, the band lay an easy invitation to the unsuspecting listener, only to unleash a series of inimitable pop hooks and subtle detours. The EP typifies Tangled Star’s ability to craft songs that reveal fresh dimensions with each listen.\r\n\r\n<em>That Time</em> features the stunning single ‘seabirdtown’. The track opens with the expansive open-air sound of Pink Floyd-style organs and spatial guitars before falling into an earthbound shuffle and a taste of a lush, full-band sound for Tangled Star. The song’s gradual build to a towering edifice of glowing overdriven guitar, droning organ and harmony vocals is topped off by an echoed guitar line that sketches glistening arcs in the stratosphere. The single is indicative of <em>That Time</em>’s strengths as a louder, more flowing version of the melodic, evocative spaces of Tangled Star’s twilight pop songs.\r\n<div></div>\r\n<div></div>\r\n<h4>Our Man From Eden Hill</h4>\r\n<div></div>\r\n<iframe style=\"border: 0; width: 500px; height: 307px;\" src=\"http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=2416987741/size=large/bgcol=333333/linkcol=ffffff/artwork=small/transparent=true/\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\" seamless=\"\"><a href=\"http://tangled-star.bandcamp.com/album/our-man-in-eden-hill\">Our Man in Eden Hill by Tangled Star</a></iframe>\r\nFebruary 2008\r\n<div></div>\r\n<em>Our Man in Eden Hil</em>l sees Tangled Star building on their wonderfully received debut outing through Hidden Shoal, <em>It’s Now or Later</em>. Musically the EP toys with the frayed edges of country, pop and indie, while in part infusing a sense of space and possibility familiar to fans of the classic <em>Dark Side of the Moon</em>. As with their debut EP, <em>Our Man in Eden Hill</em>’s surface often belies its musical and emotional interior. Through its gentle shifts and directed detours, the EP manages to make once familiar territory foreign and offset. As chief songwriter and lyricist Craig Hallsworth explains,\r\n\r\n“If these songs are simple, they are only apparently so. To me, they are only beginning to really work when they are able to express a space of becoming... There are strange warnings and advice, mysterious imperatives and entreaties... I see the lyrics as working for and against themselves, as well as for and against the music, generating a plane of momentary, shifting affective states. There is comic desperation folded into offhand profundity. There is something depressing and defeating suddenly transformed into a rare kind of pleasure and privilege. There are secrets with nothing to hide. There is one last chance after another…” - Craig Hallsworth\r\n<div></div>\r\n<div></div>\r\n<h4>It\'s Now Or Later</h4>\r\n<div></div>\r\n<iframe style=\"border: 0; width: 500px; height: 340px;\" src=\"http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=1686875670/size=large/bgcol=333333/linkcol=ffffff/artwork=small/transparent=true/\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\" seamless=\"\"><a href=\"http://tangled-star.bandcamp.com/album/its-now-or-later\">It\'s Now or Later by Tangled Star</a></iframe>\r\nFebruary 2007\r\n<div></div>\r\n<em>It’s Now or Later</em> charts a journey across once familiar land yet through its exultant shifts and wandering detours manages to make everything feel new again. The album’s title talks to the wonderful paradox that is infused within each song both musically and lyrically. This is the apathetic’s guide to caring too much.\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"Bio\"]\r\n<h3>Biography</h3>\r\n<p align=\"justify\">In the late 90s, Outstation (Craig Hallsworth, guitars and singing; Jim Butterworth, bass; Jamie Hamilton, drums), a sonic monstrosity, began playing a lot of quiet tunes, and eventually turned into Tangled Star. Lorne Clements (Hammond Organ, Piano) became involved. Then Jamie Hamilton left, and was replaced by a drum machine, and Jim became its programmer.</p>\r\n<p align=\"justify\">The T-Star quietly went about its business for a few years in Jim’s back shed and in Lorne’s living room. They played only a handful of live shows, but recorded two albums with Alan Smith from Bergerk! Recordings – the self-titled debut, and It’s Now Or Later (to be released through Hidden Shoal Recordings November, 2006).</p>\r\n<strong>Craig Hallsworth:</strong>\r\nBorn 1964 in Collie South-West Western Australia – land that belongs to the Noongar People. Fatally infected with AM radio that plays constantly throughout childhood, in the house and in the car. Begins playing guitar and writing songs around 8 or 9 years of age. Magazines and records. Sitting alone in a room playing and singing into a cassette recorder. String of bands. Loses virginity after a gig at the Narrogin Hotel. Moves to Perth in the mid 80s upon completion of welding apprenticeship in the coal mines. Over next 15 years or so plays in The Bamboos, The Healers, wild palms, Zuvuya, Outstation, Tangled Star, as well as many solo performances and recordings. Currently writing an experimental book-length poem and playing in The Slow Beings.\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"News\"]\r\n<h3>News</h3>\r\n[catlist name=tangled-star-news content=yes pagination=no title_tag=h4 title_class=lcp_title][/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"Reviews\"]\r\n<h2>Reviews</h2>\r\n[catlist name=tangled-star-reviews content=yes pagination=no title_tag=h4 title_class=lcp_title][/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"Lyrics\"]\r\n<h3>Lyrics</h3>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h4>Let\'s Adjourn To The Garden</h4>\r\n<h5>Lyrics by Craig Hallsworth</h5>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h5>CRAZY BIT O’ TRUTH</h5>\r\nso don’t build a stage so high\r\nway up to the sky\r\nand expect me to climb up there and play\r\nlike a dream it’s crashing down\r\nway down to the ground\r\nin the middle of the night I heard you leave\r\nyou can’t see where you’re going\r\nwho’s tugging at your sleeve\r\na sorcerer of death’s construction\r\nbaby you’re the last to know\r\nhard won insights turn into throwaway lines\r\nwell dressed gentlemen sidestep a dying world\r\nthen a cold calculating slob\r\nmeets a bitch with no illusions\r\natrocious pessimism\r\nwell I’ve never heard it called that before\r\nmaybe I’m the last to know\r\nit’s not so wonderful anymore\r\nso sorry children\r\nlife’s not beautiful anymore\r\nyour inheritance is grief\r\nyou might want to borrow a handkerchief\r\noh\r\nso they say they’re searching for the one\r\nwhose signs are in disarray and fading now\r\nso they say there are ten bottles of champagne\r\nin the car but we can’t remember where\r\nwe parked it now\r\nso they say they’re searching for the one\r\nwhose signs are in disarray and fading now\r\nso I say I’m cool with it\r\nI’m not trying to make the pieces fit\r\nI got a crazy bit o’ truth in my eye ...\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h5>IN BED WITH THE AVERYS</h5>\r\ndo you want to know what’s stronger than death\r\nwhat always wakes up with wonderful breath\r\nand do you want to know what’s stranger than fiction\r\nand the facts of life put together?\r\nout of focus autumn branches\r\nrubbing against the sky\r\nshe’s at home in the kitchen with a stranger\r\nhe’s out catching a lady’s eye\r\nthe fricassee is burning\r\nand you’re in bed with the Averys\r\nooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh\r\nin bed with the Averys\r\nthey’ll introduce you to Figaro\r\nhis friends call him Mike\r\nthen you’ll meet Susan and Lydia\r\nwhat’s not to like?\r\nthere’s nothing they can’t study your face\r\nand not hint at\r\nnothing they won’t exactly deny\r\nuntil your mind is reeling\r\ncoz something in this world wants to kill you\r\nyou have no defence\r\nit gets in your head like the man said\r\nit makes perfect sense\r\nit’s black and white\r\nit’s as clear as it can be\r\nthen somehow it’s incomprehensible\r\nand you’re in bed with the Averys\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h5>SOMEONE’S WALKING</h5>\r\nsomeone’s free and someone’s got it together\r\nsomeone’s lost in someone’s head forever\r\nsomeone’s dead and someone’s dialling a number\r\nsomeone’s dreaming someone’s coming\r\nsomeone’s passing someone’s staring\r\nsomeone’s waiting someone’s walking home\r\nsomeone’s turning away\r\nsomeone’s just walking home\r\nsomeone’s famous someone’s youth is stolen\r\nsomeone’s cool and someone’s feet are aching\r\nsomeone’s bad and someone must be joking\r\nsomeone’s crying someone’s changing\r\nsomeone’s begging someone’s smoking\r\nsomeone’s searching someone’s walking home\r\nsomeone’s running way\r\nsomeone’s just walking home\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h5>HASN’T MADE FOR FREEDOM</h5>\r\nit’s been all right for a change\r\nbut it hasn’t made for freedom\r\nthey’re hitting the bottle about it at least\r\nyou and I were restless dreamers\r\nin another life\r\nto tell the truth I’m falling asleep on a bus\r\nand it feels like someone else’s life\r\nand it’s all about capitalism\r\nit’s been all right for a change\r\nbut it hasn’t made for freedom\r\nas far as impulsive gestures go\r\ntaking your hand as we ride\r\ngazing out the window\r\nis right up there\r\nwith jumping off at a random stop\r\nas if I’m being followed\r\nand it’s all about patriotism\r\njust another eerie dawn\r\nI know what you mean\r\nbut how’re you gonna mean it all day?\r\noh yeah I know what you mean\r\nbut how’re you gonna make it pay?\r\njust another spooky coffee break\r\ntakes a plant to understand your longing\r\nand your pain\r\noh well I know what you mean\r\nthat doesn’t mean I’m not politely insane\r\nit was all right for a change\r\nbut it didn’t make for freedom\r\nit was the sun now it’s about to fall\r\nit was just an optical illusion\r\nand it wasn’t really there at all\r\ndon’t feel bad\r\nand don’t get crushed in the rush\r\nfor the experimental poem\r\nmy guess is it’s about capitalism\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h5>PAINTED DAYS</h5>\r\npainted days have found us\r\nin some seaside town\r\nwith the blinds pulled down\r\nlying low\r\nsupposing we mustn’t have died\r\nat 27\r\nwe must have lived\r\noh we must have lived after all\r\npainted doors have opened and closed\r\nand packages have arrived\r\nthere’s something mysterious about it\r\nbut ours is not to reason why\r\nours is but to squeeze the stuff\r\nout of a tube\r\nuntil it’s all used up\r\npainted whores have loved us\r\nand worried about our health\r\nwhen we didn’t deserve them at all\r\nthey never pushed us away\r\nand the things we would say\r\nwere just the things we would say\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h5>ATTIC SPACE CONVERSION # 1</h5>\r\nsend a beam of light into the world\r\nand pour the tea\r\nall your heroes were so lost\r\nwithout your penury\r\nand you were just this skinny little girl\r\nwho dug the sound\r\naudacity not veracity makes it all go ‘round\r\nnot everything with rings can be called hoop-la\r\nand the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty\r\nto Anastasia\r\nare they with us or against us?\r\nsend a ray of hope into the night\r\nand scrub the pan\r\nkeep a summer breeze inside a rusty old tin can\r\nbut to be more beautiful you have to concentrate\r\non the mystery\r\nlike a revolutionary becoming escaping\r\nall the failed revolutions of history\r\nhundreds of smiling people\r\nrode the silver tinselled escalators\r\none was a soft metal killer\r\nI remember I wasn’t feeling well\r\nI want to lose you in the morning\r\nin the deserted city\r\nI want to lie down any place\r\nand slowly forget your face\r\nI want to explain all of this\r\nbut not if it takes all night\r\nthis darkness is not endless\r\nonly everyone you know\r\nfilling their pockets full\r\nthis darkness is not endless\r\nonly anyone who knows you\r\nflying out for ...\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h5>99% OK</h5>\r\nit was 99% OK so I plucked it out of the air\r\n99% OK sounded better than only fair\r\nbut what about the darkness that spreads her wings\r\nand what about the darkness that makes her sing\r\nso what about the darkness that sips her wine\r\nso what about the darkness that makes her shine\r\nin a galaxy of faces\r\nin love and out of line\r\nthe vandal and the valentine\r\nforget that you and I were one\r\nforget what’s wrong with having fun\r\nhere’s to the tears that burn\r\nwe’re never to return\r\ndon’t break a heart and drop a hat\r\nthey’ve got servants here for that\r\nand though the names may change\r\na thief will call\r\njust to bring back the crystal ball\r\ndon’t you feel like a weathervane\r\nthat’s never known the wind and rain\r\nbut even psychics make mistakes my dear\r\nand bones point the way out of here\r\nforget that you and I were one\r\nforget the places in the sun\r\nhere’s to the tears that burn\r\nwe’re never to return\r\nforget when you and I were one\r\nthose days were like shots from a gun\r\nhere’s to the tears that burn\r\nwe’re never to return\r\ngo find someone to park your car\r\nand tell these dead men who you are\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h5>HEAD IN THE SAND</h5>\r\nso dry your thighs and don’t worry anymore\r\nlisten to all my outlandish proposals\r\nsmile when you slip through the cracks\r\ntake an abyss for a walk and never look back\r\nyou’ve got an hour to kill in the heat of the day\r\nhow many mornings are fresh and new\r\nand here you are wondering what to do\r\nshall I go against all my principles for you\r\nshall I draw a diagram or something?\r\nhow many nights do you feel like praying\r\nbut you never learned how to pray\r\nhow many nights do you feel like praying\r\nbut you wouldn’t know how to pray\r\nlike a rich man washing his hands\r\nyou had an hour to kill in the heat of the day\r\nan hour to kill in the heat of the day\r\nlike a daughter of this holy land\r\nbut don’t sleep with the messenger you understand\r\nthe carotid artery is severed as planned\r\nI can say I’m not burying my head in the sand\r\nI can say I’m not burying my head in the sand\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h5>THEME</h5>\r\nnow the wind picks up\r\nthe door creaks I think my cup\r\nis overflowing\r\na triumph of the human spirit\r\nto wake at 7\r\nand lie in bed until 11\r\nbring me your altered states\r\nand what exalts\r\nand bring to me your heaven\r\ndon’t wait for the ironic undercut\r\nnobody wants to wait for that today\r\nfor all anyone knows you really are\r\npassionate and driven\r\nyou’d go all the way to the mountain\r\nif only you could leave the room\r\nnow everything’s changing\r\nit’s like gazing through a splotch\r\non the window\r\nis anything behind everything\r\nis it wrong to wonder\r\nis it just to keep from going under?\r\nembrace the worthless life\r\nif it falls into your arms\r\nlet it reveal its charms\r\nso slowly\r\nyou’ll lose your taste for clever subtle things\r\nand I’ll go hungry analysing things\r\nI might decide to take up the guitar\r\nand there you are\r\nlet’s adjourn to the garden\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"Gallery\"]\r\n<h3>Artist Photos</h3>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n[gallery columns=\"2\" ids=\"9201,9196\"]\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"Video\"]\r\n<h3>Music Videos</h3>\r\nNo videos yet, sorry!\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"Licensing\"]\r\n<h3>Licensing</h3>\r\nTangled Star\'s music is  available for licensing (master &amp; sync cleared) through Hidden Shoal. Please <a title=\"Contact Us\" href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/contact-us/\">contact us</a> with some basic details about your project and the track(s) you wish to use and we’ll be sure to get back to you straight away.\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_tab][/et_pb_tabs][/et_pb_column_inner][/et_pb_row_inner][/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=\"1_4\"][et_pb_sidebar admin_label=\"Sidebar\" orientation=\"left\" area=\"sidebar-1\" background_layout=\"light\" module_id=\"shoalsidebar\" /][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_section]','Tangled Star','','inherit','closed','closed','','9181-revision-v1','','','2016-09-28 18:03:24','2016-09-28 10:03:24','',9181,'http://www.hiddenshoal.com/9181-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(14951,1,'2016-09-28 18:04:58','2016-09-28 10:04:58','[et_pb_section fullwidth=\"off\" specialty=\"on\" background_color=\"#050505\" inner_shadow=\"off\" parallax=\"off\" parallax_method=\"css\"][et_pb_column type=\"3_4\" specialty_columns=\"3\"][et_pb_row_inner][et_pb_column_inner type=\"4_4\"][et_pb_text admin_label=\"Text\" background_layout=\"light\" text_orientation=\"left\"]\r\n<h1>Tangled Star</h1>\r\n<a href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Antonymes_1.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-9196\" src=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/T-Star_Band_Photo1-300x208.jpg\" alt=\"Tangled Star\" width=\"300\" height=\"208\" /></a><em>“<em>something that ripples, radiates and blossoms amid a dressage of shimmering keys and softly burnt riff cascades which had us much in mind of Hefner shimmying with the Clientele at times.</em>”</em> –<strong> Losing Today </strong>\r\n\r\nDistilling elements of indie rock and alt country married with Craig Hallsworth’s wonderful dust and liquor coated vocals and twisting lyrics, Tangled Star weaves their own magic place. Through the musics exultant shifts and wandering detours the band manages to make once familiar territory foreign and offset.\r\n[/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider admin_label=\"Divider\" color=\"#ffffff\" show_divider=\"off\" /][et_pb_tabs admin_label=\"Artist Tabs\"][et_pb_tab title=\"Discography\"]\r\n<h3>Discography</h3>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h4>Let\'s Adjourn To The Garden</h4>\r\n<div></div>\r\n<iframe style=\"border: 0; width: 500px; height: 439px;\" src=\"http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=2116748307/size=large/bgcol=333333/linkcol=ffffff/artwork=small/transparent=true/\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\" seamless=\"\"><a href=\"http://tangled-star.bandcamp.com/album/lets-adjourn-to-the-garden\">Let\'s Adjourn to the Garden by Tangled Star</a></iframe>\r\nJune 2013\r\n<div></div>\r\n<em>Let’s Adjourn To The Garden</em> sees Craig Hallsworth’s Tangled Star project shift gears while continuing to distill the inimitable songcraft Hallsworth is so well known for. <em>Let’s Adjourn To The Garden</em> is, in typically contrarian fashion, their least bucolic offering yet, blending more driving power-pop flavours into their distinctive soup of song. Hallsworth’s wonderful dust-and-liquor-coated vocals and twisting lyrics combine with exultant shifts and melodic detours allowing the music to make once familiar territory somehow foreign and offset.\r\n\r\nTracks such as ‘Head In The Sand’ and ‘Hasn’t Made For Freedom’ streamline Tangled Star’s brilliant hooks and melodic turns into immediately addictive and electric slices of slow burn power-pop. ‘Attic Space Conversion #1’ exemplifies the band\'s compositional and stylistic shifts even more, stitching rousing ramshackle rock with almost Doors’esque cosmic guitar pop. And there amidst the fuzz and driving drums lay some quiet gems in the beautifully stripped back, drumless guitar pop of ‘99% Ok’ and ‘Someone’s Walking’. Just when you think you have the album pegged, the final track ‘Theme’ takes a left turn employing sweeping synths and electronic percussion in some sort of beatific yet melancholic final postcard to the world.\r\n<div></div>\r\n<div></div>\r\n<h4>That Time</h4>\r\n<div></div>\r\n<iframe style=\"border: 0; width: 500px; height: 274px;\" src=\"http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=3107117187/size=large/bgcol=333333/linkcol=ffffff/artwork=small/transparent=true/\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\" seamless=\"\"><a href=\"http://tangled-star.bandcamp.com/album/that-time\">That Time by Tangled Star</a></iframe>\r\nJune 2009\r\n<div></div>\r\n<em>That Time</em> sees Tangled Star at their most immediately accessible and deliciously hooky. Like a trapdoor spider hidden by a welcome doormat, the band lay an easy invitation to the unsuspecting listener, only to unleash a series of inimitable pop hooks and subtle detours. The EP typifies Tangled Star’s ability to craft songs that reveal fresh dimensions with each listen.\r\n\r\n<em>That Time</em> features the stunning single ‘seabirdtown’. The track opens with the expansive open-air sound of Pink Floyd-style organs and spatial guitars before falling into an earthbound shuffle and a taste of a lush, full-band sound for Tangled Star. The song’s gradual build to a towering edifice of glowing overdriven guitar, droning organ and harmony vocals is topped off by an echoed guitar line that sketches glistening arcs in the stratosphere. The single is indicative of <em>That Time</em>’s strengths as a louder, more flowing version of the melodic, evocative spaces of Tangled Star’s twilight pop songs.\r\n<div></div>\r\n<div></div>\r\n<h4>Our Man From Eden Hill</h4>\r\n<div></div>\r\n<iframe style=\"border: 0; width: 500px; height: 307px;\" src=\"http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=2416987741/size=large/bgcol=333333/linkcol=ffffff/artwork=small/transparent=true/\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\" seamless=\"\"><a href=\"http://tangled-star.bandcamp.com/album/our-man-in-eden-hill\">Our Man in Eden Hill by Tangled Star</a></iframe>\r\nFebruary 2008\r\n<div></div>\r\n<em>Our Man in Eden Hil</em>l sees Tangled Star building on their wonderfully received debut outing through Hidden Shoal, <em>It’s Now or Later</em>. Musically the EP toys with the frayed edges of country, pop and indie, while in part infusing a sense of space and possibility familiar to fans of the classic <em>Dark Side of the Moon</em>. As with their debut EP, <em>Our Man in Eden Hill</em>’s surface often belies its musical and emotional interior. Through its gentle shifts and directed detours, the EP manages to make once familiar territory foreign and offset. As chief songwriter and lyricist Craig Hallsworth explains,\r\n\r\n“If these songs are simple, they are only apparently so. To me, they are only beginning to really work when they are able to express a space of becoming... There are strange warnings and advice, mysterious imperatives and entreaties... I see the lyrics as working for and against themselves, as well as for and against the music, generating a plane of momentary, shifting affective states. There is comic desperation folded into offhand profundity. There is something depressing and defeating suddenly transformed into a rare kind of pleasure and privilege. There are secrets with nothing to hide. There is one last chance after another…” - Craig Hallsworth\r\n<div></div>\r\n<div></div>\r\n<h4>It\'s Now Or Later</h4>\r\n<div></div>\r\n<iframe style=\"border: 0; width: 500px; height: 340px;\" src=\"http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=1686875670/size=large/bgcol=333333/linkcol=ffffff/artwork=small/transparent=true/\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\" seamless=\"\"><a href=\"http://tangled-star.bandcamp.com/album/its-now-or-later\">It\'s Now or Later by Tangled Star</a></iframe>\r\nFebruary 2007\r\n<div></div>\r\n<em>It’s Now or Later</em> charts a journey across once familiar land yet through its exultant shifts and wandering detours manages to make everything feel new again. The album’s title talks to the wonderful paradox that is infused within each song both musically and lyrically. This is the apathetic’s guide to caring too much.\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"Bio\"]\r\n<h3>Biography</h3>\r\n<p align=\"justify\">In the late 90s, Outstation (Craig Hallsworth, guitars and singing; Jim Butterworth, bass; Jamie Hamilton, drums), a sonic monstrosity, began playing a lot of quiet tunes, and eventually turned into Tangled Star. Lorne Clements (Hammond Organ, Piano) became involved. Then Jamie Hamilton left, and was replaced by a drum machine, and Jim became its programmer.</p>\r\n<p align=\"justify\">The T-Star quietly went about its business for a few years in Jim’s back shed and in Lorne’s living room. They played only a handful of live shows, but recorded two albums with Alan Smith from Bergerk! Recordings – the self-titled debut, and It’s Now Or Later (to be released through Hidden Shoal Recordings November, 2006).</p>\r\n<strong>Craig Hallsworth:</strong>\r\nBorn 1964 in Collie South-West Western Australia – land that belongs to the Noongar People. Fatally infected with AM radio that plays constantly throughout childhood, in the house and in the car. Begins playing guitar and writing songs around 8 or 9 years of age. Magazines and records. Sitting alone in a room playing and singing into a cassette recorder. String of bands. Loses virginity after a gig at the Narrogin Hotel. Moves to Perth in the mid 80s upon completion of welding apprenticeship in the coal mines. Over next 15 years or so plays in The Bamboos, The Healers, wild palms, Zuvuya, Outstation, Tangled Star, as well as many solo performances and recordings. Currently writing an experimental book-length poem and playing in The Slow Beings.\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"News\"]\r\n<h3>News</h3>\r\n[catlist name=tangled-star-news content=yes pagination=no title_tag=h4 title_class=lcp_title][/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"Reviews\"]\r\n<h2>Reviews</h2>\r\n[catlist name=tangled-star-reviews content=yes pagination=no title_tag=h4 title_class=lcp_title][/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"Lyrics\"]\r\n<h3>Lyrics</h3>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h4>Let\'s Adjourn To The Garden</h4>\r\n<h5>Lyrics by Craig Hallsworth</h5>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h5>CRAZY BIT O’ TRUTH</h5>\r\nso don’t build a stage so high\r\nway up to the sky\r\nand expect me to climb up there and play\r\nlike a dream it’s crashing down\r\nway down to the ground\r\nin the middle of the night I heard you leave\r\nyou can’t see where you’re going\r\nwho’s tugging at your sleeve\r\na sorcerer of death’s construction\r\nbaby you’re the last to know\r\nhard won insights turn into throwaway lines\r\nwell dressed gentlemen sidestep a dying world\r\nthen a cold calculating slob\r\nmeets a bitch with no illusions\r\natrocious pessimism\r\nwell I’ve never heard it called that before\r\nmaybe I’m the last to know\r\nit’s not so wonderful anymore\r\nso sorry children\r\nlife’s not beautiful anymore\r\nyour inheritance is grief\r\nyou might want to borrow a handkerchief\r\noh\r\nso they say they’re searching for the one\r\nwhose signs are in disarray and fading now\r\nso they say there are ten bottles of champagne\r\nin the car but we can’t remember where\r\nwe parked it now\r\nso they say they’re searching for the one\r\nwhose signs are in disarray and fading now\r\nso I say I’m cool with it\r\nI’m not trying to make the pieces fit\r\nI got a crazy bit o’ truth in my eye ...\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h5>IN BED WITH THE AVERYS</h5>\r\ndo you want to know what’s stronger than death\r\nwhat always wakes up with wonderful breath\r\nand do you want to know what’s stranger than fiction\r\nand the facts of life put together?\r\nout of focus autumn branches\r\nrubbing against the sky\r\nshe’s at home in the kitchen with a stranger\r\nhe’s out catching a lady’s eye\r\nthe fricassee is burning\r\nand you’re in bed with the Averys\r\nooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh\r\nin bed with the Averys\r\nthey’ll introduce you to Figaro\r\nhis friends call him Mike\r\nthen you’ll meet Susan and Lydia\r\nwhat’s not to like?\r\nthere’s nothing they can’t study your face\r\nand not hint at\r\nnothing they won’t exactly deny\r\nuntil your mind is reeling\r\ncoz something in this world wants to kill you\r\nyou have no defence\r\nit gets in your head like the man said\r\nit makes perfect sense\r\nit’s black and white\r\nit’s as clear as it can be\r\nthen somehow it’s incomprehensible\r\nand you’re in bed with the Averys\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h5>SOMEONE’S WALKING</h5>\r\nsomeone’s free and someone’s got it together\r\nsomeone’s lost in someone’s head forever\r\nsomeone’s dead and someone’s dialling a number\r\nsomeone’s dreaming someone’s coming\r\nsomeone’s passing someone’s staring\r\nsomeone’s waiting someone’s walking home\r\nsomeone’s turning away\r\nsomeone’s just walking home\r\nsomeone’s famous someone’s youth is stolen\r\nsomeone’s cool and someone’s feet are aching\r\nsomeone’s bad and someone must be joking\r\nsomeone’s crying someone’s changing\r\nsomeone’s begging someone’s smoking\r\nsomeone’s searching someone’s walking home\r\nsomeone’s running way\r\nsomeone’s just walking home\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h5>HASN’T MADE FOR FREEDOM</h5>\r\nit’s been all right for a change\r\nbut it hasn’t made for freedom\r\nthey’re hitting the bottle about it at least\r\nyou and I were restless dreamers\r\nin another life\r\nto tell the truth I’m falling asleep on a bus\r\nand it feels like someone else’s life\r\nand it’s all about capitalism\r\nit’s been all right for a change\r\nbut it hasn’t made for freedom\r\nas far as impulsive gestures go\r\ntaking your hand as we ride\r\ngazing out the window\r\nis right up there\r\nwith jumping off at a random stop\r\nas if I’m being followed\r\nand it’s all about patriotism\r\njust another eerie dawn\r\nI know what you mean\r\nbut how’re you gonna mean it all day?\r\noh yeah I know what you mean\r\nbut how’re you gonna make it pay?\r\njust another spooky coffee break\r\ntakes a plant to understand your longing\r\nand your pain\r\noh well I know what you mean\r\nthat doesn’t mean I’m not politely insane\r\nit was all right for a change\r\nbut it didn’t make for freedom\r\nit was the sun now it’s about to fall\r\nit was just an optical illusion\r\nand it wasn’t really there at all\r\ndon’t feel bad\r\nand don’t get crushed in the rush\r\nfor the experimental poem\r\nmy guess is it’s about capitalism\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h5>PAINTED DAYS</h5>\r\npainted days have found us\r\nin some seaside town\r\nwith the blinds pulled down\r\nlying low\r\nsupposing we mustn’t have died\r\nat 27\r\nwe must have lived\r\noh we must have lived after all\r\npainted doors have opened and closed\r\nand packages have arrived\r\nthere’s something mysterious about it\r\nbut ours is not to reason why\r\nours is but to squeeze the stuff\r\nout of a tube\r\nuntil it’s all used up\r\npainted whores have loved us\r\nand worried about our health\r\nwhen we didn’t deserve them at all\r\nthey never pushed us away\r\nand the things we would say\r\nwere just the things we would say\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h5>ATTIC SPACE CONVERSION # 1</h5>\r\nsend a beam of light into the world\r\nand pour the tea\r\nall your heroes were so lost\r\nwithout your penury\r\nand you were just this skinny little girl\r\nwho dug the sound\r\naudacity not veracity makes it all go ‘round\r\nnot everything with rings can be called hoop-la\r\nand the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty\r\nto Anastasia\r\nare they with us or against us?\r\nsend a ray of hope into the night\r\nand scrub the pan\r\nkeep a summer breeze inside a rusty old tin can\r\nbut to be more beautiful you have to concentrate\r\non the mystery\r\nlike a revolutionary becoming escaping\r\nall the failed revolutions of history\r\nhundreds of smiling people\r\nrode the silver tinselled escalators\r\none was a soft metal killer\r\nI remember I wasn’t feeling well\r\nI want to lose you in the morning\r\nin the deserted city\r\nI want to lie down any place\r\nand slowly forget your face\r\nI want to explain all of this\r\nbut not if it takes all night\r\nthis darkness is not endless\r\nonly everyone you know\r\nfilling their pockets full\r\nthis darkness is not endless\r\nonly anyone who knows you\r\nflying out for ...\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h5>99% OK</h5>\r\nit was 99% OK so I plucked it out of the air\r\n99% OK sounded better than only fair\r\nbut what about the darkness that spreads her wings\r\nand what about the darkness that makes her sing\r\nso what about the darkness that sips her wine\r\nso what about the darkness that makes her shine\r\nin a galaxy of faces\r\nin love and out of line\r\nthe vandal and the valentine\r\nforget that you and I were one\r\nforget what’s wrong with having fun\r\nhere’s to the tears that burn\r\nwe’re never to return\r\ndon’t break a heart and drop a hat\r\nthey’ve got servants here for that\r\nand though the names may change\r\na thief will call\r\njust to bring back the crystal ball\r\ndon’t you feel like a weathervane\r\nthat’s never known the wind and rain\r\nbut even psychics make mistakes my dear\r\nand bones point the way out of here\r\nforget that you and I were one\r\nforget the places in the sun\r\nhere’s to the tears that burn\r\nwe’re never to return\r\nforget when you and I were one\r\nthose days were like shots from a gun\r\nhere’s to the tears that burn\r\nwe’re never to return\r\ngo find someone to park your car\r\nand tell these dead men who you are\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h5>HEAD IN THE SAND</h5>\r\nso dry your thighs and don’t worry anymore\r\nlisten to all my outlandish proposals\r\nsmile when you slip through the cracks\r\ntake an abyss for a walk and never look back\r\nyou’ve got an hour to kill in the heat of the day\r\nhow many mornings are fresh and new\r\nand here you are wondering what to do\r\nshall I go against all my principles for you\r\nshall I draw a diagram or something?\r\nhow many nights do you feel like praying\r\nbut you never learned how to pray\r\nhow many nights do you feel like praying\r\nbut you wouldn’t know how to pray\r\nlike a rich man washing his hands\r\nyou had an hour to kill in the heat of the day\r\nan hour to kill in the heat of the day\r\nlike a daughter of this holy land\r\nbut don’t sleep with the messenger you understand\r\nthe carotid artery is severed as planned\r\nI can say I’m not burying my head in the sand\r\nI can say I’m not burying my head in the sand\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h5>THEME</h5>\r\nnow the wind picks up\r\nthe door creaks I think my cup\r\nis overflowing\r\na triumph of the human spirit\r\nto wake at 7\r\nand lie in bed until 11\r\nbring me your altered states\r\nand what exalts\r\nand bring to me your heaven\r\ndon’t wait for the ironic undercut\r\nnobody wants to wait for that today\r\nfor all anyone knows you really are\r\npassionate and driven\r\nyou’d go all the way to the mountain\r\nif only you could leave the room\r\nnow everything’s changing\r\nit’s like gazing through a splotch\r\non the window\r\nis anything behind everything\r\nis it wrong to wonder\r\nis it just to keep from going under?\r\nembrace the worthless life\r\nif it falls into your arms\r\nlet it reveal its charms\r\nso slowly\r\nyou’ll lose your taste for clever subtle things\r\nand I’ll go hungry analysing things\r\nI might decide to take up the guitar\r\nand there you are\r\nlet’s adjourn to the garden\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"Gallery\"]\r\n<h3>Artist Photos</h3>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n[gallery columns=\"2\" ids=\"9201,9196\"]\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"Video\"]\r\n<h3>Music Videos</h3>\r\nNo videos yet, sorry!\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"Licensing\"]\r\n<h3>Licensing</h3>\r\nTangled Star\'s music is  available for licensing (master &amp; sync cleared) through Hidden Shoal. Please <a title=\"Contact Us\" href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/contact-us/\">contact us</a> with some basic details about your project and the track(s) you wish to use and we’ll be sure to get back to you straight away.\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_tab][/et_pb_tabs][/et_pb_column_inner][/et_pb_row_inner][/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=\"1_4\"][et_pb_sidebar admin_label=\"Sidebar\" orientation=\"left\" area=\"sidebar-1\" background_layout=\"light\" module_id=\"shoalsidebar\" /][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_section]','Tangled Star','','inherit','closed','closed','','9181-revision-v1','','','2016-09-28 18:04:58','2016-09-28 10:04:58','',9181,'http://www.hiddenshoal.com/9181-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(14952,1,'2016-09-29 08:34:47','0000-00-00 00:00:00','','Joe Sampson \'Songbird\' (feat. Nathaniel Rateliff) Review at Independent Clauses','','draft','closed','closed','','','','','2016-09-29 08:34:47','2016-09-29 00:34:47','',0,'http://www.hiddenshoal.com/?p=14952',0,'post','',0),(14953,1,'2016-09-29 10:58:55','2016-09-29 02:58:55','[et_pb_section fullwidth=\"off\" specialty=\"on\" background_color=\"#050505\" inner_shadow=\"off\" parallax=\"off\" parallax_method=\"css\"][et_pb_column type=\"3_4\" specialty_columns=\"3\"][et_pb_row_inner][et_pb_column_inner type=\"4_4\"][et_pb_text admin_label=\"Text\" background_layout=\"light\" text_orientation=\"left\"]\r\n<h1>Arc Lab</h1>\r\n<a href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Arc-Lab-Anthem-new.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-14580\" src=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Arc-Lab-Anthem-new-300x198.jpg\" alt=\"Arc Lab\" width=\"300\" height=\"198\" /></a><i>“…one of the most original releases in the IDM field in some time…confounding the set-in-stone rules of a stagnant IDM genre”</i> –<b> [sic] Magazine on The Goodbye Radio</b>\r\n\r\nEschewing easy genre classification, <a title=\"Medard Fischer\" href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/project/medard-fischer/\">Medard Fischer</a>’s output as Arc Lab effectively blends IDM’s technical sophistication with the moving and poignant character of neo-classical ambience and a finely tuned ear for electroacoustic pop. His new album, <i>Anthem </i>(2016), folds classic analogue timbres and detuned FM ambience into fragmented radio broadcasts, forgotten NASA program materials and layers of deep space noise, creating music that is, by turns, menacing and contemplative, forbidding and epic.\r\n<strong><a href=\"https://geo.itunes.apple.com/us/artist/arc-lab/id211766918?at=11lRii&amp;mt=1&amp;app=music\"><img class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-12412\" src=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/badge_itunes-sm.png\" alt=\"iTunes\" width=\"44\" height=\"15\" /></a> <a title=\"Facebook\" href=\"https://www.facebook.com/Arc-Lab-Medard-Fischer-Tyyson-6829244204/?fref=ts\" target=\"_blank\"> <img class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-8763\" src=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Facebook.png\" alt=\"Facebook\" width=\"26\" height=\"20\" /></a>  <a title=\"SoundCloud\" href=\"https://soundcloud.com/medard-fischer\" target=\"_blank\"><img class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-8764\" src=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/SoundCloud.png\" alt=\"SoundCloud\" width=\"26\" height=\"20\" /></a>  <a title=\"Website\" href=\"http://www.medardfischer.com/\" target=\"_blank\"><img class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-8767\" src=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Website.png\" alt=\"Website\" width=\"26\" height=\"20\" /></a> </strong>\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider admin_label=\"Divider\" color=\"#ffffff\" show_divider=\"off\" /][et_pb_tabs admin_label=\"Artist Tabs\"][et_pb_tab title=\"Discography\"]\r\n<h3>Discography</h3>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h4>Anthem</h4>\r\n<iframe style=\"border: 0; width: 600px; height: 472px;\" src=\"https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=3381263357/size=large/bgcol=333333/linkcol=ffffff/artwork=small/transparent=true/\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\" seamless=\"\"><a href=\"http://medardfischer.bandcamp.com/album/anthem\">Anthem by Arc Lab</a></iframe>\r\nJuly 2016\r\n<div></div>\r\nAfter years away, Medard Fischer’s Arc Lab project returns with <em>Anthem</em>, a retrofuturistic sci-fi travelogue. Folding classic analogue timbres and detuned FM ambience over fragmented radio broadcasts, forgotten NASA program materials and layers of deep space noise, <em>Anthem</em> is in turns menacing and contemplative, forbidding and epic. The album shifts between claustrophobic tension and widescreen, cinematic expanse. Crushes of static and thundering percussion sit alongside diminutive synth studies, all plotted against an almost palpable narrative of anxiety, struggle and, ultimately, salvation. It’s the grandeur of classic space opera, refracting darkly through a contemporary lens.\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"Bio\"]\r\n<h3>Biography</h3>\r\nArc Lab is Hidden Shoal artist <a title=\"Medard Fischer\" href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/project/medard-fischer/\">Medard Fischer</a>’s primary vehicle for musical experimentation – a blank-slate platform on which he has released a diverse catalogue of emotive, conceptual work. We last heard from Arc Lab in 2008, with the release of<i> The Goodbye Radio</i> (n5MD), an album described as “‘genre-defying’ or, perhaps most appropriately, ‘genre-transcending’” (Textura) and as “one of the most original releases in the IDM field in some time” and “downright ingenious” ([sic] Magazine). As suggested by its cryptic title, <i>The Goodbye Radio</i> was heavily driven by internal narrative, with thematic touchpoints including early space exploration and relativistic physics. Fischer’s latest full-length <i>Anthem</i> (2016), and his first for Hidden Shoal, continues the story, marking another chapter in an alternative arc of history only hinted at in buried audio fragments, track titles and structures. The result is essential Arc Lab – evocative and compelling pieces rich with meaning and purpose.\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"News\"]\r\n<h3>News</h3>\r\n[catlist name=arclab-news content=yes pagination=no title_tag=h4 title_class=lcp_title] [/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"Reviews\"]\r\n<h2>Reviews</h2>\r\n[catlist name=arclab-reviews content=yes pagination=no title_tag=h4 title_class=lcp_title] [/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"Press Releases\"]\r\n<h3>Press Releases</h3>\r\nNo press releases yet, sorry.\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"Gallery\"]\r\n<h3>Artist Photos</h3>\r\n[gallery ids=\"14580,14579,14442\"]\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"Video\"]\r\n<h3>Music Videos</h3>\r\n<iframe src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/z6w8WVXD5Uc?list=PLC331131EC8DC434C\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"></iframe> <iframe src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/PJX387d0CpU?rel=0\" width=\"420\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"></iframe> <iframe src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/V0vJH-u3NJQ?rel=0\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"></iframe>[/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"Licensing\"]\r\n<h3>Licensing</h3>\r\nArc Lab\'s music is  available for licensing (master &amp; sync cleared) through Hidden Shoal. Please <a title=\"Contact Us\" href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/contact-us/\">contact us</a> with some basic details about your project and the track(s) you wish to use and we’ll be sure to get back to you straight away.\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_tab][/et_pb_tabs][/et_pb_column_inner][/et_pb_row_inner][/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=\"1_4\"][et_pb_sidebar admin_label=\"Sidebar\" orientation=\"left\" area=\"sidebar-1\" background_layout=\"light\" module_id=\"shoalsidebar\" /][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_section]','Arc Lab','','inherit','closed','closed','','14440-revision-v1','','','2016-09-29 10:58:55','2016-09-29 02:58:55','',14440,'http://www.hiddenshoal.com/14440-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(14954,1,'2016-09-29 17:31:33','2016-09-29 09:31:33','[et_pb_section fullwidth=\"off\" specialty=\"on\" background_color=\"#050505\" inner_shadow=\"off\" parallax=\"off\" parallax_method=\"css\"][et_pb_column type=\"3_4\" specialty_columns=\"3\"][et_pb_row_inner][et_pb_column_inner type=\"4_4\"][et_pb_text admin_label=\"Text\" background_layout=\"light\" text_orientation=\"left\"]\r\n<h1>Tangled Star</h1>\r\n<a href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Antonymes_1.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-9196\" src=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/T-Star_Band_Photo1-300x208.jpg\" alt=\"Tangled Star\" width=\"300\" height=\"208\" /></a><em>“<em>something that ripples, radiates and blossoms amid a dressage of shimmering keys and softly burnt riff cascades which had us much in mind of Hefner shimmying with the Clientele at times.</em>”</em> –<strong> Losing Today </strong>\r\n\r\nDistilling elements of indie rock and alt country married with Craig Hallsworth’s wonderful dust and liquor coated vocals and twisting lyrics, Tangled Star weaves their own magic place. Through the musics exultant shifts and wandering detours the band manages to make once familiar territory foreign and offset.\r\n[/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider admin_label=\"Divider\" color=\"#ffffff\" show_divider=\"off\" /][et_pb_tabs admin_label=\"Artist Tabs\"][et_pb_tab title=\"Discography\"]\r\n<h3>Discography</h3>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h4>Let\'s Adjourn To The Garden</h4>\r\n<div></div>\r\n<iframe style=\"border: 0; width: 500px; height: 439px;\" src=\"http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=2116748307/size=large/bgcol=333333/linkcol=ffffff/artwork=small/transparent=true/\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\" seamless=\"\"><a href=\"http://tangled-star.bandcamp.com/album/lets-adjourn-to-the-garden\">Let\'s Adjourn to the Garden by Tangled Star</a></iframe>\r\nJune 2013\r\n<div></div>\r\n<em>Let’s Adjourn To The Garden</em> sees Craig Hallsworth’s Tangled Star project shift gears while continuing to distill the inimitable songcraft Hallsworth is so well known for. <em>Let’s Adjourn To The Garden</em> is, in typically contrarian fashion, their least bucolic offering yet, blending more driving power-pop flavours into their distinctive soup of song. Hallsworth’s wonderful dust-and-liquor-coated vocals and twisting lyrics combine with exultant shifts and melodic detours allowing the music to make once familiar territory somehow foreign and offset.\r\n\r\nTracks such as ‘Head In The Sand’ and ‘Hasn’t Made For Freedom’ streamline Tangled Star’s brilliant hooks and melodic turns into immediately addictive and electric slices of slow burn power-pop. ‘Attic Space Conversion #1’ exemplifies the band\'s compositional and stylistic shifts even more, stitching rousing ramshackle rock with almost Doors’esque cosmic guitar pop. And there amidst the fuzz and driving drums lay some quiet gems in the beautifully stripped back, drumless guitar pop of ‘99% Ok’ and ‘Someone’s Walking’. Just when you think you have the album pegged, the final track ‘Theme’ takes a left turn employing sweeping synths and electronic percussion in some sort of beatific yet melancholic final postcard to the world.\r\n<div></div>\r\n<div></div>\r\n<h4>That Time</h4>\r\n<div></div>\r\n<iframe style=\"border: 0; width: 500px; height: 274px;\" src=\"http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=3107117187/size=large/bgcol=333333/linkcol=ffffff/artwork=small/transparent=true/\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\" seamless=\"\"><a href=\"http://tangled-star.bandcamp.com/album/that-time\">That Time by Tangled Star</a></iframe>\r\nJune 2009\r\n<div></div>\r\n<em>That Time</em> sees Tangled Star at their most immediately accessible and deliciously hooky. Like a trapdoor spider hidden by a welcome doormat, the band lay an easy invitation to the unsuspecting listener, only to unleash a series of inimitable pop hooks and subtle detours. The EP typifies Tangled Star’s ability to craft songs that reveal fresh dimensions with each listen.\r\n\r\n<em>That Time</em> features the stunning single ‘seabirdtown’. The track opens with the expansive open-air sound of Pink Floyd-style organs and spatial guitars before falling into an earthbound shuffle and a taste of a lush, full-band sound for Tangled Star. The song’s gradual build to a towering edifice of glowing overdriven guitar, droning organ and harmony vocals is topped off by an echoed guitar line that sketches glistening arcs in the stratosphere. The single is indicative of <em>That Time</em>’s strengths as a louder, more flowing version of the melodic, evocative spaces of Tangled Star’s twilight pop songs.\r\n<div></div>\r\n<div></div>\r\n<h4>Our Man From Eden Hill</h4>\r\n<div></div>\r\n<iframe style=\"border: 0; width: 500px; height: 307px;\" src=\"http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=2416987741/size=large/bgcol=333333/linkcol=ffffff/artwork=small/transparent=true/\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\" seamless=\"\"><a href=\"http://tangled-star.bandcamp.com/album/our-man-in-eden-hill\">Our Man in Eden Hill by Tangled Star</a></iframe>\r\nFebruary 2008\r\n<div></div>\r\n<em>Our Man in Eden Hil</em>l sees Tangled Star building on their wonderfully received debut outing through Hidden Shoal, <em>It’s Now or Later</em>. Musically the EP toys with the frayed edges of country, pop and indie, while in part infusing a sense of space and possibility familiar to fans of the classic <em>Dark Side of the Moon</em>. As with their debut EP, <em>Our Man in Eden Hill</em>’s surface often belies its musical and emotional interior. Through its gentle shifts and directed detours, the EP manages to make once familiar territory foreign and offset. As chief songwriter and lyricist Craig Hallsworth explains,\r\n\r\n“If these songs are simple, they are only apparently so. To me, they are only beginning to really work when they are able to express a space of becoming... There are strange warnings and advice, mysterious imperatives and entreaties... I see the lyrics as working for and against themselves, as well as for and against the music, generating a plane of momentary, shifting affective states. There is comic desperation folded into offhand profundity. There is something depressing and defeating suddenly transformed into a rare kind of pleasure and privilege. There are secrets with nothing to hide. There is one last chance after another…” - Craig Hallsworth\r\n<div></div>\r\n<div></div>\r\n<h4>It\'s Now Or Later</h4>\r\n<div></div>\r\n<iframe style=\"border: 0; width: 500px; height: 340px;\" src=\"http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=1686875670/size=large/bgcol=333333/linkcol=ffffff/artwork=small/transparent=true/\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\" seamless=\"\"><a href=\"http://tangled-star.bandcamp.com/album/its-now-or-later\">It\'s Now or Later by Tangled Star</a></iframe>\r\nFebruary 2007\r\n<div></div>\r\n<em>It’s Now or Later</em> charts a journey across once familiar land yet through its exultant shifts and wandering detours manages to make everything feel new again. The album’s title talks to the wonderful paradox that is infused within each song both musically and lyrically. This is the apathetic’s guide to caring too much.\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"Bio\"]\r\n<h3>Biography</h3>\r\n<p align=\"justify\">In the late 90s, Outstation (Craig Hallsworth, guitars and singing; Jim Butterworth, bass; Jamie Hamilton, drums), a sonic monstrosity, began playing a lot of quiet tunes, and eventually turned into Tangled Star. Lorne Clements (Hammond Organ, Piano) became involved. Then Jamie Hamilton left, and was replaced by a drum machine, and Jim became its programmer.</p>\r\n<p align=\"justify\">The T-Star quietly went about its business for a few years in Jim’s back shed and in Lorne’s living room. They played only a handful of live shows, but recorded two albums with Alan Smith from Bergerk! Recordings – the self-titled debut, and It’s Now Or Later (to be released through Hidden Shoal Recordings November, 2006).</p>\r\n<strong>Craig Hallsworth:</strong>\r\nBorn 1964 in Collie South-West Western Australia – land that belongs to the Noongar People. Fatally infected with AM radio that plays constantly throughout childhood, in the house and in the car. Begins playing guitar and writing songs around 8 or 9 years of age. Magazines and records. Sitting alone in a room playing and singing into a cassette recorder. String of bands. Loses virginity after a gig at the Narrogin Hotel. Moves to Perth in the mid 80s upon completion of welding apprenticeship in the coal mines. Over next 15 years or so plays in The Bamboos, The Healers, wild palms, Zuvuya, Outstation, Tangled Star, as well as many solo performances and recordings. Currently writing an experimental book-length poem and playing in The Slow Beings.\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"News\"]\r\n<h3>News</h3>\r\n[catlist name=tangled-star-news content=yes pagination=no title_tag=h4 title_class=lcp_title][/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"Reviews\"]\r\n<h2>Reviews</h2>\r\n[catlist name=tangled-star-reviews content=yes pagination=no title_tag=h4 title_class=lcp_title][/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"Lyrics\"]\r\n<h3>Lyrics</h3>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h4>Let\'s Adjourn To The Garden</h4>\r\n<h5>Lyrics by Craig Hallsworth</h5>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h5>Crazy Bit O’ Truth</h5>\r\nso don’t build a stage so high\r\nway up to the sky\r\nand expect me to climb up there and play\r\nlike a dream it’s crashing down\r\nway down to the ground\r\nin the middle of the night I heard you leave\r\nyou can’t see where you’re going\r\nwho’s tugging at your sleeve\r\na sorcerer of death’s construction\r\nbaby you’re the last to know\r\nhard won insights turn into throwaway lines\r\nwell dressed gentlemen sidestep a dying world\r\nthen a cold calculating slob\r\nmeets a bitch with no illusions\r\natrocious pessimism\r\nwell I’ve never heard it called that before\r\nmaybe I’m the last to know\r\nit’s not so wonderful anymore\r\nso sorry children\r\nlife’s not beautiful anymore\r\nyour inheritance is grief\r\nyou might want to borrow a handkerchief\r\noh\r\nso they say they’re searching for the one\r\nwhose signs are in disarray and fading now\r\nso they say there are ten bottles of champagne\r\nin the car but we can’t remember where\r\nwe parked it now\r\nso they say they’re searching for the one\r\nwhose signs are in disarray and fading now\r\nso I say I’m cool with it\r\nI’m not trying to make the pieces fit\r\nI got a crazy bit o’ truth in my eye ...\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h5>In Bed With The Averys</h5>\r\ndo you want to know what’s stronger than death\r\nwhat always wakes up with wonderful breath\r\nand do you want to know what’s stranger than fiction\r\nand the facts of life put together?\r\nout of focus autumn branches\r\nrubbing against the sky\r\nshe’s at home in the kitchen with a stranger\r\nhe’s out catching a lady’s eye\r\nthe fricassee is burning\r\nand you’re in bed with the Averys\r\nooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh\r\nin bed with the Averys\r\nthey’ll introduce you to Figaro\r\nhis friends call him Mike\r\nthen you’ll meet Susan and Lydia\r\nwhat’s not to like?\r\nthere’s nothing they can’t study your face\r\nand not hint at\r\nnothing they won’t exactly deny\r\nuntil your mind is reeling\r\ncoz something in this world wants to kill you\r\nyou have no defence\r\nit gets in your head like the man said\r\nit makes perfect sense\r\nit’s black and white\r\nit’s as clear as it can be\r\nthen somehow it’s incomprehensible\r\nand you’re in bed with the Averys\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h5>Someone’s Walking</h5>\r\nsomeone’s free and someone’s got it together\r\nsomeone’s lost in someone’s head forever\r\nsomeone’s dead and someone’s dialling a number\r\nsomeone’s dreaming someone’s coming\r\nsomeone’s passing someone’s staring\r\nsomeone’s waiting someone’s walking home\r\nsomeone’s turning away\r\nsomeone’s just walking home\r\nsomeone’s famous someone’s youth is stolen\r\nsomeone’s cool and someone’s feet are aching\r\nsomeone’s bad and someone must be joking\r\nsomeone’s crying someone’s changing\r\nsomeone’s begging someone’s smoking\r\nsomeone’s searching someone’s walking home\r\nsomeone’s running way\r\nsomeone’s just walking home\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h5>Hasn\'t Made For Freedom</h5>\r\nit’s been all right for a change\r\nbut it hasn’t made for freedom\r\nthey’re hitting the bottle about it at least\r\nyou and I were restless dreamers\r\nin another life\r\nto tell the truth I’m falling asleep on a bus\r\nand it feels like someone else’s life\r\nand it’s all about capitalism\r\nit’s been all right for a change\r\nbut it hasn’t made for freedom\r\nas far as impulsive gestures go\r\ntaking your hand as we ride\r\ngazing out the window\r\nis right up there\r\nwith jumping off at a random stop\r\nas if I’m being followed\r\nand it’s all about patriotism\r\njust another eerie dawn\r\nI know what you mean\r\nbut how’re you gonna mean it all day?\r\noh yeah I know what you mean\r\nbut how’re you gonna make it pay?\r\njust another spooky coffee break\r\ntakes a plant to understand your longing\r\nand your pain\r\noh well I know what you mean\r\nthat doesn’t mean I’m not politely insane\r\nit was all right for a change\r\nbut it didn’t make for freedom\r\nit was the sun now it’s about to fall\r\nit was just an optical illusion\r\nand it wasn’t really there at all\r\ndon’t feel bad\r\nand don’t get crushed in the rush\r\nfor the experimental poem\r\nmy guess is it’s about capitalism\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h5>Painted Days</h5>\r\npainted days have found us\r\nin some seaside town\r\nwith the blinds pulled down\r\nlying low\r\nsupposing we mustn’t have died\r\nat 27\r\nwe must have lived\r\noh we must have lived after all\r\npainted doors have opened and closed\r\nand packages have arrived\r\nthere’s something mysterious about it\r\nbut ours is not to reason why\r\nours is but to squeeze the stuff\r\nout of a tube\r\nuntil it’s all used up\r\npainted whores have loved us\r\nand worried about our health\r\nwhen we didn’t deserve them at all\r\nthey never pushed us away\r\nand the things we would say\r\nwere just the things we would say\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h5>Attic Space Conversion # 1</h5>\r\nsend a beam of light into the world\r\nand pour the tea\r\nall your heroes were so lost\r\nwithout your penury\r\nand you were just this skinny little girl\r\nwho dug the sound\r\naudacity not veracity makes it all go ‘round\r\nnot everything with rings can be called hoop-la\r\nand the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty\r\nto Anastasia\r\nare they with us or against us?\r\nsend a ray of hope into the night\r\nand scrub the pan\r\nkeep a summer breeze inside a rusty old tin can\r\nbut to be more beautiful you have to concentrate\r\non the mystery\r\nlike a revolutionary becoming escaping\r\nall the failed revolutions of history\r\nhundreds of smiling people\r\nrode the silver tinselled escalators\r\none was a soft metal killer\r\nI remember I wasn’t feeling well\r\nI want to lose you in the morning\r\nin the deserted city\r\nI want to lie down any place\r\nand slowly forget your face\r\nI want to explain all of this\r\nbut not if it takes all night\r\nthis darkness is not endless\r\nonly everyone you know\r\nfilling their pockets full\r\nthis darkness is not endless\r\nonly anyone who knows you\r\nflying out for ...\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h5>99% OK</h5>\r\nit was 99% OK so I plucked it out of the air\r\n99% OK sounded better than only fair\r\nbut what about the darkness that spreads her wings\r\nand what about the darkness that makes her sing\r\nso what about the darkness that sips her wine\r\nso what about the darkness that makes her shine\r\nin a galaxy of faces\r\nin love and out of line\r\nthe vandal and the valentine\r\nforget that you and I were one\r\nforget what’s wrong with having fun\r\nhere’s to the tears that burn\r\nwe’re never to return\r\ndon’t break a heart and drop a hat\r\nthey’ve got servants here for that\r\nand though the names may change\r\na thief will call\r\njust to bring back the crystal ball\r\ndon’t you feel like a weathervane\r\nthat’s never known the wind and rain\r\nbut even psychics make mistakes my dear\r\nand bones point the way out of here\r\nforget that you and I were one\r\nforget the places in the sun\r\nhere’s to the tears that burn\r\nwe’re never to return\r\nforget when you and I were one\r\nthose days were like shots from a gun\r\nhere’s to the tears that burn\r\nwe’re never to return\r\ngo find someone to park your car\r\nand tell these dead men who you are\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h5>Head In The Sand</h5>\r\nso dry your thighs and don’t worry anymore\r\nlisten to all my outlandish proposals\r\nsmile when you slip through the cracks\r\ntake an abyss for a walk and never look back\r\nyou’ve got an hour to kill in the heat of the day\r\nhow many mornings are fresh and new\r\nand here you are wondering what to do\r\nshall I go against all my principles for you\r\nshall I draw a diagram or something?\r\nhow many nights do you feel like praying\r\nbut you never learned how to pray\r\nhow many nights do you feel like praying\r\nbut you wouldn’t know how to pray\r\nlike a rich man washing his hands\r\nyou had an hour to kill in the heat of the day\r\nan hour to kill in the heat of the day\r\nlike a daughter of this holy land\r\nbut don’t sleep with the messenger you understand\r\nthe carotid artery is severed as planned\r\nI can say I’m not burying my head in the sand\r\nI can say I’m not burying my head in the sand\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h5>Theme</h5>\r\nnow the wind picks up\r\nthe door creaks I think my cup\r\nis overflowing\r\na triumph of the human spirit\r\nto wake at 7\r\nand lie in bed until 11\r\nbring me your altered states\r\nand what exalts\r\nand bring to me your heaven\r\ndon’t wait for the ironic undercut\r\nnobody wants to wait for that today\r\nfor all anyone knows you really are\r\npassionate and driven\r\nyou’d go all the way to the mountain\r\nif only you could leave the room\r\nnow everything’s changing\r\nit’s like gazing through a splotch\r\non the window\r\nis anything behind everything\r\nis it wrong to wonder\r\nis it just to keep from going under?\r\nembrace the worthless life\r\nif it falls into your arms\r\nlet it reveal its charms\r\nso slowly\r\nyou’ll lose your taste for clever subtle things\r\nand I’ll go hungry analysing things\r\nI might decide to take up the guitar\r\nand there you are\r\nlet’s adjourn to the garden\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n<h4>Our Man In Eden Hill</h4>\r\n<h5>Lyrics by Craig Hallsworth</h5>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h5>tosleepingpeople</h5>\r\nDon’t say goodnight to sleeping people\r\nTell your secret to sleeping people\r\nNever wave from the platform to sleeping people\r\nFor all this may convey\r\n\r\nDon’t hang on the sighs of sleeping people\r\nTry to open the eyes of sleeping people\r\nFor that train is bound for sleeping people\r\nMany miles away\r\n\r\nThere’s a naked stranger stranded in the light\r\nOf the refrigerator in the dead of night\r\nToo strung out for an epiphany\r\nAnd a far-off whistle blowing\r\n\r\nSo don’t measure your dreams against sleeping people\r\nSing this song to sleeping people\r\nNever paint the faces of sleeping people\r\nBy the light of the moon\r\n\r\nOnce I met a punk rock girl with psychic powers\r\nShe told me that I had a lot of work to do\r\nThat this would eventually provide me\r\nWith a wealth of some description\r\nBut she didn’t say\r\nI’d give it all away\r\nTo sleeping people\r\nTo sleeping people\r\nTo sleeping people\r\nTo sleeping people\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h5>The Skaters</h5>\r\nAnd it’s oh so pure I know\r\nA chapeau of snow\r\nSo we melt away the hours\r\nCome to in a pool on the floor\r\n\r\nI no longer recall the song\r\nBut I can’t forget that introduction\r\nThere’s a name going around tonight\r\nTaking women and men\r\nDon’t you wonder how?\r\nAs if they want the same things\r\n\r\nLovers caught in a shower\r\nStepped out of a life\r\nThey no longer recall\r\nWhat they expected to find here\r\nWhat they dreamed of\r\nWhat they hung on the wall\r\nWhat they sang about\r\nWhat they sang about\r\nWhat they sang about\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h5>Sunny Day Losers #12 &amp; 35</h5>\r\nCourageous Cat lay around watching television\r\nEverything was all about how he just didn’t scare and\r\nBrother Ray and Miss Torso went out and got hammered in some dive\r\nSee them slumped on barstools\r\nTheir cowboy boots and long hair\r\nStanley and Oliver got divorced on a night in June\r\nBeulah peeled a grape and shut up shop for the afternoon\r\nGilles Deleuze was flying over an unheard-of Paree\r\nHe never lost any sleep over the likes of you and me\r\nThin Lizzy laughed and turned her face away\r\nOnce upon a time in the underground\r\nYou knew more people than I’ll ever forget\r\nWe passed it back and forth\r\nPerched upon that gentle mound\r\nOh we were feeling bad\r\nAbout a sunny day\r\nBecause the land needs rain …\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h5>Turn Me</h5>\r\nNo one to lock the door\r\nIf it wasn’t for these tattoos\r\nWouldn’t get anything about me\r\n\r\nRiding around’s the harder part\r\nAnd the sweeping views\r\nSomeone has no sense of mystery\r\n\r\nHow could I always be on this side?\r\nAs if there’s everywhere to hide\r\n\r\nFrom a glance before it’s lights out\r\nUp ahead before it’s lights out\r\nShow me again before it’s lights out\r\n\r\nTell me why\r\nThe blind eyes couldn’t turn me\r\nTell me why\r\nThe blind eyes couldn’t turn me\r\n\r\nHow could I always be on this side?\r\nAs if there’s nowhere left to hide\r\n\r\nIn this dream before it’s lights out\r\nSteal you one before it’s lights out\r\nBefore it’s lights out\r\nBefore it’s lights out\r\nBefore it’s lights out\r\nBefore it’s lights out\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n<h5>The Waiter Is Deceased</h5>\r\nKids will play with a ball by the busy road\r\nWho’s that shadow boxing under the streetlight?\r\nMy cousins Desley and Altina are coming to stay for awhile\r\nThanks for last night\r\nIf anything it wasn’t dark enough\r\nIt wasn’t dark enough\r\n\r\nA conversation between the unheard and the unseen\r\nWhen a world butts in\r\n\r\nAudrey Hepburn was the last to sing Happy Birthday to JFK\r\nNot Marilyn Monroe\r\n\r\nJanet Leigh was the last to sing Chariot Choogle in the shower\r\nBut baby you know who you are\r\n\r\nAll the barnyard academics that never waste an emotion\r\nNever waste an emotion\r\nNever waste an emotion\r\nNever waste an emotion\r\n\r\nAs the mist leaves no tip on the bright pink hill\r\nSo my body irons a shirt\r\n\r\nOh where is the city we loved that made us pay\r\nSo dearly for one small mistake\r\n\r\nSo we live and learn that there is always more to earn\r\nThat there is more in a foreign bank account\r\n\r\nCan I pinch another beer oh lugubrious beauty?\r\nCan no one else show me?\r\nCan no one else show me?\r\nCan no one else show me?\r\n\r\nWhat is this thing called paparazzi?\r\nWhat’s its shame? What’s its claim to fame?\r\n\r\nShall we leave you in the parking lot pushing coins into a slot?\r\nIt’s no crime take your time\r\n\r\nBut the news travels fast that the secret of a man is nothing\r\nIn truth nothing at all\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"Gallery\"]\r\n<h3>Artist Photos</h3>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n[gallery columns=\"2\" ids=\"9201,9196\"]\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"Video\"]\r\n<h3>Music Videos</h3>\r\nNo videos yet, sorry!\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"Licensing\"]\r\n<h3>Licensing</h3>\r\nTangled Star\'s music is  available for licensing (master &amp; sync cleared) through Hidden Shoal. Please <a title=\"Contact Us\" href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/contact-us/\">contact us</a> with some basic details about your project and the track(s) you wish to use and we’ll be sure to get back to you straight away.\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_tab][/et_pb_tabs][/et_pb_column_inner][/et_pb_row_inner][/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=\"1_4\"][et_pb_sidebar admin_label=\"Sidebar\" orientation=\"left\" area=\"sidebar-1\" background_layout=\"light\" module_id=\"shoalsidebar\" /][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_section]','Tangled Star','','inherit','closed','closed','','9181-revision-v1','','','2016-09-29 17:31:33','2016-09-29 09:31:33','',9181,'http://www.hiddenshoal.com/9181-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(14955,1,'2016-09-29 22:10:46','2016-09-29 14:10:46','<a href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Arc-Lab-Anthem-new.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft  wp-image-14580\" src=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Arc-Lab-Anthem-new-300x198.jpg\" alt=\"Arc Lab\" width=\"209\" height=\"138\" /></a>As soon as its tense, antagonistic beat kicks in, <a title=\"Arc Lab\" href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/project/arc-lab/\">Arc Lab</a>\'s ‘Through the Burning Glass’ begins to stretch out before the listener like a vivid, grey horizon. Its diffuse but expressively cadenced rhythms and melodic lines ascend and circulate the song’s atmosphere, creating an exquisite tension between the serenity of the synths and the aggression of the beats. This is a track that you cannot stop listening to over and over again. Lifted from Arc Lab\'s 2016 release <a title=\"Anthem\" href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/project/arc-lab/\"><em>Anthem.</em></a><em> </em> - <strong>Wagner Herthog</strong>\r\n\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/267766096&amp;color=000000&amp;auto_play=false&amp;hide_related=true&amp;show_comments=false&amp;show_user=true&amp;show_reposts=false\" width=\"100%\" height=\"166\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\"></iframe>','Featured Track - Arc Lab \'Through The Burning Glass\'','','publish','closed','closed','','featured-track-arc-lab-through-the-burning-glass','','','2016-09-29 22:13:28','2016-09-29 14:13:28','',0,'http://www.hiddenshoal.com/?p=14955',0,'post','',0),(14956,1,'2016-09-29 21:51:43','2016-09-29 13:51:43','As soon as its tense, antagonistic beat kicks in, ‘Through the Burning Glass’ begins to stretch out before the listener like a vivid, grey horizon. Its diffuse but expressively cadenced rhythms and melodic lines ascend and circulate the song’s atmosphere, creating an exquisite tension between the serenity of the synths and the aggression of the beats. This is a track that you cannot stop listening to over and over again…','Featured Track - Arc Lab \'Through The Burning Glass\'','','inherit','closed','closed','','14955-revision-v1','','','2016-09-29 21:51:43','2016-09-29 13:51:43','',14955,'http://www.hiddenshoal.com/14955-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(14957,1,'2016-09-29 22:04:13','2016-09-29 14:04:13','<a href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Arc-Lab-Anthem-new.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft  wp-image-14580\" src=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Arc-Lab-Anthem-new-300x198.jpg\" alt=\"Arc Lab\" width=\"162\" height=\"107\" /></a>As soon as its tense, antagonistic beat kicks in, <a title=\"Arc Lab\" href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/project/arc-lab/\">Arc Lab</a>\'s ‘Through the Burning Glass’ begins to stretch out before the listener like a vivid, grey horizon. Its diffuse but expressively cadenced rhythms and melodic lines ascend and circulate the song’s atmosphere, creating an exquisite tension between the serenity of the synths and the aggression of the beats. This is a track that you cannot stop listening to over and over again…\r\n\r\nLifted from Arc Lab\'s 2016 release <a title=\"Anthem\" href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/project/arc-lab/\"><em>Anthem.</em></a>\r\n\r\n- <strong>Wagner Hertzhog</strong>\r\n<iframe src=\"https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/267766096&amp;color=000000&amp;auto_play=false&amp;hide_related=true&amp;show_comments=false&amp;show_user=true&amp;show_reposts=false\" width=\"100%\" height=\"166\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\"></iframe>','Featured Track - Arc Lab \'Through The Burning Glass\'','','inherit','closed','closed','','14955-revision-v1','','','2016-09-29 22:04:13','2016-09-29 14:04:13','',14955,'http://www.hiddenshoal.com/14955-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(14958,1,'2016-09-29 22:05:05','2016-09-29 14:05:05','<a href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Arc-Lab-Anthem-new.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft  wp-image-14580\" src=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Arc-Lab-Anthem-new-300x198.jpg\" alt=\"Arc Lab\" width=\"162\" height=\"107\" /></a>As soon as its tense, antagonistic beat kicks in, <a title=\"Arc Lab\" href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/project/arc-lab/\">Arc Lab</a>\'s ‘Through the Burning Glass’ begins to stretch out before the listener like a vivid, grey horizon. Its diffuse but expressively cadenced rhythms and melodic lines ascend and circulate the song’s atmosphere, creating an exquisite tension between the serenity of the synths and the aggression of the beats. This is a track that you cannot stop listening to over and over again. Lifted from Arc Lab\'s 2016 release <a title=\"Anthem\" href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/project/arc-lab/\"><em>Anthem.\r\n</em></a>- <strong>Wagner Hertzhog</strong>\r\n<iframe src=\"https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/267766096&amp;color=000000&amp;auto_play=false&amp;hide_related=true&amp;show_comments=false&amp;show_user=true&amp;show_reposts=false\" width=\"100%\" height=\"166\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\"></iframe>','Featured Track - Arc Lab \'Through The Burning Glass\'','','inherit','closed','closed','','14955-revision-v1','','','2016-09-29 22:05:05','2016-09-29 14:05:05','',14955,'http://www.hiddenshoal.com/14955-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(14959,1,'2016-09-29 22:05:19','2016-09-29 14:05:19','<a href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Arc-Lab-Anthem-new.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft  wp-image-14580\" src=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Arc-Lab-Anthem-new-300x198.jpg\" alt=\"Arc Lab\" width=\"177\" height=\"117\" /></a>As soon as its tense, antagonistic beat kicks in, <a title=\"Arc Lab\" href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/project/arc-lab/\">Arc Lab</a>\'s ‘Through the Burning Glass’ begins to stretch out before the listener like a vivid, grey horizon. Its diffuse but expressively cadenced rhythms and melodic lines ascend and circulate the song’s atmosphere, creating an exquisite tension between the serenity of the synths and the aggression of the beats. This is a track that you cannot stop listening to over and over again. Lifted from Arc Lab\'s 2016 release <a title=\"Anthem\" href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/project/arc-lab/\"><em>Anthem.\r\n</em></a>- <strong>Wagner Hertzhog</strong>\r\n<iframe src=\"https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/267766096&amp;color=000000&amp;auto_play=false&amp;hide_related=true&amp;show_comments=false&amp;show_user=true&amp;show_reposts=false\" width=\"100%\" height=\"166\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\"></iframe>','Featured Track - Arc Lab \'Through The Burning Glass\'','','inherit','closed','closed','','14955-revision-v1','','','2016-09-29 22:05:19','2016-09-29 14:05:19','',14955,'http://www.hiddenshoal.com/14955-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(14960,1,'2016-09-29 22:05:48','2016-09-29 14:05:48','<a href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Arc-Lab-Anthem-new.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft  wp-image-14580\" src=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Arc-Lab-Anthem-new-300x198.jpg\" alt=\"Arc Lab\" width=\"194\" height=\"128\" /></a>As soon as its tense, antagonistic beat kicks in, <a title=\"Arc Lab\" href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/project/arc-lab/\">Arc Lab</a>\'s ‘Through the Burning Glass’ begins to stretch out before the listener like a vivid, grey horizon. Its diffuse but expressively cadenced rhythms and melodic lines ascend and circulate the song’s atmosphere, creating an exquisite tension between the serenity of the synths and the aggression of the beats. This is a track that you cannot stop listening to over and over again. Lifted from Arc Lab\'s 2016 release <a title=\"Anthem\" href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/project/arc-lab/\"><em>Anthem.\r\n</em></a>- <strong>Wagner Hertzhog</strong>\r\n<iframe src=\"https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/267766096&amp;color=000000&amp;auto_play=false&amp;hide_related=true&amp;show_comments=false&amp;show_user=true&amp;show_reposts=false\" width=\"100%\" height=\"166\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\"></iframe>','Featured Track - Arc Lab \'Through The Burning Glass\'','','inherit','closed','closed','','14955-revision-v1','','','2016-09-29 22:05:48','2016-09-29 14:05:48','',14955,'http://www.hiddenshoal.com/14955-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(14961,1,'2016-09-29 22:09:42','2016-09-29 14:09:42','<a href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Arc-Lab-Anthem-new.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft  wp-image-14580\" src=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Arc-Lab-Anthem-new-300x198.jpg\" alt=\"Arc Lab\" width=\"209\" height=\"138\" /></a>As soon as its tense, antagonistic beat kicks in, <a title=\"Arc Lab\" href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/project/arc-lab/\">Arc Lab</a>\'s ‘Through the Burning Glass’ begins to stretch out before the listener like a vivid, grey horizon. Its diffuse but expressively cadenced rhythms and melodic lines ascend and circulate the song’s atmosphere, creating an exquisite tension between the serenity of the synths and the aggression of the beats. This is a track that you cannot stop listening to over and over again. Lifted from Arc Lab\'s 2016 release <a title=\"Anthem\" href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/project/arc-lab/\"><em>Anthem.\r\n</em></a>- <strong>Wagner Hertzhog</strong>\r\n<iframe src=\"https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/267766096&amp;color=000000&amp;auto_play=false&amp;hide_related=true&amp;show_comments=false&amp;show_user=true&amp;show_reposts=false\" width=\"100%\" height=\"166\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\"></iframe>','Featured Track - Arc Lab \'Through The Burning Glass\'','','inherit','closed','closed','','14955-revision-v1','','','2016-09-29 22:09:42','2016-09-29 14:09:42','',14955,'http://www.hiddenshoal.com/14955-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(14962,1,'2016-09-29 22:10:15','2016-09-29 14:10:15','<a href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Arc-Lab-Anthem-new.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft  wp-image-14580\" src=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Arc-Lab-Anthem-new-300x198.jpg\" alt=\"Arc Lab\" width=\"209\" height=\"138\" /></a>As soon as its tense, antagonistic beat kicks in, <a title=\"Arc Lab\" href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/project/arc-lab/\">Arc Lab</a>\'s ‘Through the Burning Glass’ begins to stretch out before the listener like a vivid, grey horizon. Its diffuse but expressively cadenced rhythms and melodic lines ascend and circulate the song’s atmosphere, creating an exquisite tension between the serenity of the synths and the aggression of the beats. This is a track that you cannot stop listening to over and over again. Lifted from Arc Lab\'s 2016 release <a title=\"Anthem\" href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/project/arc-lab/\"><em>Anthem.</em></a><em> </em> - <strong>Wagner Hertzhog</strong>\r\n<iframe src=\"https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/267766096&amp;color=000000&amp;auto_play=false&amp;hide_related=true&amp;show_comments=false&amp;show_user=true&amp;show_reposts=false\" width=\"100%\" height=\"166\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\"></iframe>','Featured Track - Arc Lab \'Through The Burning Glass\'','','inherit','closed','closed','','14955-revision-v1','','','2016-09-29 22:10:15','2016-09-29 14:10:15','',14955,'http://www.hiddenshoal.com/14955-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(14963,1,'2016-09-29 22:10:46','2016-09-29 14:10:46','<a href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Arc-Lab-Anthem-new.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft  wp-image-14580\" src=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Arc-Lab-Anthem-new-300x198.jpg\" alt=\"Arc Lab\" width=\"209\" height=\"138\" /></a>As soon as its tense, antagonistic beat kicks in, <a title=\"Arc Lab\" href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/project/arc-lab/\">Arc Lab</a>\'s ‘Through the Burning Glass’ begins to stretch out before the listener like a vivid, grey horizon. Its diffuse but expressively cadenced rhythms and melodic lines ascend and circulate the song’s atmosphere, creating an exquisite tension between the serenity of the synths and the aggression of the beats. This is a track that you cannot stop listening to over and over again. Lifted from Arc Lab\'s 2016 release <a title=\"Anthem\" href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/project/arc-lab/\"><em>Anthem.</em></a><em> </em> - <strong>Wagner Herthog</strong>\r\n<iframe src=\"https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/267766096&amp;color=000000&amp;auto_play=false&amp;hide_related=true&amp;show_comments=false&amp;show_user=true&amp;show_reposts=false\" width=\"100%\" height=\"166\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\"></iframe>','Featured Track - Arc Lab \'Through The Burning Glass\'','','inherit','closed','closed','','14955-revision-v1','','','2016-09-29 22:10:46','2016-09-29 14:10:46','',14955,'http://www.hiddenshoal.com/14955-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(14967,1,'2016-09-29 22:13:28','2016-09-29 14:13:28','<a href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Arc-Lab-Anthem-new.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft  wp-image-14580\" src=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Arc-Lab-Anthem-new-300x198.jpg\" alt=\"Arc Lab\" width=\"209\" height=\"138\" /></a>As soon as its tense, antagonistic beat kicks in, <a title=\"Arc Lab\" href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/project/arc-lab/\">Arc Lab</a>\'s ‘Through the Burning Glass’ begins to stretch out before the listener like a vivid, grey horizon. Its diffuse but expressively cadenced rhythms and melodic lines ascend and circulate the song’s atmosphere, creating an exquisite tension between the serenity of the synths and the aggression of the beats. This is a track that you cannot stop listening to over and over again. Lifted from Arc Lab\'s 2016 release <a title=\"Anthem\" href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/project/arc-lab/\"><em>Anthem.</em></a><em> </em> - <strong>Wagner Herthog</strong>\r\n\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/267766096&amp;color=000000&amp;auto_play=false&amp;hide_related=true&amp;show_comments=false&amp;show_user=true&amp;show_reposts=false\" width=\"100%\" height=\"166\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\"></iframe>','Featured Track - Arc Lab \'Through The Burning Glass\'','','inherit','closed','closed','','14955-revision-v1','','','2016-09-29 22:13:28','2016-09-29 14:13:28','',14955,'http://www.hiddenshoal.com/14955-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(14964,1,'2016-09-29 22:11:32','2016-09-29 14:11:32','<a href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Arc-Lab-Anthem-new.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft  wp-image-14580\" src=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Arc-Lab-Anthem-new-300x198.jpg\" alt=\"Arc Lab\" width=\"209\" height=\"138\" /></a>As soon as its tense, antagonistic beat kicks in, <a title=\"Arc Lab\" href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/project/arc-lab/\">Arc Lab</a>\'s ‘Through the Burning Glass’ begins to stretch out before the listener like a vivid, grey horizon. Its diffuse but expressively cadenced rhythms and melodic lines ascend and circulate the song’s atmosphere, creating an exquisite tension between the serenity of the synths and the aggression of the beats. This is a track that you cannot stop listening to over and over again. Lifted from Arc Lab\'s 2016 release <a title=\"Anthem\" href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/project/arc-lab/\"><em>Anthem.</em></a><em> </em> - <strong>Wagner Herthog</strong>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/267766096&amp;color=000000&amp;auto_play=false&amp;hide_related=true&amp;show_comments=false&amp;show_user=true&amp;show_reposts=false\" width=\"100%\" height=\"166\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\"></iframe>','Featured Track - Arc Lab \'Through The Burning Glass\'','','inherit','closed','closed','','14955-revision-v1','','','2016-09-29 22:11:32','2016-09-29 14:11:32','',14955,'http://www.hiddenshoal.com/14955-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(14965,1,'2016-09-29 22:11:55','2016-09-29 14:11:55','<a href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Arc-Lab-Anthem-new.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft  wp-image-14580\" src=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Arc-Lab-Anthem-new-300x198.jpg\" alt=\"Arc Lab\" width=\"209\" height=\"138\" /></a>As soon as its tense, antagonistic beat kicks in, <a title=\"Arc Lab\" href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/project/arc-lab/\">Arc Lab</a>\'s ‘Through the Burning Glass’ begins to stretch out before the listener like a vivid, grey horizon. Its diffuse but expressively cadenced rhythms and melodic lines ascend and circulate the song’s atmosphere, creating an exquisite tension between the serenity of the synths and the aggression of the beats. This is a track that you cannot stop listening to over and over again. Lifted from Arc Lab\'s 2016 release <a title=\"Anthem\" href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/project/arc-lab/\"><em>Anthem.</em></a><em> </em> - <strong>Wagner Herthog</strong>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/267766096&amp;color=000000&amp;auto_play=false&amp;hide_related=true&amp;show_comments=false&amp;show_user=true&amp;show_reposts=false\" width=\"100%\" height=\"166\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\"></iframe>','Featured Track - Arc Lab \'Through The Burning Glass\'','','inherit','closed','closed','','14955-revision-v1','','','2016-09-29 22:11:55','2016-09-29 14:11:55','',14955,'http://www.hiddenshoal.com/14955-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(14966,1,'2016-09-29 22:13:00','2016-09-29 14:13:00','<a href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Arc-Lab-Anthem-new.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft  wp-image-14580\" src=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/Arc-Lab-Anthem-new-300x198.jpg\" alt=\"Arc Lab\" width=\"209\" height=\"138\" /></a>As soon as its tense, antagonistic beat kicks in, <a title=\"Arc Lab\" href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/project/arc-lab/\">Arc Lab</a>\'s ‘Through the Burning Glass’ begins to stretch out before the listener like a vivid, grey horizon. Its diffuse but expressively cadenced rhythms and melodic lines ascend and circulate the song’s atmosphere, creating an exquisite tension between the serenity of the synths and the aggression of the beats. This is a track that you cannot stop listening to over and over again. Lifted from Arc Lab\'s 2016 release <a title=\"Anthem\" href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/project/arc-lab/\"><em>Anthem.</em></a><em> </em> - <strong>Wagner Herthog</strong>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/267766096&amp;color=000000&amp;auto_play=false&amp;hide_related=true&amp;show_comments=false&amp;show_user=true&amp;show_reposts=false\" width=\"100%\" height=\"166\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\"></iframe>','Featured Track - Arc Lab \'Through The Burning Glass\'','','inherit','closed','closed','','14955-revision-v1','','','2016-09-29 22:13:00','2016-09-29 14:13:00','',14955,'http://www.hiddenshoal.com/14955-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(14969,1,'2016-10-03 08:33:50','2016-10-03 00:33:50','[et_pb_section fullwidth=\"off\" specialty=\"on\" background_color=\"#050505\" inner_shadow=\"off\" parallax=\"off\" parallax_method=\"css\"][et_pb_column type=\"3_4\" specialty_columns=\"3\"][et_pb_row_inner][et_pb_column_inner type=\"4_4\"][et_pb_text admin_label=\"Text\" background_layout=\"light\" text_orientation=\"left\"]<h1>Willem Gator</h1><p><a href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Antonymes_1.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft  wp-image-11757\" src=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/willem_gator_profile_pic.jpg\" alt=\"Willem Gator\" width=\"183\" height=\"214\" /></a><em>\"Willem Gator focuses on the larger impact. Letting each song gradually increase in emotional intensity helping it incorporate both rock and electronic aspects.\"</em> - <strong>Beach Slot</strong> Willem Gator creates a unique blend of downtempo beats, fat basslines and a multitude of oriental and orchestral instruments. He creates music that is not only about ‘place’, but also deeply embedded in its own place of construction and composition. His pivotal 2011 album <em>Hong Kong Express</em> is testament to this approach, composed while the artist lived in a ‘cubby hole’ apartment in Kowloon. <strong><a title=\"Facebook\" href=\"https://www.facebook.com/willemgator\" target=\"_blank\"> <br /></a><a href=\"https://geo.itunes.apple.com/us/artist/willem-gator/id405690956?at=11lRii&amp;mt=1&amp;app=music\"><img class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-12412\" src=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/badge_itunes-sm.png\" alt=\"iTunes\" width=\"44\" height=\"15\" /></a>  <a title=\"Facebook\" href=\"https://www.facebook.com/willemgator\" target=\"_blank\"><img class=\"alignnone wp-image-8763 size-full\" src=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Facebook.png\" alt=\"Facebook\" width=\"26\" height=\"20\" /></a>  <a title=\"Twitter\" href=\"https://twitter.com/willemgator\" target=\"_blank\"><img class=\"alignnone wp-image-8766 size-full\" src=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Twitter.png\" alt=\"Twitter\" width=\"26\" height=\"20\" /></a>  <a title=\"SoundCloud\" href=\"https://soundcloud.com/willemgator\" target=\"_blank\"><img class=\"alignnone wp-image-8764 size-full\" src=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/SoundCloud.png\" alt=\"SoundCloud\" width=\"26\" height=\"20\" /></a>  <a title=\"Website\" href=\"http://www.willemgator.com/\" target=\"_blank\"><img class=\"alignnone wp-image-8767 size-full\" src=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Website.png\" alt=\"Website\" width=\"26\" height=\"20\" /></a> </strong></p>[/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider admin_label=\"Divider\" color=\"#ffffff\" show_divider=\"off\" /][et_pb_tabs admin_label=\"Artist Tabs\"][et_pb_tab title=\"Discography\"]\r\n<h3>Discography</h3>\r\n<div></div>\r\n<div></div>\r\n<div></div>\r\n<h4>Hong Kong Express</h4>\r\n<div></div>\r\n<iframe style=\"border: 0; width: 500px; height: 406px;\" src=\"https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=45489366/size=large/bgcol=333333/linkcol=ffffff/artwork=small/transparent=true/\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\" seamless=\"\"><a href=\"http://willemgator.bandcamp.com/album/hong-kong-express\">Hong Kong Express by Willem Gator</a></iframe>\r\n2011\r\n<div></div>\r\nIn \"Hong Kong Express\" fat basslines create Berliner style patterns pulsating through landscapes of oriental instruments such as the Erhu, Zheng, Sanxian and swarms of Chinese percussions. While you listen to these tracks, you\'ll be able to see and feel the places, faces and ambience of the streets in Hong Kong and of the smothering cubby-hole in Kowloon where they were conceived and almost completed.\r\n<div></div>\r\n<div></div>\r\n<h4></h4>\r\n<h4>Touch me and i will save you</h4>\r\n<div></div>\r\n<iframe style=\"border: 0; width: 500px; height: 472px;\" src=\"https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=1677147963/size=large/bgcol=333333/linkcol=ffffff/artwork=small/transparent=true/\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\" seamless=\"\"><a href=\"http://willemgator.bandcamp.com/album/touch-me-and-i-will-save-you\">Touch me and i will save you by Willem Gator</a></iframe>\r\n2008\r\n<div></div>\r\n<em>Touch me and i will save you</em> is Guiseppe Musmeci\'s sophomore release under the Willem Gator moniker, preceded by the debut <em>Musica Orchestrale per sordi. </em>The album is a gorgeous tapestry of atmospheric down-tempo counterpointed by a number of more urgent and angular electronic beat driven explorations. As with each Willem Gator release <em>Touch me and i will save you</em> has a unique wholeness to it and expands when given the full album listening experience.\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"Bio\"]\r\n<h3>Biography</h3>\r\nWillem Gator is Giuseppe Musmeci, self-taught composer, guitarist, electronic musician and member of the Italian post-rock outfit HC-B. Musmeci\'s rich background in electronic music production and keen sense of texture sees him creating highly distinctive music under his Willem Gator moniker: “My music is photography of a time, of the people I met and the emotion they gave to me.\" Willem Gator has performed throughout Europe, sharing the stage with musicians such as FM Einhet (Einsturzende Neubauten), Flying Luttenbachers, Unsane, DJ Spooky, Pansonic, Nobokazu Takemura, U-Cef, Battles and Art Brut.[/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"News\"]\r\n<h3>News</h3>\r\n[catlist name=willem-gator-news content=yes pagination=no title_tag=h4 title_class=lcp_title][/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"Reviews\"]\r\n<h2>Reviews</h2>\r\n[catlist name=willem-gator-reviews content=yes pagination=no title_tag=h4 title_class=lcp_title]\r\n\r\nNo reviews yet, sorry!\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"Press Releases\"]\r\n<h3>Press Releases</h3>\r\nNo press releases, sorry!\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"Gallery\"]\r\n<h3>Artist Photos</h3>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n[gallery ids=\"11661,11662,11663,11665,11664\"]\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"Video\"]\r\n<h3>Music Videos</h3>\r\n<iframe src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/njiTa55qp3I?rel=0\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"></iframe>\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"//www.youtube.com/embed/2CbQ06ohutI?rel=0\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"></iframe>[/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"Licensing\"]\r\n<h3>Licensing</h3>\r\nWillem Gator\'s music is  available for licensing (master &amp; sync cleared) through Hidden Shoal. Please <a title=\"Contact Us\" href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/contact-us/\">contact us</a> with some basic details about your project and the track(s) you wish to use and we’ll be sure to get back to you straight away.\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_tab][/et_pb_tabs][/et_pb_column_inner][/et_pb_row_inner][/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=\"1_4\"][et_pb_sidebar admin_label=\"Sidebar\" orientation=\"left\" area=\"sidebar-1\" background_layout=\"light\" module_id=\"shoalsidebar\" /][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_section]','Willem Gator','','inherit','closed','closed','','11658-revision-v1','','','2016-10-03 08:33:50','2016-10-03 00:33:50','',11658,'http://www.hiddenshoal.com/11658-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(14970,1,'2016-10-03 09:23:31','2016-10-03 01:23:31','[et_pb_section fullwidth=\"off\" specialty=\"on\" background_color=\"#050505\" inner_shadow=\"off\" parallax=\"off\" parallax_method=\"css\"][et_pb_column type=\"3_4\" specialty_columns=\"3\"][et_pb_row_inner][et_pb_column_inner type=\"4_4\"][et_pb_text admin_label=\"Text\" background_layout=\"light\" text_orientation=\"left\"]\r\n<h1>Apricot Rail</h1>\r\n<img class=\"alignleft  wp-image-9194\" src=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/apricot-rail-profile.jpg\" alt=\"Apricot Rail\" width=\"340\" height=\"266\" /><em>“The might of, I dunno, Mogwai is still there, but the charm of Múm is also present. They paint mountains in broad strokes but afterwards they take time to put in Sherpas and goats partying on the cliff face.”</em><strong> – Love Is My Velocity</strong>\r\n\r\nMost instrumental rock suggests the apocalypse is coming. If it is, Apricot Rail are too busy crafting beautiful lilting melodies to care. This Perth sextet have the charm, humour and songwriting nous – and a killer live show – to re-ignite anyone’s belief in music’s subtle, giddy powers.\r\n\r\n<strong><a href=\"https://geo.itunes.apple.com/us/artist/apricot-rail/id449788915?at=11lRii&amp;mt=1&amp;app=music\"><img class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-12412\" src=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/badge_itunes-sm.png\" alt=\"iTunes\" width=\"44\" height=\"15\" /></a>  <a title=\"Facebook\" href=\"https://www.facebook.com/apricotrail\" target=\"_blank\"><img class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-8763\" src=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Facebook.png\" alt=\"Facebook\" width=\"26\" height=\"20\" /></a></strong>\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider admin_label=\"Divider\" color=\"#ffffff\" show_divider=\"off\" /][et_pb_tabs admin_label=\"Artist Tabs\"][et_pb_tab title=\"Discography\"]\r\n<h3>Discography</h3>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h4>Quarrels</h4>\r\n<div></div>\r\n<iframe style=\"border: 0; width: 500px; height: 540px;\" src=\"http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=153203644/size=large/bgcol=333333/linkcol=ffffff/artwork=small/transparent=true/\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\" seamless=\"\"><a href=\"http://apricotrail.bandcamp.com/album/quarrels\">Quarrels by Apricot Rail</a></iframe>\r\nFebruary 2013\r\n<div></div>\r\nAlmost four years after the release of their acclaimed self-titled debut album, Perth-based multi-instrumental pop sextet Apricot Rail return with their sophomore album <em>Quarrels</em>, which features the singles ‘Basket Press’ and ‘Surry Hills’. A foray into more experimental territory, <em>Quarrels</em> features lusher, denser instrumentation, is rich in ideas yet toys with new levels of restraint. The band’s trademark harmonic guitar passages and syncopation sit beneath languid brass and woodwind, balanced by glitchy electronica, dramatic crescendos and opium-infused oriental explorations; slow, meandering waltzes give way to moments of ethereal lightness and beauty. This music transcends fads and trends to appeal to anyone drawn to beautiful, supple songcraft. The majority of <em>Quarrels</em> was recorded over a four-day period during January 2012 in an isolated farmhouse in Western Australia’s bleak Central Wheatbelt. Instruments were sprawled across a lounge room and picked up at will by the players and in turn by microphones placed in different corners of the room. Back in Perth the real work began, with Justin Manzano going through the recordings, making adjustments and adding the odd track to the collection. Towards the end of 2012, the album was mixed by indie producer extraordinaire Scott Solter and mastered by Simon Struthers (Umpire, Muzaizake).\r\n<div></div>\r\n<div></div>\r\n<h4>Surry Hills EP</h4>\r\n<div></div>\r\n<iframe style=\"border: 0; width: 500px; height: 274px;\" src=\"http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=40892357/size=large/bgcol=333333/linkcol=ffffff/artwork=small/transparent=true/\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\" seamless=\"\"><a href=\"http://apricotrail.bandcamp.com/album/surry-hills-bonus-ep\">Surry Hills (Bonus EP) by Apricot Rail</a></iframe>\r\nJuly 2011\r\n<div></div>\r\nFeatures exclusive bonus tracks previously only available on a limited run cd-r available at the \'Surry Hills\' launch show. ‘Surry Hills’ is a stunning new song from the much-beloved Apricot Rail that gradually blooms from a shimmering haze of harmonics and ride cymbal into a delicious interweave of resonant guitars and woodwind melodies. The song’s restraint becomes its strength as the hairs on the back of your neck slowly rise. Inhabiting a similar sonic space to Sweden’s marvellous trio Tape, ‘Surry Hills’ is destined to garner a fresh new raft of fans for Apricot Rail’s addictive brand of melodic instrumental pop. After the success of their debut album, ideas for new Apricot Rail songs, including ‘Surry Hills’, were formulated during the band’s extended break late in 2009, after which the songs were road-tested live. While ‘Surry Hills’ maintains a minimalist, restrained and rustic feel typical of Apricot Rail’s debut album, the track also represents a shift in instrumental duties for the band, with new member (number 6!) Justin Manzano (Tin Man) playing guitar, Matt Saville moving from drums to glockenspiel, Daniel Burt moving from bass to percussion, and Jack Quirk moving from guitar to keyboards/electronics, along with Ambrose Nock on guitar and Mayuka Juber on flute.\r\n<div></div>\r\n<div></div>\r\n<h4>Apricot Rail (Self Titled)</h4>\r\n<div></div>\r\n<iframe style=\"border: 0; width: 500px; height: 472px;\" src=\"http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=110748402/size=large/bgcol=333333/linkcol=ffffff/artwork=small/transparent=true/\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\" seamless=\"\"><a href=\"http://apricotrail.bandcamp.com/album/apricot-rail\">Apricot Rail by Apricot Rail</a></iframe>\r\nJuly 2009\r\n<div></div>\r\nApricot Rail produce some of the most discretely charming, lush instrumental pop music you’re likely to hear all year. Delicate, bell-like arpeggiated guitars weave around snaking clarinet and flute, while the beautifully held back yet sanguine rhythm section drives the whole thing into a blurred, sun-soaked horizon. Their debut album features the wonderfully received single ‘Pouring Milk Out The Window’, an anthem without ever having to be anthemic, a melancholic reverie that never resorts to the emotional ease of sadness. ‘If You Can’t Join Them, Beat Them’, which featured on the 2009 Spunk Singles Club compilation album, is another chiming standout. And gorgeous closing track ‘Halfway House’ weaves in bubbling electronics as the band lead the listener through glowing landscapes and light-drenched vistas.\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"Bio\"]\r\n<h3>Biography</h3>\r\nOne day, after his star sign promised a ‘dynamic’ afternoon, Ambrose Nock (guitar) decided it was the right time to form a band known as Apricot Rail. He was soon joined by Jack Quirk (guitar), Matthew Saville (drums) and Daniel Burt (bass). The premise of the band was simple: music based on unique guitar tunings, the use of natural harmonics, and very open ideas about other instruments, electronica and song structure. After a debut gig at the Hyde Park Hotel in March 2008 with four members and as many songs, the band soon added a fifth in Mayuka Juber (clarinet/flute), redefining the balance of guitars with the addition of beautiful woodwind melodies.\r\n\r\nThe band’s debut recording was a DIY affair, with members heading off to a rural property near Yorkrakine, 220km north-east of Perth in WA’s Central Wheatbelt. In the following months, the resulting demo got regular rotation on Perth’s RTRFM, and though unreleased, was rated by the station’s Homegrown presenter Chris Wheeldon as his second-favourite local outing of 2008. In the second half of the year, Apricot Rail chalked up some serious gig mileage, along the way supporting the likes of Holly Throsby, Charge Group and Adam Said Galore and finding refuge among Perth’s emerging post-rock/experimental scene.\r\n\r\nIn November 2008 the band headed into Kingdom studios under the guidance of Simon Struthers (Umpire, Adam Said Galore, Mukaizake) where the band recorded their soon to be released self-titled debut long player. Australian fans got a chance to taste some of the new album’s sublime wares when the Apricot Rail track ‘If You Can’t Join Them, Beat Them’ was released on the prestigious Spunk Singles Club compilation album along with the likes of Leader Cheetah, The Dead Sea and The Middle East. The band was also recently nominated for Favourite Newcomer in the 2009 Western Australian Music Industry Awards.\r\n\r\nApricot Rail are:\r\nJack Quirk – Guitar, Glock, Trumpet, Electronica, Voice\r\nDaniel Burt – Bass guitar, Saxophone\r\nMatt Saville – Drum Kit/Percussion\r\nMayuka Juber – Clarinet, Flute, Keyboard, Melodica, Voice\r\nAmbrose Nock – Guitar, Glock, Keyboard\r\nJustin Manzano – Guitar, Electronics\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"News\"]\r\n<h3>News</h3>\r\n[catlist name=apricot-rail-news content=yes pagination=no title_tag=h4 title_class=lcp_title]\r\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\"><a title=\"Apricot Rail News\" href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/category/news/apricot-rail-news/\"><strong>More News</strong></a></p>\r\n[/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"Reviews\"]\r\n<h3>Reviews</h3>\r\n[catlist name=apricot-rail-reviews content=yes pagination=no title_tag=h4 title_class=lcp_title]\r\n<p style=\"text-align: right;\"><a title=\"Apricot Rail Reviews\" href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/category/reviews/apricot-rail-reviews/\"><strong>More Reviews</strong></a></p>\r\n[/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"Press Releases\"]\r\n<h3>Press Releases</h3>\r\n<a href=\"../../publicity/press-releases/HSR_Press_Release-Apricot_Rail-Dore_Strauch.pdf\">‘Dore Strauch’ Single + Video Release</a>\r\n\r\n<a href=\"../../publicity/press-releases/HSR_Press_Release-Apricot_Rail_Quarrels.pdf\"><em>Quarrels</em> Album Release</a>\r\n\r\n<a href=\"../../publicity/press-releases/HSR_Press_Release-Apricot_Rail-Surry_Hills_Single.pdf\">‘Surry Hills’ Single Release</a>\r\n\r\n<a href=\"../../publicity/press-releases/HSR_Press_Release-Apricot_Rail_Tin_Man_Remix.pdf\">Apricot Rail ‘Pouring Milk Out The Window (Tin Man Spilt Milk Remix)’ Single</a>\r\n\r\n<a href=\"../../publicity/press-releases/HSR_Press_Release-Apricot_Rail_Album.pdf\">Apricot Rail Self-Titled Debut Album </a>\r\n\r\n<a href=\"../../publicity/press-releases/HSR_Press_Release-Apricot_Rail_Signing.pdf\">Apricot Rail ‘Pouring Milk Out The Window’ Single </a>\r\n\r\n<a href=\"../../publicity/press-releases/HSR_Press_Release-Apricot_Rail_Signing.pdf\">Apricot Rail Sign to Hidden Shoal Recordings</a>\r\n[/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"Gallery\"]\r\n<h3>Artist Photos</h3>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n[gallery columns=\"4\" link=\"file\" ids=\"8576,8584,8585,8586,8587,8588,8589,8590,8591\"]\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"Video\"]\r\n<h3>Music Videos</h3>\r\n<iframe src=\"//www.youtube.com/embed/hBYJ6sdcvLo?rel=0\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"></iframe>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"//www.youtube.com/embed/VeTN3QNo2Ck?rel=0\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"></iframe>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"//www.youtube.com/embed/puWnzmHCPxA?rel=0\" width=\"420\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"></iframe>\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"Licensing\"]\r\n<h3>Licensing</h3>\r\nApricot Rail\'s music is  available for licensing (master &amp; sync cleared) through Hidden Shoal. Please <a title=\"Contact Us\" href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/contact-us/\">contact us</a> with some basic details about your project and the track(s) you wish to use and we’ll be sure to get back to you straight away.\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_tab][/et_pb_tabs][/et_pb_column_inner][/et_pb_row_inner][/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=\"1_4\"][et_pb_sidebar admin_label=\"Sidebar\" orientation=\"left\" area=\"sidebar-1\" background_layout=\"light\" module_id=\"shoalsidebar\" /][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_section]','Apricot Rail','','inherit','closed','closed','','8574-revision-v1','','','2016-10-03 09:23:31','2016-10-03 01:23:31','',8574,'http://www.hiddenshoal.com/8574-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(14971,1,'2016-10-03 13:38:44','2016-10-03 05:38:44','[et_pb_section fullwidth=\"off\" specialty=\"on\" background_color=\"#050505\" inner_shadow=\"off\" parallax=\"off\" parallax_method=\"css\"][et_pb_column type=\"3_4\" specialty_columns=\"3\"][et_pb_row_inner][et_pb_column_inner type=\"4_4\"][et_pb_text admin_label=\"Text\" background_layout=\"light\" text_orientation=\"left\"]\r\n<h1>Tangled Star</h1>\r\n<a href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Antonymes_1.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-9196\" src=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/T-Star_Band_Photo1-300x208.jpg\" alt=\"Tangled Star\" width=\"300\" height=\"208\" /></a><em>“<em>something that ripples, radiates and blossoms amid a dressage of shimmering keys and softly burnt riff cascades which had us much in mind of Hefner shimmying with the Clientele at times.</em>”</em> –<strong> Losing Today </strong>\r\n\r\nDistilling elements of indie rock and alt country married with Craig Hallsworth’s wonderful dust and liquor coated vocals and twisting lyrics, Tangled Star weaves their own magic place. Through the musics exultant shifts and wandering detours the band manages to make once familiar territory foreign and offset.\r\n<a href=\"https://geo.itunes.apple.com/us/artist/tangled-star/id205384613?at=11lRii&amp;mt=1&amp;app=music\"><img class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-12412\" src=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/badge_itunes-sm.png\" alt=\"iTunes\" width=\"44\" height=\"15\" /></a>  <a href=\"https://open.spotify.com/artist/6PMX3XZSJ4pAXq29rmSxEA\"><img class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-14396\" src=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/spotify.png\" alt=\"spotify\" width=\"20\" height=\"20\" /></a>\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider admin_label=\"Divider\" color=\"#ffffff\" show_divider=\"off\" /][et_pb_tabs admin_label=\"Artist Tabs\"][et_pb_tab title=\"Discography\"]\r\n<h3>Discography</h3>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h4>Let\'s Adjourn To The Garden</h4>\r\n<div></div>\r\n<iframe style=\"border: 0; width: 500px; height: 439px;\" src=\"http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=2116748307/size=large/bgcol=333333/linkcol=ffffff/artwork=small/transparent=true/\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\" seamless=\"\"><a href=\"http://tangled-star.bandcamp.com/album/lets-adjourn-to-the-garden\">Let\'s Adjourn to the Garden by Tangled Star</a></iframe>\r\nJune 2013\r\n<div></div>\r\n<em>Let’s Adjourn To The Garden</em> sees Craig Hallsworth’s Tangled Star project shift gears while continuing to distill the inimitable songcraft Hallsworth is so well known for. <em>Let’s Adjourn To The Garden</em> is, in typically contrarian fashion, their least bucolic offering yet, blending more driving power-pop flavours into their distinctive soup of song. Hallsworth’s wonderful dust-and-liquor-coated vocals and twisting lyrics combine with exultant shifts and melodic detours allowing the music to make once familiar territory somehow foreign and offset.\r\n\r\nTracks such as ‘Head In The Sand’ and ‘Hasn’t Made For Freedom’ streamline Tangled Star’s brilliant hooks and melodic turns into immediately addictive and electric slices of slow burn power-pop. ‘Attic Space Conversion #1’ exemplifies the band\'s compositional and stylistic shifts even more, stitching rousing ramshackle rock with almost Doors’esque cosmic guitar pop. And there amidst the fuzz and driving drums lay some quiet gems in the beautifully stripped back, drumless guitar pop of ‘99% Ok’ and ‘Someone’s Walking’. Just when you think you have the album pegged, the final track ‘Theme’ takes a left turn employing sweeping synths and electronic percussion in some sort of beatific yet melancholic final postcard to the world.\r\n<div></div>\r\n<div></div>\r\n<h4>That Time</h4>\r\n<div></div>\r\n<iframe style=\"border: 0; width: 500px; height: 274px;\" src=\"http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=3107117187/size=large/bgcol=333333/linkcol=ffffff/artwork=small/transparent=true/\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\" seamless=\"\"><a href=\"http://tangled-star.bandcamp.com/album/that-time\">That Time by Tangled Star</a></iframe>\r\nJune 2009\r\n<div></div>\r\n<em>That Time</em> sees Tangled Star at their most immediately accessible and deliciously hooky. Like a trapdoor spider hidden by a welcome doormat, the band lay an easy invitation to the unsuspecting listener, only to unleash a series of inimitable pop hooks and subtle detours. The EP typifies Tangled Star’s ability to craft songs that reveal fresh dimensions with each listen.\r\n\r\n<em>That Time</em> features the stunning single ‘seabirdtown’. The track opens with the expansive open-air sound of Pink Floyd-style organs and spatial guitars before falling into an earthbound shuffle and a taste of a lush, full-band sound for Tangled Star. The song’s gradual build to a towering edifice of glowing overdriven guitar, droning organ and harmony vocals is topped off by an echoed guitar line that sketches glistening arcs in the stratosphere. The single is indicative of <em>That Time</em>’s strengths as a louder, more flowing version of the melodic, evocative spaces of Tangled Star’s twilight pop songs.\r\n<div></div>\r\n<div></div>\r\n<h4>Our Man From Eden Hill</h4>\r\n<div></div>\r\n<iframe style=\"border: 0; width: 500px; height: 307px;\" src=\"http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=2416987741/size=large/bgcol=333333/linkcol=ffffff/artwork=small/transparent=true/\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\" seamless=\"\"><a href=\"http://tangled-star.bandcamp.com/album/our-man-in-eden-hill\">Our Man in Eden Hill by Tangled Star</a></iframe>\r\nFebruary 2008\r\n<div></div>\r\n<em>Our Man in Eden Hil</em>l sees Tangled Star building on their wonderfully received debut outing through Hidden Shoal, <em>It’s Now or Later</em>. Musically the EP toys with the frayed edges of country, pop and indie, while in part infusing a sense of space and possibility familiar to fans of the classic <em>Dark Side of the Moon</em>. As with their debut EP, <em>Our Man in Eden Hill</em>’s surface often belies its musical and emotional interior. Through its gentle shifts and directed detours, the EP manages to make once familiar territory foreign and offset. As chief songwriter and lyricist Craig Hallsworth explains,\r\n\r\n“If these songs are simple, they are only apparently so. To me, they are only beginning to really work when they are able to express a space of becoming... There are strange warnings and advice, mysterious imperatives and entreaties... I see the lyrics as working for and against themselves, as well as for and against the music, generating a plane of momentary, shifting affective states. There is comic desperation folded into offhand profundity. There is something depressing and defeating suddenly transformed into a rare kind of pleasure and privilege. There are secrets with nothing to hide. There is one last chance after another…” - Craig Hallsworth\r\n<div></div>\r\n<div></div>\r\n<h4>It\'s Now Or Later</h4>\r\n<div></div>\r\n<iframe style=\"border: 0; width: 500px; height: 340px;\" src=\"http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=1686875670/size=large/bgcol=333333/linkcol=ffffff/artwork=small/transparent=true/\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\" seamless=\"\"><a href=\"http://tangled-star.bandcamp.com/album/its-now-or-later\">It\'s Now or Later by Tangled Star</a></iframe>\r\nFebruary 2007\r\n<div></div>\r\n<em>It’s Now or Later</em> charts a journey across once familiar land yet through its exultant shifts and wandering detours manages to make everything feel new again. The album’s title talks to the wonderful paradox that is infused within each song both musically and lyrically. This is the apathetic’s guide to caring too much.\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"Bio\"]\r\n<h3>Biography</h3>\r\n<p align=\"justify\">In the late 90s, Outstation (Craig Hallsworth, guitars and singing; Jim Butterworth, bass; Jamie Hamilton, drums), a sonic monstrosity, began playing a lot of quiet tunes, and eventually turned into Tangled Star. Lorne Clements (Hammond Organ, Piano) became involved. Then Jamie Hamilton left, and was replaced by a drum machine, and Jim became its programmer.</p>\r\n<p align=\"justify\">The T-Star quietly went about its business for a few years in Jim’s back shed and in Lorne’s living room. They played only a handful of live shows, but recorded two albums with Alan Smith from Bergerk! Recordings – the self-titled debut, and It’s Now Or Later (to be released through Hidden Shoal Recordings November, 2006).</p>\r\n<strong>Craig Hallsworth:</strong>\r\nBorn 1964 in Collie South-West Western Australia – land that belongs to the Noongar People. Fatally infected with AM radio that plays constantly throughout childhood, in the house and in the car. Begins playing guitar and writing songs around 8 or 9 years of age. Magazines and records. Sitting alone in a room playing and singing into a cassette recorder. String of bands. Loses virginity after a gig at the Narrogin Hotel. Moves to Perth in the mid 80s upon completion of welding apprenticeship in the coal mines. Over next 15 years or so plays in The Bamboos, The Healers, wild palms, Zuvuya, Outstation, Tangled Star, as well as many solo performances and recordings. Currently writing an experimental book-length poem and playing in The Slow Beings.\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"News\"]\r\n<h3>News</h3>\r\n[catlist name=tangled-star-news content=yes pagination=no title_tag=h4 title_class=lcp_title][/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"Reviews\"]\r\n<h2>Reviews</h2>\r\n[catlist name=tangled-star-reviews content=yes pagination=no title_tag=h4 title_class=lcp_title][/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"Lyrics\"]\r\n<h3>Lyrics</h3>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h4>Let\'s Adjourn To The Garden</h4>\r\n<h5>Lyrics by Craig Hallsworth</h5>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h5>Crazy Bit O’ Truth</h5>\r\nso don’t build a stage so high\r\nway up to the sky\r\nand expect me to climb up there and play\r\nlike a dream it’s crashing down\r\nway down to the ground\r\nin the middle of the night I heard you leave\r\nyou can’t see where you’re going\r\nwho’s tugging at your sleeve\r\na sorcerer of death’s construction\r\nbaby you’re the last to know\r\nhard won insights turn into throwaway lines\r\nwell dressed gentlemen sidestep a dying world\r\nthen a cold calculating slob\r\nmeets a bitch with no illusions\r\natrocious pessimism\r\nwell I’ve never heard it called that before\r\nmaybe I’m the last to know\r\nit’s not so wonderful anymore\r\nso sorry children\r\nlife’s not beautiful anymore\r\nyour inheritance is grief\r\nyou might want to borrow a handkerchief\r\noh\r\nso they say they’re searching for the one\r\nwhose signs are in disarray and fading now\r\nso they say there are ten bottles of champagne\r\nin the car but we can’t remember where\r\nwe parked it now\r\nso they say they’re searching for the one\r\nwhose signs are in disarray and fading now\r\nso I say I’m cool with it\r\nI’m not trying to make the pieces fit\r\nI got a crazy bit o’ truth in my eye ...\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h5>In Bed With The Averys</h5>\r\ndo you want to know what’s stronger than death\r\nwhat always wakes up with wonderful breath\r\nand do you want to know what’s stranger than fiction\r\nand the facts of life put together?\r\nout of focus autumn branches\r\nrubbing against the sky\r\nshe’s at home in the kitchen with a stranger\r\nhe’s out catching a lady’s eye\r\nthe fricassee is burning\r\nand you’re in bed with the Averys\r\nooh ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh\r\nin bed with the Averys\r\nthey’ll introduce you to Figaro\r\nhis friends call him Mike\r\nthen you’ll meet Susan and Lydia\r\nwhat’s not to like?\r\nthere’s nothing they can’t study your face\r\nand not hint at\r\nnothing they won’t exactly deny\r\nuntil your mind is reeling\r\ncoz something in this world wants to kill you\r\nyou have no defence\r\nit gets in your head like the man said\r\nit makes perfect sense\r\nit’s black and white\r\nit’s as clear as it can be\r\nthen somehow it’s incomprehensible\r\nand you’re in bed with the Averys\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h5>Someone’s Walking</h5>\r\nsomeone’s free and someone’s got it together\r\nsomeone’s lost in someone’s head forever\r\nsomeone’s dead and someone’s dialling a number\r\nsomeone’s dreaming someone’s coming\r\nsomeone’s passing someone’s staring\r\nsomeone’s waiting someone’s walking home\r\nsomeone’s turning away\r\nsomeone’s just walking home\r\nsomeone’s famous someone’s youth is stolen\r\nsomeone’s cool and someone’s feet are aching\r\nsomeone’s bad and someone must be joking\r\nsomeone’s crying someone’s changing\r\nsomeone’s begging someone’s smoking\r\nsomeone’s searching someone’s walking home\r\nsomeone’s running way\r\nsomeone’s just walking home\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h5>Hasn\'t Made For Freedom</h5>\r\nit’s been all right for a change\r\nbut it hasn’t made for freedom\r\nthey’re hitting the bottle about it at least\r\nyou and I were restless dreamers\r\nin another life\r\nto tell the truth I’m falling asleep on a bus\r\nand it feels like someone else’s life\r\nand it’s all about capitalism\r\nit’s been all right for a change\r\nbut it hasn’t made for freedom\r\nas far as impulsive gestures go\r\ntaking your hand as we ride\r\ngazing out the window\r\nis right up there\r\nwith jumping off at a random stop\r\nas if I’m being followed\r\nand it’s all about patriotism\r\njust another eerie dawn\r\nI know what you mean\r\nbut how’re you gonna mean it all day?\r\noh yeah I know what you mean\r\nbut how’re you gonna make it pay?\r\njust another spooky coffee break\r\ntakes a plant to understand your longing\r\nand your pain\r\noh well I know what you mean\r\nthat doesn’t mean I’m not politely insane\r\nit was all right for a change\r\nbut it didn’t make for freedom\r\nit was the sun now it’s about to fall\r\nit was just an optical illusion\r\nand it wasn’t really there at all\r\ndon’t feel bad\r\nand don’t get crushed in the rush\r\nfor the experimental poem\r\nmy guess is it’s about capitalism\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h5>Painted Days</h5>\r\npainted days have found us\r\nin some seaside town\r\nwith the blinds pulled down\r\nlying low\r\nsupposing we mustn’t have died\r\nat 27\r\nwe must have lived\r\noh we must have lived after all\r\npainted doors have opened and closed\r\nand packages have arrived\r\nthere’s something mysterious about it\r\nbut ours is not to reason why\r\nours is but to squeeze the stuff\r\nout of a tube\r\nuntil it’s all used up\r\npainted whores have loved us\r\nand worried about our health\r\nwhen we didn’t deserve them at all\r\nthey never pushed us away\r\nand the things we would say\r\nwere just the things we would say\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h5>Attic Space Conversion # 1</h5>\r\nsend a beam of light into the world\r\nand pour the tea\r\nall your heroes were so lost\r\nwithout your penury\r\nand you were just this skinny little girl\r\nwho dug the sound\r\naudacity not veracity makes it all go ‘round\r\nnot everything with rings can be called hoop-la\r\nand the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty\r\nto Anastasia\r\nare they with us or against us?\r\nsend a ray of hope into the night\r\nand scrub the pan\r\nkeep a summer breeze inside a rusty old tin can\r\nbut to be more beautiful you have to concentrate\r\non the mystery\r\nlike a revolutionary becoming escaping\r\nall the failed revolutions of history\r\nhundreds of smiling people\r\nrode the silver tinselled escalators\r\none was a soft metal killer\r\nI remember I wasn’t feeling well\r\nI want to lose you in the morning\r\nin the deserted city\r\nI want to lie down any place\r\nand slowly forget your face\r\nI want to explain all of this\r\nbut not if it takes all night\r\nthis darkness is not endless\r\nonly everyone you know\r\nfilling their pockets full\r\nthis darkness is not endless\r\nonly anyone who knows you\r\nflying out for ...\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h5>99% OK</h5>\r\nit was 99% OK so I plucked it out of the air\r\n99% OK sounded better than only fair\r\nbut what about the darkness that spreads her wings\r\nand what about the darkness that makes her sing\r\nso what about the darkness that sips her wine\r\nso what about the darkness that makes her shine\r\nin a galaxy of faces\r\nin love and out of line\r\nthe vandal and the valentine\r\nforget that you and I were one\r\nforget what’s wrong with having fun\r\nhere’s to the tears that burn\r\nwe’re never to return\r\ndon’t break a heart and drop a hat\r\nthey’ve got servants here for that\r\nand though the names may change\r\na thief will call\r\njust to bring back the crystal ball\r\ndon’t you feel like a weathervane\r\nthat’s never known the wind and rain\r\nbut even psychics make mistakes my dear\r\nand bones point the way out of here\r\nforget that you and I were one\r\nforget the places in the sun\r\nhere’s to the tears that burn\r\nwe’re never to return\r\nforget when you and I were one\r\nthose days were like shots from a gun\r\nhere’s to the tears that burn\r\nwe’re never to return\r\ngo find someone to park your car\r\nand tell these dead men who you are\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h5>Head In The Sand</h5>\r\nso dry your thighs and don’t worry anymore\r\nlisten to all my outlandish proposals\r\nsmile when you slip through the cracks\r\ntake an abyss for a walk and never look back\r\nyou’ve got an hour to kill in the heat of the day\r\nhow many mornings are fresh and new\r\nand here you are wondering what to do\r\nshall I go against all my principles for you\r\nshall I draw a diagram or something?\r\nhow many nights do you feel like praying\r\nbut you never learned how to pray\r\nhow many nights do you feel like praying\r\nbut you wouldn’t know how to pray\r\nlike a rich man washing his hands\r\nyou had an hour to kill in the heat of the day\r\nan hour to kill in the heat of the day\r\nlike a daughter of this holy land\r\nbut don’t sleep with the messenger you understand\r\nthe carotid artery is severed as planned\r\nI can say I’m not burying my head in the sand\r\nI can say I’m not burying my head in the sand\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h5>Theme</h5>\r\nnow the wind picks up\r\nthe door creaks I think my cup\r\nis overflowing\r\na triumph of the human spirit\r\nto wake at 7\r\nand lie in bed until 11\r\nbring me your altered states\r\nand what exalts\r\nand bring to me your heaven\r\ndon’t wait for the ironic undercut\r\nnobody wants to wait for that today\r\nfor all anyone knows you really are\r\npassionate and driven\r\nyou’d go all the way to the mountain\r\nif only you could leave the room\r\nnow everything’s changing\r\nit’s like gazing through a splotch\r\non the window\r\nis anything behind everything\r\nis it wrong to wonder\r\nis it just to keep from going under?\r\nembrace the worthless life\r\nif it falls into your arms\r\nlet it reveal its charms\r\nso slowly\r\nyou’ll lose your taste for clever subtle things\r\nand I’ll go hungry analysing things\r\nI might decide to take up the guitar\r\nand there you are\r\nlet’s adjourn to the garden\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n<h4>Our Man In Eden Hill</h4>\r\n<h5>Lyrics by Craig Hallsworth</h5>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h5>tosleepingpeople</h5>\r\nDon’t say goodnight to sleeping people\r\nTell your secret to sleeping people\r\nNever wave from the platform to sleeping people\r\nFor all this may convey\r\n\r\nDon’t hang on the sighs of sleeping people\r\nTry to open the eyes of sleeping people\r\nFor that train is bound for sleeping people\r\nMany miles away\r\n\r\nThere’s a naked stranger stranded in the light\r\nOf the refrigerator in the dead of night\r\nToo strung out for an epiphany\r\nAnd a far-off whistle blowing\r\n\r\nSo don’t measure your dreams against sleeping people\r\nSing this song to sleeping people\r\nNever paint the faces of sleeping people\r\nBy the light of the moon\r\n\r\nOnce I met a punk rock girl with psychic powers\r\nShe told me that I had a lot of work to do\r\nThat this would eventually provide me\r\nWith a wealth of some description\r\nBut she didn’t say\r\nI’d give it all away\r\nTo sleeping people\r\nTo sleeping people\r\nTo sleeping people\r\nTo sleeping people\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h5>The Skaters</h5>\r\nAnd it’s oh so pure I know\r\nA chapeau of snow\r\nSo we melt away the hours\r\nCome to in a pool on the floor\r\n\r\nI no longer recall the song\r\nBut I can’t forget that introduction\r\nThere’s a name going around tonight\r\nTaking women and men\r\nDon’t you wonder how?\r\nAs if they want the same things\r\n\r\nLovers caught in a shower\r\nStepped out of a life\r\nThey no longer recall\r\nWhat they expected to find here\r\nWhat they dreamed of\r\nWhat they hung on the wall\r\nWhat they sang about\r\nWhat they sang about\r\nWhat they sang about\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h5>Sunny Day Losers #12 &amp; 35</h5>\r\nCourageous Cat lay around watching television\r\nEverything was all about how he just didn’t scare and\r\nBrother Ray and Miss Torso went out and got hammered in some dive\r\nSee them slumped on barstools\r\nTheir cowboy boots and long hair\r\nStanley and Oliver got divorced on a night in June\r\nBeulah peeled a grape and shut up shop for the afternoon\r\nGilles Deleuze was flying over an unheard-of Paree\r\nHe never lost any sleep over the likes of you and me\r\nThin Lizzy laughed and turned her face away\r\nOnce upon a time in the underground\r\nYou knew more people than I’ll ever forget\r\nWe passed it back and forth\r\nPerched upon that gentle mound\r\nOh we were feeling bad\r\nAbout a sunny day\r\nBecause the land needs rain …\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n<h5>Turn Me</h5>\r\nNo one to lock the door\r\nIf it wasn’t for these tattoos\r\nWouldn’t get anything about me\r\n\r\nRiding around’s the harder part\r\nAnd the sweeping views\r\nSomeone has no sense of mystery\r\n\r\nHow could I always be on this side?\r\nAs if there’s everywhere to hide\r\n\r\nFrom a glance before it’s lights out\r\nUp ahead before it’s lights out\r\nShow me again before it’s lights out\r\n\r\nTell me why\r\nThe blind eyes couldn’t turn me\r\nTell me why\r\nThe blind eyes couldn’t turn me\r\n\r\nHow could I always be on this side?\r\nAs if there’s nowhere left to hide\r\n\r\nIn this dream before it’s lights out\r\nSteal you one before it’s lights out\r\nBefore it’s lights out\r\nBefore it’s lights out\r\nBefore it’s lights out\r\nBefore it’s lights out\r\n\r\n<hr />\r\n\r\n<h5>The Waiter Is Deceased</h5>\r\nKids will play with a ball by the busy road\r\nWho’s that shadow boxing under the streetlight?\r\nMy cousins Desley and Altina are coming to stay for awhile\r\nThanks for last night\r\nIf anything it wasn’t dark enough\r\nIt wasn’t dark enough\r\n\r\nA conversation between the unheard and the unseen\r\nWhen a world butts in\r\n\r\nAudrey Hepburn was the last to sing Happy Birthday to JFK\r\nNot Marilyn Monroe\r\n\r\nJanet Leigh was the last to sing Chariot Choogle in the shower\r\nBut baby you know who you are\r\n\r\nAll the barnyard academics that never waste an emotion\r\nNever waste an emotion\r\nNever waste an emotion\r\nNever waste an emotion\r\n\r\nAs the mist leaves no tip on the bright pink hill\r\nSo my body irons a shirt\r\n\r\nOh where is the city we loved that made us pay\r\nSo dearly for one small mistake\r\n\r\nSo we live and learn that there is always more to earn\r\nThat there is more in a foreign bank account\r\n\r\nCan I pinch another beer oh lugubrious beauty?\r\nCan no one else show me?\r\nCan no one else show me?\r\nCan no one else show me?\r\n\r\nWhat is this thing called paparazzi?\r\nWhat’s its shame? What’s its claim to fame?\r\n\r\nShall we leave you in the parking lot pushing coins into a slot?\r\nIt’s no crime take your time\r\n\r\nBut the news travels fast that the secret of a man is nothing\r\nIn truth nothing at all\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"Gallery\"]\r\n<h3>Artist Photos</h3>\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n[gallery columns=\"2\" ids=\"9201,9196\"]\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"Video\"]\r\n<h3>Music Videos</h3>\r\nNo videos yet, sorry!\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"Licensing\"]\r\n<h3>Licensing</h3>\r\nTangled Star\'s music is  available for licensing (master &amp; sync cleared) through Hidden Shoal. Please <a title=\"Contact Us\" href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/contact-us/\">contact us</a> with some basic details about your project and the track(s) you wish to use and we’ll be sure to get back to you straight away.\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_tab][/et_pb_tabs][/et_pb_column_inner][/et_pb_row_inner][/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=\"1_4\"][et_pb_sidebar admin_label=\"Sidebar\" orientation=\"left\" area=\"sidebar-1\" background_layout=\"light\" module_id=\"shoalsidebar\" /][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_section]','Tangled Star','','inherit','closed','closed','','9181-revision-v1','','','2016-10-03 13:38:44','2016-10-03 05:38:44','',9181,'http://www.hiddenshoal.com/9181-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(14972,1,'2016-10-03 15:18:53','2016-10-03 07:18:53','[et_pb_section fullwidth=\"off\" specialty=\"on\" background_color=\"#050505\" inner_shadow=\"off\" parallax=\"off\" parallax_method=\"css\"][et_pb_column type=\"3_4\" specialty_columns=\"3\"][et_pb_row_inner][et_pb_column_inner type=\"4_4\"][et_pb_text admin_label=\"Text\" background_layout=\"light\" text_orientation=\"left\"]\r\n<h1>REW&lt;&lt;</h1>\r\n<a href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/Antonymes_1.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft  wp-image-12065\" src=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/IMG_7455-1-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"Ryan Weber\" width=\"245\" height=\"184\" /></a> <em>“has a feel all its own... These concise little songs are continually expanding and contracting, demonstrating how even seemingly minor mixing changes can stir a big emotional impact”</em> – <strong>Express Milwaukee</strong>\r\n\r\nThe eclectic songcraft of REW&lt;&lt; (Ryan E. Weber) is refracted through the lens of a laptop, conveying the open-endedness, excitement, and disconnection of post-modern living while maintaining the immediacy of pop. From the grand to the intimate, REW&lt;&lt;’s many shades blend beautifully within the one canvas thanks to Weber’s skilled hand. His compositional dexterity manages to invest the dreaminess with a sense of drama, no more evident than in REW&lt;&lt;’s sophomore release <i>Olive Skinned, Silver Tongued Sirens Sing Swan Songs</i>.\r\n\r\n<strong><a title=\"Facebook\" href=\"https://www.facebook.com/REWsongs\" target=\"_blank\"><img class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-8763\" src=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Facebook.png\" alt=\"Facebook\" width=\"26\" height=\"20\" /></a>  <a title=\"Twitter\" href=\"https://twitter.com/REW_music\" target=\"_blank\"><img class=\"alignnone wp-image-8766 size-full\" src=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Twitter.png\" alt=\"Twitter\" width=\"26\" height=\"20\" /></a>  <a title=\"SoundCloud\" href=\"https://soundcloud.com/rew-10\" target=\"_blank\"><img class=\"alignnone wp-image-8764 size-full\" src=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/SoundCloud.png\" alt=\"SoundCloud\" width=\"26\" height=\"20\" /></a>  <a title=\"Website\" href=\"http://rew-songs.tumblr.com/\" target=\"_blank\"><img class=\"alignnone wp-image-8767 size-full\" src=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Website.png\" alt=\"Website\" width=\"26\" height=\"20\" /></a>  <a href=\"https://geo.itunes.apple.com/au/album/olive-skinned-silver-tongued/id995342762?at=11lRii&amp;mt=1&amp;app=music\"><img class=\"alignnone wp-image-12412 size-full\" src=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/badge_itunes-sm.png\" alt=\"iTunes\" width=\"44\" height=\"15\" /></a>\r\n</strong>\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_text][et_pb_divider admin_label=\"Divider\" color=\"#ffffff\" show_divider=\"off\" /][et_pb_tabs admin_label=\"Artist Tabs\"][et_pb_tab title=\"Discography\"]<h3>Discography</h3><p> <br />  </p><h4>Olive Skinned, Silver Tongued Sirens Sing Swan Songs</h4><div> </div><p><iframe style=\"border: 0; width: 500px; height: 472px;\" src=\"http://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=3158289214/size=large/bgcol=333333/linkcol=ffffff/artwork=small/transparent=true/\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\" seamless=\"\"><a href=\"http://rew-music.bandcamp.com/album/olive-skinned-silver-tongued-sirens-sing-swan-songs\">Olive Skinned, Silver Tongued Sirens Sing Swan Songs by REW&lt;&lt;</a></iframe> <br />July 2015</p><p>On <em>Olive Skinned, Silver Tongued Sirens Sing Swan Songs</em>, the eclectic songcraft of REW&lt;&lt; (Ryan E. Weber) is refracted through the lens of a laptop, conveying the open-endedness, excitement and disconnection of post-modern living while maintaining the immediacy of pop. From the grand to the intimate, REW&lt;&lt;’s many shades blend beautifully within the one canvas thanks to Weber’s skilled hand. His compositional dexterity manages to invest the album’s dreaminess with a sense of drama. From shimmering, widescreen electronic pop to haunting, minimal ballads, REW&lt;&lt; traverses dizzyingly varied terrain across the album’s 30 minutes, crafting a vivid journey that demands repeat visits.</p>[/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"Bio\"]\r\n<h3>Biography</h3>\r\nREW<< is the solo moniker of Ryan E. Weber, who originally hails from the Western shores of Lake Michigan. His previous bands include Camden, The Promise Ring and Decibully, and he is one half of dream-pop duo Eric & Magill. Working on Eric & Magill releases while living in both Kenya and the Republic of Armenia, Weber collaborated over the internet with a host of notable contemporary indie artists, including members of Shearwater, The Dirty Projectors, Owen, Volcano Choir and The Delgados. In 2014 he released his acclaimed debut solo album as REW<<, <i>Departeures. </i>His new album <i>Olive Skinned, Silver Tongued Sirens Sing Swan Songs</i> is his debut for Hidden Shoal.\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"News\"]\r\n<h3>News</h3>\r\n[catlist name=rew-news content=yes pagination=no title_tag=h4 title_class=lcp_title] [/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"Reviews\"]\r\n<h2>Reviews</h2>\r\n[catlist name=rew-reviews content=yes pagination=no title_tag=h4 title_class=lcp_title] [/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"Press Releases\"]\r\n<h3>Press Releases</h3>\r\nNo press releases yet, sorry.\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"Gallery\"]\r\n<h3>Artist Photos</h3>\r\n \r\n\r\n[gallery ids=\"12068,12065\"]\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"Video\"]<h3>Music Videos</h3>\r\n\r\n<iframe width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/iHI3Mw9lONo?rel=0\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen></iframe>\r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/V0kb_0PnuM4?rel=0\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"></iframe>   \r\n\r\n<iframe src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/l-C86OxiQzY?rel=0\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"></iframe> \r\n  \r\n<iframe src=\"https://www.youtube.com/embed/mN_Q4kEt5mI?rel=0\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"></iframe>[/et_pb_tab][et_pb_tab title=\"Licensing\"]\r\n<h3>Licensing</h3>\r\nREW\'s music is  available for licensing (master & sync cleared) through Hidden Shoal. Please <a title=\"Contact Us\" href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/contact-us/\">contact us</a> with some basic details about your project and the track(s) you wish to use and we’ll be sure to get back to you straight away.\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_tab][/et_pb_tabs][/et_pb_column_inner][/et_pb_row_inner][/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=\"1_4\"][et_pb_sidebar admin_label=\"Sidebar\" orientation=\"left\" area=\"sidebar-1\" background_layout=\"light\" module_id=\"shoalsidebar\" /][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_section]','REW<<','','inherit','closed','closed','','12063-revision-v1','','','2016-10-03 15:18:53','2016-10-03 07:18:53','',12063,'http://www.hiddenshoal.com/12063-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(14974,1,'2016-10-03 17:34:21','2016-10-03 09:34:21','[et_pb_section][et_pb_row][et_pb_column type=\"3_4\"][et_pb_text admin_label=\"Text\" background_layout=\"light\" text_orientation=\"left\"]\r\n<h1>Contact Us</h1>\r\nWant to talk to someone at Hidden Shoal? We’d love to hear from you! If you\'re inquiring about licensing some of our wonderful music then please provide some basic details about your project and the track(s) you wish to use. We\'re also always happy to pitch music if you don\'t have any specific tracks in mind as yet.  We\'ll be sure to get back to you straight away and can turn licenses around as quickly as your project requires.\r\n\r\nSame thing goes for media and general inquiries - hit us up below and we\'ll hit you back!\r\n\r\n<strong>Please Note:</strong> We are not currently accepting music submissions/demos.\r\n\r\n[si-contact-form form=\'1\']\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=\"1_4\"][et_pb_sidebar admin_label=\"Sidebar\" orientation=\"left\" area=\"sidebar-1\" background_layout=\"light\" /][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]','Contact Us','','inherit','closed','closed','','7944-revision-v1','','','2016-10-03 17:34:21','2016-10-03 09:34:21','',7944,'http://www.hiddenshoal.com/7944-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(14973,1,'2016-10-03 17:30:44','2016-10-03 09:30:44','[et_pb_section][et_pb_row][et_pb_column type=\"3_4\"][et_pb_text admin_label=\"Text\" background_layout=\"light\" text_orientation=\"left\"]\r\n<h1>Contact Us</h1>\r\nWant to talk to someone at Hidden Shoal? We’d love to hear from you! If you\'re inquiring about licensing some of our wonderful music then please provide some basic details about your project and the track(s) you wish to use. We\'re also always happy to pitch music if you don\'t have any specific tracks in mind as yet.  We\'ll be sure to get back to you straight away and can turn licenses around as quickly as your project requires.\r\n\r\nIf you\'re an artist and would like to submit work for us to listen to then please provide a link to stream a selection of your material along with a full download of the music you\'d like to submit. It\'s important to understand that we are not a traditional label so please have a read <a title=\"Who We Are\" href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/who-we-are/\" target=\"_blank\">here</a> to get a better idea of how we work. Please note that we do receive a lot of demos and while we do try to listen to everything we get sent, we are unable to get back to everyone. It\'s no lack of love, just lack of time.\r\n\r\n<strong>Please Note:</strong> We are not currently accepting music submissions.\r\n\r\n[si-contact-form form=\'1\']\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=\"1_4\"][et_pb_sidebar admin_label=\"Sidebar\" orientation=\"left\" area=\"sidebar-1\" background_layout=\"light\" /][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]','Contact Us','','inherit','closed','closed','','7944-revision-v1','','','2016-10-03 17:30:44','2016-10-03 09:30:44','',7944,'http://www.hiddenshoal.com/7944-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(14975,1,'2016-10-03 17:36:16','2016-10-03 09:36:16','[et_pb_section][et_pb_row][et_pb_column type=\"3_4\"][et_pb_text admin_label=\"Text\" background_layout=\"light\" text_orientation=\"left\"]\r\n<h1>Contact Us</h1>\r\nWant to talk to someone at Hidden Shoal? We’d love to hear from you! If you\'re inquiring about licensing some of our wonderful music then please provide some basic details about your project and the track(s) you wish to use. We\'re also always happy to pitch music if you don\'t have any specific tracks in mind as yet.  We\'ll be sure to get back to you straight away and can turn licenses around as quickly as your project requires.\r\n\r\nSame thing goes for media and general enquiries - hit us up below and we\'ll hit you back!\r\n\r\n<strong>Please Note:</strong> We are not currently accepting music submissions/demos.\r\n\r\n[si-contact-form form=\'1\']\r\n\r\n[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=\"1_4\"][et_pb_sidebar admin_label=\"Sidebar\" orientation=\"left\" area=\"sidebar-1\" background_layout=\"light\" /][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][/et_pb_section]','Contact Us','','inherit','closed','closed','','7944-revision-v1','','','2016-10-03 17:36:16','2016-10-03 09:36:16','',7944,'http://www.hiddenshoal.com/7944-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(14977,1,'2016-10-05 08:21:12','2016-10-05 00:21:12','<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><a href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/GHO-web-photo-1_2000x2000-b.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft wp-image-14204 size-medium\" src=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/GHO-web-photo-1_2000x2000-b-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"Grant Hazard Outerbridge\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" /></a>On his debut album as <a title=\"Memorybell\" href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/project/memorybell/\">Memorybell</a>, Grant Hazard Outerbridge delivered an abject lesson in need versus want. <a href=\"https://memorybell.bandcamp.com/album/obsolete\"><em>Obsolete</em></a> is more than a simple minimalist document, indeed it could be argued that Outerbridge\'s deft touch and innate sense of time make each of its sparse notes laden with import. As if each successive strike of hammer on piano wire were the only thing in the world... until the next. So it\'s no surprise that Outerbridge is as much a thinker as a \"feeler\" when it comes to his musical work. In this utterly engaging interview the lovely Wagner Hertzog sat down with the artist and covered everything from Marvin Gaye to transient global amnesia. A truly great read.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Many thanks to Wagner and Grant for their time and efforts in making this happen.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"></p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>WH: You have been playing music for decades. Was the concept for Memorybell already in your mind before you started working on this music, or is it a more recent artistic project?</strong></p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>GHO: </strong>Memorybell is a very recent project. I wanted to focus on ambient music following the release of <em>Genus Euphony</em>, but the way this album came into being was decidedly unplanned.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">I had been composing, shaping, and reshaping 20 or so songs but could never quite get them to feel the way I wanted them to. After I got out of the hospital, playing the songs was a uniquely unpleasant experience. They sounded awful to me and I had trouble remembering why I had written them in the first place. When a song felt wrong, I either threw it away completely, or focused exclusively on its essence (often just one or two chords) and explored that as granularly as I could.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">My close creative collaborator from The Very Hush Hush, Peter Bo Rappmund, had heard most of the songs in various stages of their composition. When I was able to play these new, post-amnesia versions for him he strongly urged me to release the record under a new name. The songs were so different from anything I’d ever recorded that it made sense that they be the start of a new project.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"></p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>WH: What are your main influences and sources of inspiration?</strong></p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>GHO: </strong>It sounds odd, but a lot of my musical ideas come from mundane objects. There is a particularly pleasant sound that the metal vent in the roof of my house makes when it lightly rains outside. In my old neighborhood, there was an old row house whose laundry exhaust whistled beautifully whenever it was in use. I could listen to the sounds of an oscillating fan all day long.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">I enjoy sitting still and listening to the world, though it’s far too loud for me. This is one reason why I’m drawn to expansive silences. I draw an immense amount of inspiration and solace from the quiet that descends during a snowfall.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Less esoteric and more to the point, I find the following works very influential (in no particular order):</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Marvin Gaye – <em>What’s Going On\r\n</em>Air – <em>Moon Safari\r\n</em>Billy Holiday – <em>Solitude\r\n</em>Gas – <em>Pop\r\n</em>Yo La Tengo – <em>And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out\r\n</em>Stars of the Lid – <em>The Tired Sounds of Stars of the Lid</em></p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"></p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>WH: You seem interested in exploring extreme minimalism in your music, creating a slow, surreal experience for the listener. How did you come to develop such a style?</strong></p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>GHO: </strong>When I was studying classical music I was most attracted to dissonant passages. These “sour” notes and chords represented for me a warmer, more interesting way of approaching musical expression. I would sit for hours playing a single passage over and over, slow it down, and make subtle changes to it. As I grew older, I looked forward to this monastic repetition far more than completing whichever increasingly difficult piece of music I was learning.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Starting in the early 2000s, I played bass in The Very Hush Hush. Like the piano, my method of approaching the bass has changed over the years but, even back then, I was more concerned with playing the most interesting note than playing the root. One well-placed note can heighten anticipation in ways little else can.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">My ears most want to hear what happens in the moments after a note is played before it dissolves into silence. That tension is powerful and shaping that tension is my primary concern.</p>\r\n<iframe src=\"https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/258791233&amp;color=000000&amp;auto_play=false&amp;hide_related=true&amp;show_comments=false&amp;show_user=true&amp;show_reposts=false\" width=\"100%\" height=\"166\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\"></iframe>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"></p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>WH: In terms of your creative processes, are you driven by your technique, or do you let your emotions drive your composing and arranging? Or is it a combination of both?</strong></p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>GHO: </strong>Emotion is the driving force behind my music.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">To my ears, technique is only as useful as one’s ability to use it to express emotion. Technique for its own sake does little for me.  It’s not that I don’t admire accomplished musicians, I do; I fully understand the time and dedication it takes to become an accomplished musician. But when technique becomes the focal point music becomes hollow. There is a whole spectrum of emotional experiences to be had while listening to music and feeling awe at someone’s ability is only one.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">When I compose a new song, I try to keep my mind blank. Turn off my brain. Focus on what I’m feeling and sensing. What do I hear? What do I smell? Taste? I often begin with my eyes closed and open them once something interesting has presented itself. From there, repetition and manipulation of time and silence. How best to amplify what I’m feeling in the moment? What is the simplest way to say what needs to be said?</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"></p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>WH: Is there is a special place or time that you write music?</strong></p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>GHO: </strong>There used to be, but now I’m restricted to when my toddler son is either asleep or out of the house. Otherwise, he’ll come bounding from wherever he is and start mashing the keys. Adorable and amazing, but not conducive to thoughtful creation. I’m lucky if I get an uninterrupted chunk of 20 minutes per day.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><a href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/DALLAS_SESSIONS-5.jpg\"><img class=\"alignright wp-image-14983\" src=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/DALLAS_SESSIONS-5-300x195.jpg\" alt=\"Obsolete Recording Sessions (Dallas)\" width=\"299\" height=\"194\" /></a>Place is an interesting problem with the piano. You’re stuck wherever the piano is. My work around for this used to be scribbling ideas in a notebook, studying them when I couldn’t be at a piano, etc. Now, unless I’m particularly inspired and one of my 20-minute mini-sessions produces something more-or-less fully formed, I’ll hold a strong phrase in my mind for as long as I have to until I have time to explore it at the piano.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">This results in a kind of fermentation. The most emotive part of an idea tends to become stronger, while the less necessary, more ancillary bits float off. This won’t always be my song writing process but, considering my 2 year-old just had a baby brother, I don’t see it changing in the near future.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"></p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>WH: How do you work on individual songs? Do they keep evolving as you experiment with them over time, or do you find it quick and easy to finish each piece?</strong></p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>GHO: </strong>It depends on the song. Many songs are vague and gauzy at the start and I have to sit with them for a while before they reveal themselves to me. I try not to force anything onto them, just wait for whatever emotion it was that drove me to sit down at the piano to come out. Sometimes this process is quick, other times it is glacial. It took 14 years for ‘Somnolent’ to become what it is.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">That’s an aberrant example, though. Most songs take on average 2-3 years before I finally leave them be. So, at any given time, the batch of songs I’m working on tend to have been initially conceived several years previous.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Occasionally, a song will emerge and I can’t figure out how to improve it. Those are always happy moments, though infrequent. I quite enjoy the long, slow evolution of a song. When one is finished, it may sound quite unlike it did in its infancy.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"></p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>WH: In regards to your artistic process, are you a perfectionist, or more of a relaxed creator?</strong></p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>GHO: </strong>A complete and utter perfectionist, though I’m trying to let that go. My compromise is to direct my perfectionist tendencies toward my process rather than toward my music, to stay dedicated to giving the songs room to breathe, to grow, to change. Rather than try to force the songs to be something I want them to be, I allow them to be what they are. Even if I don’t like the end result, being true to the process feels like being true to my nature.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The most important part of my process is letting go. Ego can be a useful tool, in crafting personae, in pushing yourself, but I find it a barrier to making meaningful music. My best songwriting comes after I’ve processed whatever drove me to write a song in the first place. What remains after the dust settles.</p>\r\n<iframe src=\"https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/259067782&amp;color=000000&amp;auto_play=false&amp;hide_related=true&amp;show_comments=false&amp;show_user=true&amp;show_reposts=false\" width=\"100%\" height=\"166\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\"></iframe>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"></p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>WH: Silence, and the ambiguity it evokes, plays an important role in your music. Is this aspect of your music planned, or do you improvise?</strong></p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>GHO: </strong>Very much planned, as much as one can plan silence.  I can never predict the affect any given length of silence will have, so I conduct tests. Do I add a single beat here? A measure of seven? Thirteen? It’s a little like introducing oneself to a strange animal.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">As consumers of popular music our ears have been trained to expect predictability in regards to rhythm. 4/4 and 3/4 dominate the sonic landscape. The ghost of the Western classical music tradition is persistent. The purposeful shirking of predictable time signatures is a good thing but if not approached carefully it can estrange the casual listener.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">When I shape the silence in my songs, I pay close attention to what my ears want. Then I give them something else. Unusual time signatures often do the trick, but I try not to employ them for their own sake. Sometimes a standard time signature alternated with an irregular or changing amount of silence has a magical effect. The ultimate test is if someone can’t tell that a song is in 17/8 or 13/4.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The ideal is to make the unexpected feel natural.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"></p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>WH: Can you tell us about your experience of transient global amnesia and how it influenced the creation of this album.</strong></p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>GHO: </strong>In late February of 2014 my first son was two weeks old. He was curled up with my wife on the couch and I left to meet up with some friends. We had a couple of beers and I made my way home. It was lightly snowing.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">I walked in the house and my wife and son were still curled up on the couch. I took my son upstairs, swaddled him and put him in his crib, and put on my headphones.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><a href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/DALLAS_SESSIONS-3-1.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft wp-image-14986 size-medium\" src=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/DALLAS_SESSIONS-3-1-300x195.jpg\" alt=\"Obsolete Recording Sessions (Dallas)\" width=\"300\" height=\"195\" /></a>I woke up in a hospital roughly ten hours later on a gurney, obscenely bright fluorescent lights flashing over my face. I saw my wife and asked, “What am I doing here?” She patiently recounted the story of how I had come into our bedroom saying I couldn’t remember where I had been, what I had done, the people I had been with; how she had called the police, to whom I had apparently been quite charming and funny, who in turn summoned an ambulance that brought me to the hospital.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">My poor wife told me this story over forty times before it stuck. Tests were run; EKGs, MRIs, CAT scans, toxicology screens. At one point, a group of medical students with clipboards surrounded my bed.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Throughout it all, my wife sat holding our absurdly small son wondering if I’d had some sort of stroke.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">I was diagnosed with Transient Global Amnesia, which is, maddeningly, a diagnosis by exclusion. Once everything else has been ruled out, that’s what you get, a rare condition about which little is known. Extreme stress, sleep deprivation, and excessive physical exertion are thought to be the triggers.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The effect was as if a bomb had gone off in my brain. All memories months into the past and future were turned to glass.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The tests showed an increased sensitivity to light and sound. This proved problematic with a small baby at the house. I was given to carrying earplugs and noise-cancelling headphones with me for diaper changes. Going outside without sunglasses triggered a migraine. A screaming police siren triggered a migraine. A teakettle triggered a migraine. A loud sneeze triggered a migraine.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">I quit my job. The thought of trudging through that soulless routine coupled with my new condition caused me so much anxiety I couldn’t function.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">I was home all the time. When my son was sleeping, I had to do something. When my son was at day care, I had to do something. When I couldn’t sleep, I had to do something. I turned to the piano.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The songs I had been working on for the previous few years sounded like boxes of broken glass. Some of them literally gave me headaches. To heal, I picked them apart, focused on the parts that were soothing, that felt right, and threw out what remained. I reshaped them, let them ring out into silence, and created something new.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"></p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>WH: Did you know beforehand that you were writing songs specifically for this album, or did you choose from songs that had already been written?</strong></p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>GHO: </strong>I chose from songs I had previously written, but completely altered them, post-amnesia. I had a concept for an album I had been pursuing before I awoke in the hospital. That’s the raw material to which I returned</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">At the time, it was important to me to force the issue, to make the collection of songs work even if they felt wrong. That’s when I really started focusing on silence. I threw out the superfluous, ornamental bits and chiseled the songs to their core. Then I wrapped them in silence.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"></p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>WH: The title of the album, <em>Obsolete</em>, is very evocative. How did you settle on this title, and what does it mean to you?</strong></p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>GHO: </strong>I really don’t like titling my own songs. When I do, they’re almost always non-sequiturs. I reached out to an old friend, gave him the raw, un-mastered tracks and asked him to title the songs. He suggested the title track be named “Requiem for Obsolete Technology.” A great song name, to be sure, but I felt single word song titles were more apropos, given my editing method and interest in silence.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><a href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Obsolete-Cover-Art.jpg\"><img class=\"alignright wp-image-14571 size-medium\" src=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Obsolete-Cover-Art-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"Obsolete\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" /></a>In general, I often feel like I was born a couple hundred years too late. The world is the loudest it has ever been, and for someone who craves quiet it is a struggle to remain focused amongst the head-splitting sounds of squealing brakes, screaming people, crackling electric lines, and wailing sirens. I like to imagine what the world must have sounded like before the industrial revolution.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Actually finding a quiet place is becoming more difficult. I live in Denver, Colorado and the legalization of marijuana, along with our city’s policy of being as inviting as possible for new businesses, has created an immense influx of people. City streets are jammed beyond capacity, and what used to be an easy drive into the mountains has become an arduous chore. Hiking trails are as clogged as motorways. Landmarks are being vandalized.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Quiet places are vanishing. So I create them in music.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"></p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>WH: Did you work on the songs for <em>Obsolete</em> individually or collectively? The titles of the songs suggest a link between them.</strong></p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>GHO: </strong>The songs I ended up including on <em>Obsolete</em> were originally written at completely different times. The only thing they had in common was the fact they were the ones I had been drawn to in the years and months leading up to my amnesia. When I slowed them down and picked them apart after my return from the hospital, I noticed new patterns and arranged their order on the album accordingly. I rarely worked on one song at a time. I typically shaped the whole set of songs at once. If I made a severe edit on one, it often let to a complementary edit on another.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">I touched on this earlier, but I find naming my own songs difficult. My natural inclination is to be abstract and sarcastic with names, but I felt it would be a disservice to the honest and existential nature of these songs to name them so. The titles of the songs are representative of various themes that were woven through my life when I reworked them. Koan is inspired by the Richard Brautigan poem, “Karma Repair Kit, Parts 1-4.” Ambulator is in reference to the Max Frisch novel, <em>Man in the Holocene</em>.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Both of these speak to me on a level that is difficult to articulate. “Karma Repair Kit” is a reminder to be still and accepting. Not of anything in particular, but of everything in general. <em>Man in the Holocene</em> is a meditation on loneliness and struck a note within me during my recovery, despite the fact I read it a very long time ago; it just bubbled up out of my mind.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The other song titles are fairly literal and loosely based on my friend’s suggestions. 2014 was unequivocally the worst year of my life. The amnesia wasn’t even the most difficult struggle, but I’m not going to elaborate. The songs are my way of processing what happened.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"></p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>WH: What’s the main intent behind your music? What are you trying to communicate to your listeners?</strong></p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>GHO: </strong>That sitting still, especially when it is uncomfortable, is important; that the act of listening, whether it’s active or passive, is important. It slows down your thoughts, so you can spend time with them. Depending on your type of mind or life situation, that may not be desirable, but then it is all the more impactful.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Modern city life is fast and loud. We run around from place to place, from work to home, from the gym to the grocery store, checking our watches or phones, making sure we don’t miss appointments; little of that matters to our internal lives. We focus so intently on what we have to do that we rarely stop to think what we would like to do. Or what we should do, not only for our own happiness but also for our own mental health.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Slow down and take a nap. Memorybell can help.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"></p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>WH: Do you have a lot of unreleased songs?</strong></p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>GHO: </strong>I rarely make a proper recording until I’m satisfied that I have a cohesive collection of songs. I have a few songs that didn’t make the cut for <em>Obsolete</em>, but if I do anything with them, I’ll probably chop them up and use parts of them in another project. I’ve reworked one song that didn’t fit the way I wished it had for <em>Obsolete</em> and will most likely include it on the next record.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">I don’t have a lot of unreleased material but I do, however, have a lot of unrecorded material. I don’t write any musical ideas down, I just run the songs through my head over and over. I have several albums worth of songs in various stages of completion floating in my brain. Sometimes I’ll carry a song around for years before I return to it. One song I’ve been working on for 19 years and it still hasn’t fully revealed its mysteries to me. My approach is that if something is worth recording, I’ll remember it. Thankfully, the part of my brain that stores my musical ideas seems largely unaffected by my amnesia.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"></p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>WH: Are you currently working on something? What can we expect next from Memorybell?</strong></p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>GHO: </strong>I’ve had my fill of reworking old material for the moment. I’m moving forward with my new approach and writing an album from scratch. It’s very freeing, and my process has quickened; I’ve let go of thinking of any given idea as precious, as worthy of meticulous appreciation. If something doesn’t feel right, it’s gone. If some essence of it sticks around, then it has merit and will find a place in some different form. It’s a looser and faster method than I’ve ever used before. I’m halfway done with the follow-up to <em>Obsolete</em>. The songs still breathe slowly and are still melodic, but it’s somehow…different.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><a href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/GHO-web-photo-2_2000x2000-a.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft wp-image-15012\" src=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/GHO-web-photo-2_2000x2000-a-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"Memorybell\" width=\"183\" height=\"183\" /></a>My main obstacle is lack of time. I have a 2 year-old and a newborn at home (both boys) and, unlike when I wrote <em>Obsolete</em>, I am now gainfully employed. My time to write is limited to naptime, or those rare occasions when I’m home alone. I’m finding it helps, actually. I carry around the songs in my head, tweak them, try different arrangements, and then when I finally have the time to play them and test my ideas out, the good ideas tend to present themselves more or less immediately.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Whatever comes next will be looser and more organic.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">---</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Memorybell\'s debut album <em>Obsolete</em> is available now through Hidden Shoal. Head to the artist\'s <a title=\"Memorybell\" href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/project/memorybell/\" target=\"_blank\">profile </a>for all links and more info.</p>\r\n<iframe style=\"border: 0; width: 500px; height: 406px;\" src=\"https://bandcamp.com/EmbeddedPlayer/album=4101987488/size=large/bgcol=333333/linkcol=ffffff/artwork=small/transparent=true/\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\" seamless=\"\"><a href=\"http://memorybell.bandcamp.com/album/obsolete\">Obsolete by Memorybell</a></iframe>','The Spaces Between: An Interview with Memorybell','','publish','closed','closed','','the-spaces-between-an-interview-with-memorybell','','','2016-10-05 11:07:54','2016-10-05 03:07:54','',0,'http://www.hiddenshoal.com/?p=14977',0,'post','',0),(14978,1,'2016-10-04 13:36:05','2016-10-04 05:36:05','&nbsp;\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>You have been playing music for decades. Was the concept for Memorybell already in your mind before you started working on this music, or is it a more recent artistic project?</strong>\r\n\r\nMemorybell is a very recent project. I wanted to focus on ambient music following the release of <em>Genus Euphony</em>, but the way this album came into being was decidedly unplanned.\r\n\r\nI had been composing, shaping, and reshaping 20 or so songs but could never quite get them to feel the way I wanted them to. After I got out of the hospital, playing the songs was a uniquely unpleasant experience. They sounded awful to me and I had trouble remembering why I had written them in the first place. When a song felt wrong, I either threw it away completely, or focused exclusively on its essence (often just one or two chords) and explored that as granularly as I could.\r\n\r\nMy close creative collaborator from The Very Hush Hush, Peter Bo Rappmund, had heard most of the songs in various stages of their composition. When I was able to play these new, post-amnesia versions for him he strongly urged me to release the record under a new name. The songs were so different from anything I’d ever recorded that it made sense that they be the start of a new project.\r\n\r\n<em> </em>\r\n\r\n<strong>What are your main influences and sources of inspiration?</strong>\r\n\r\nIt sounds odd, but a lot of my musical ideas come from mundane objects. There is a particularly pleasant sound that the metal vent in the roof of my house makes when it lightly rains outside. In my old neighborhood, there was an old row house whose laundry exhaust whistled beautifully whenever it was in use. I could listen to the sounds of an oscillating fan all day long.\r\n\r\nI enjoy sitting still and listening to the world, though it’s far too loud for me. This is one reason why I’m drawn to expansive silences. I draw an immense amount of inspiration and solace from the quiet that descends during a snowfall.\r\n\r\nLess esoteric and more to the point, I find the following works very influential (in no particular order):\r\n\r\nMarvin Gaye – <em>What’s Going On\r\n</em>Air – <em>Moon Safari\r\n</em>Billy Holiday – <em>Solitude\r\n</em>Gas – <em>Pop\r\n</em>Yo La Tengo – <em>And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out\r\n</em>Stars of the Lid – <em>The Tired Sounds of Stars of the Lid</em>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>You seem interested in exploring extreme minimalism in your music, creating a slow, surreal experience for the listener. How did you come to develop such a style?</strong>\r\n\r\nWhen I was studying classical music I was most attracted to dissonant passages. These “sour” notes and chords represented for me a warmer, more interesting way of approaching musical expression. I would sit for hours playing a single passage over and over, slow it down, and make subtle changes to it. As I grew older, I looked forward to this monastic repetition far more than completing whichever increasingly difficult piece of music I was learning.\r\n\r\nStarting in the early 2000s, I played bass in The Very Hush Hush. Like the piano, my method of approaching the bass has changed over the years but, even back then, I was more concerned with playing the most interesting note than playing the root. One well-placed note can heighten anticipation in ways little else can.\r\n\r\nMy ears most want to hear what happens in the moments after a note is played before it dissolves into silence. That tension is powerful and shaping that tension is my primary concern.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>In terms of your creative processes, are you driven by your technique, or do you let your emotions drive your composing and arranging? Or is it a combination of both?</strong>\r\n\r\nEmotion is the driving force behind my music.\r\n\r\nTo my ears, technique is only as useful as one’s ability to use it to express emotion. Technique for its own sake does little for me.  It’s not that I don’t admire accomplished musicians, I do; I fully understand the time and dedication it takes to become an accomplished musician. But when technique becomes the focal point music becomes hollow. There is a whole spectrum of emotional experiences to be had while listening to music and feeling awe at someone’s ability is only one.\r\n\r\nWhen I compose a new song, I try to keep my mind blank. Turn off my brain. Focus on what I’m feeling and sensing. What do I hear? What do I smell? Taste? I often begin with my eyes closed and open them once something interesting has presented itself. From there, repetition and manipulation of time and silence. How best to amplify what I’m feeling in the moment? What is the simplest way to say what needs to be said?\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Is there is a special place or time that you write music?</strong>\r\n\r\nThere used to be, but now I’m restricted to when my toddler son is either asleep or out of the house. Otherwise, he’ll come bounding from wherever he is and start mashing the keys. Adorable and amazing, but not conducive to thoughtful creation. I’m lucky if I get an uninterrupted chunk of 20 minutes per day.\r\n\r\nPlace is an interesting problem with the piano. You’re stuck wherever the piano is. My work around for this used to be scribbling ideas in a notebook, studying them when I couldn’t be at a piano, etc. Now, unless I’m particularly inspired and one of my 20-minute mini-sessions produces something more-or-less fully formed, I’ll hold a strong phrase in my mind for as long as I have to until I have time to explore it at the piano.\r\n\r\nThis results in a kind of fermentation. The most emotive part of an idea tends to become stronger, while the less necessary, more ancillary bits float off. This won’t always be my song writing process but, considering my 2 year old just had a baby brother, I don’t see it changing in the near future.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>How do you work on individual songs? Do they keep evolving as you experiment with them over time, or do you find it quick and easy to finish each piece?</strong>\r\n\r\nIt depends on the song. Many songs are vague and gauzy at the start and I have to sit with them for a while before they reveal themselves to me. I try not to force anything onto them, just wait for whatever emotion it was that drove me to sit down at the piano to come out. Sometimes this process is quick, other times it is glacial. It took 14 years for ‘Somnolent’ to become what it is.\r\n\r\nThat’s an aberrant example, though. Most songs take on average 2-3 years before I finally leave them be. So, at any given time, the batch of songs I’m working on tend to have been initially conceived several years previous.\r\n\r\nOccasionally, a song will emerge and I can’t figure out how to improve it. Those are always happy moments, though infrequent. I quite enjoy the long, slow evolution of a song. When one is finished, it may sound quite unlike it did in its infancy.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>In regards to your artistic process, are you a perfectionist, or more of a relaxed creator?</strong>\r\n\r\nA complete and utter perfectionist, though I’m trying to let that go. My compromise is to direct my perfectionist tendencies toward my process rather than toward my music, to stay dedicated to giving the songs room to breathe, to grow, to change. Rather than try to force the songs to be something I want them to be, I allow them to be what they are. Even if I don’t like the end result, being true to the process feels like being true to my nature.\r\n\r\nThe most important part of my process is letting go. Ego can be a useful tool, in crafting personae, in pushing yourself, but I find it a barrier to making meaningful music. My best songwriting comes after I’ve processed whatever drove me to write a song in the first place. What remains after the dust settles.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Silence, and the ambiguity it evokes, plays an important role in your music. Is this aspect of your music planned, or do you improvise?</strong>\r\n\r\nVery much planned, as much as one can plan silence.  I can never predict the affect any given length of silence will have, so I conduct tests. Do I add a single beat here? A measure of seven? Thirteen? It’s a little like introducing oneself to a strange animal.\r\n\r\nAs consumers of popular music our ears have been trained to expect predictability in regards to rhythm. 4/4 and 3/4 dominate the sonic landscape. The ghost of the Western classical music tradition is persistent. The purposeful shirking of predictable time signatures is a good thing but if not approached carefully it can estrange the casual listener.\r\n\r\nWhen I shape the silence in my songs, I pay close attention to what my ears want. Then I give them something else. Unusual time signatures often do the trick, but I try not to employ them for their own sake. Sometimes a standard time signature alternated with an irregular or changing amount of silence has a magical effect. The ultimate test is if someone can’t tell that a song is in 17/8 or 13/4.\r\n\r\nThe ideal is to make the unnatural feel natural.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Can you tell us about your experience of transient global amnesia and how it influenced the creation of this album.</strong>\r\n\r\nIn late February of 2014 my first son was two weeks old. He was curled up with my wife on the couch and I left to meet up with some friends. We had a couple of beers and I made my way home. It was lightly snowing.\r\n\r\nI walked in the house and my wife and son were still curled up on the couch. I took my son upstairs, swaddled him and put him in his crib, and put on my headphones.\r\n\r\nI woke up in a hospital roughly ten hours later on a gurney, obscenely bright fluorescent lights flashing over my face. I saw my wife and asked, “What am I doing here?” She patiently recounted the story of how I had come into our bedroom saying I couldn’t remember where I had been, what I had done, the people I had been with; how she had called the police, to whom I had apparently been quite charming and funny, who in turn summoned an ambulance that brought me to the hospital.\r\n\r\nMy poor wife told me this story over forty times before it stuck. Tests were run; EKGs, MRIs, CAT scans, toxicology screens. At one point, a group of medical students with clipboards surrounded my bed.\r\n\r\nThroughout it all, my wife sat holding our absurdly small son wondering if I’d had some sort of stroke.\r\n\r\nI was diagnosed with Transient Global Amnesia, which is, maddeningly, a diagnosis by exclusion. Once everything else has been ruled out, that’s what you get, a rare condition about which little is known. Extreme stress, sleep deprivation, and excessive physical exertion are thought to be the triggers.\r\n\r\nThe effect was as if a bomb had gone off in my brain. All memories months into the past and future were turned to glass.\r\n\r\nThe tests showed an increased sensitivity to light and sound. This proved problematic with a small baby at the house. I was given to carrying earplugs and noise-cancelling headphones with me for diaper changes. Going outside without sunglasses triggered a migraine. A screaming police siren triggered a migraine. A teakettle triggered a migraine. A loud sneeze triggered a migraine.\r\n\r\nI quit my job. The thought of trudging through that soulless routine coupled with my new condition caused me so much anxiety I couldn’t function.\r\n\r\nI was home all the time. When my son was sleeping, I had to do something. When my son was at day care, I had to do something. When I couldn’t sleep, I had to do something. I turned to the piano.\r\n\r\nThe songs I had been working on for the previous few years sounded like boxes of broken glass. Some of them literally gave me headaches. To heal, I picked them apart, focused on the parts that were soothing, that felt right, and threw out what remained. I reshaped them, let them ring out into silence, and created something new.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Did you know beforehand that you were writing songs specifically for this album, or did you choose from songs that had already been written?</strong>\r\n\r\nI chose from songs I had previously written, but completely altered them, post-amnesia. I had a concept for an album I had been pursuing before I awoke in the hospital. That’s the raw material to which I returned\r\n\r\nAt the time, it was important to me to force the issue, to make the collection of songs work even if they felt wrong. That’s when I really started focusing on silence. I threw out the superfluous, ornamental bits and chiseled the songs to their core. Then I wrapped them in silence.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>The title of the album, <em>Obsolete</em>, is very evocative. How did you settle on this title, and what does it mean to you?</strong>\r\n\r\nI really don’t like titling my own songs. When I do, they’re almost always non-sequiturs. I reached out to an old friend, gave him the raw, un-mastered tracks and asked him to title the songs. He suggested the title track be named “Requiem for Obsolete Technology.” A great song name, to be sure, but I felt single word song titles were more apropos, given my editing method and interest in silence.\r\n\r\nIn general, I often feel like I was born a couple hundred years too late. The world is the loudest it has ever been, and for someone who craves quiet it is a struggle to remain focused amongst the head-splitting sounds of squealing brakes, screaming people, crackling electric lines, and wailing sirens. I like to imagine what the world must have sounded like before the industrial revolution.\r\n\r\nActually finding a quiet place is becoming more difficult. I live in Denver, Colorado and the legalization of marijuana, along with our city’s policy of being as inviting as possible for new businesses, has created an immense influx of people. City streets are jammed beyond capacity, and what used to be an easy drive into the mountains has become an arduous chore. Hiking trails are as clogged as motorways. Landmarks are being vandalized.\r\n\r\nQuiet places are vanishing. So I create them in music.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Did you work on the songs for <em>Obsolete</em> individually or collectively? The titles of the songs suggest a link between them.</strong>\r\n\r\nThe songs I ended up including on <em>Obsolete</em> were originally written at completely different times. The only thing they had in common was the fact they were the ones I had been drawn to in the years and months leading up to my amnesia. When I slowed them down and picked them apart after my return from the hospital, I noticed new patterns and arranged their order on the album accordingly. I rarely worked on one song at a time. I typically shaped the whole set of songs at once. If I made a severe edit on one, it often let to a complementary edit on another.\r\n\r\nI touched on this earlier, but I find naming my own songs difficult. My natural inclination is to be abstract and sarcastic with names, but I felt it would be a disservice to the honest and existential nature of these songs to name them so. The titles of the songs are representative of various themes that were woven through my life when I reworked them. Koan is inspired by the Richard Brautigan poem, “Karma Repair Kit, Parts 1-4.” Ambulator is in reference to the Max Frisch novel, <em>Man in the Holocene</em>.\r\n\r\nBoth of these speak to me on a level that is difficult to articulate. “Karma Repair Kit” is a reminder to be still and accepting. Not of anything in particular, but of everything in general. <em>Man in the Holocene</em> is a meditation on loneliness and struck a note within me during my recovery, despite the fact I read it a very long time ago; it just bubbled up out of my mind.\r\n\r\nThe other song titles are fairly literal and loosely based on my friend’s suggestions. 2014 was unequivocally the worst year of my life. The amnesia wasn’t even the most difficult struggle, but I’m not going to elaborate. The songs are my way of processing what happened.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>What’s the main intent behind your music? What are you trying to communicate to your listeners?</strong>\r\n\r\nThat sitting still, especially when it is uncomfortable, is important; that the act of listening, whether it’s active or passive, is important. It slows down your thoughts, so you can spend time with them. Depending on your type of mind or life situation, that may not be desirable, but then it is all the more impactful.\r\n\r\nModern city life is fast and loud. We run around from place to place, from work to home, from the gym to the grocery store, checking our watches or phones, making sure we don’t miss appointments; little of that matters to our internal lives. We focus so intently on what we have to do that we rarely stop to think what we would like to do. Or what we should do, not only for our own happiness but also for our own mental health.\r\n\r\nSlow down and take a nap. Memorybell can help.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Do you have a lot of unreleased songs?</strong>\r\n\r\nI rarely make a proper recording until I’m satisfied that I have a cohesive collection of songs. I have a few songs that didn’t make the cut for <em>Obsolete</em>, but if I do anything with them, I’ll probably chop them up and use parts of them in another project. I’ve reworked one song that didn’t fit the way I wished it had for <em>Obsolete</em> and will most likely include it on the next record.\r\n\r\nI don’t have a lot of unreleased material but I do, however, have a lot of unrecorded material. I don’t write any musical ideas down, I just run the songs through my head over and over. I have several albums worth of songs in various stages of completion floating in my brain. Sometimes I’ll carry a song around for years before I return to it. One song I’ve been working on for 19 years and it still hasn’t fully revealed its mysteries to me. My approach is that if something is worth recording, I’ll remember it. Thankfully, the part of my brain that stores my musical ideas seems largely unaffected by my amnesia.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Are you currently working on something? What can we expect next from Memorybell?</strong>\r\n\r\nI’ve had my fill of reworking old material for the moment. I’m moving forward with my new approach and writing an album from scratch. It’s very freeing, and my process has quickened; I’ve let go of thinking of any given idea as precious, as worthy of meticulous appreciation. If something doesn’t feel right, it’s gone. If some essence of it sticks around, then it has merit and will find a place in some different form. It’s a looser and faster method than I’ve ever used before. I’m halfway done with the follow-up to <em>Obsolete</em>. The songs still breathe slowly and are still melodic, but it’s somehow…different.\r\n\r\nMy main obstacle is lack of time. I have a 2½ year-old and a newborn at home (both boys) and, unlike when I wrote <em>Obsolete</em>, I am now gainfully employed. My time to write is limited to naptime, or those rare occasions when I’m home alone. I’m finding it helps, actually. I carry around the songs in my head, tweak them, try different arrangements, and then when I finally have the time to play them and test my ideas out, the good ideas tend to present themselves more or less immediately.\r\n\r\nWhatever comes next will be looser and more organic.','The Spaces Between: An Interview with Memorybell','','inherit','closed','closed','','14977-revision-v1','','','2016-10-04 13:36:05','2016-10-04 05:36:05','',14977,'http://www.hiddenshoal.com/14977-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(14979,1,'2016-10-04 13:54:17','2016-10-04 05:54:17','On his debut album as Memorybell, Grant Hazard Outerbridge delivered an abject lesson in need versus want. <em>Obsolete</em> is more than a simple minimalist document, indeed it could be argued that Outerbridge\'s deft touch an innate sense of time make each of it\'s sparse notes laden with import. As if each successive strike of hammer on piano wire was the only thing in the world... until the next. So it\'s no surprise that Outerbridge is as much a thinker as a \"feeler\" when it comes to his musical work. In this utterly engaging interview the lovely Wagner Hertzog sat down with the artist and uncovered history, influences, process, the effects of amnesia on\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>You have been playing music for decades. Was the concept for Memorybell already in your mind before you started working on this music, or is it a more recent artistic project?</strong>\r\n\r\nMemorybell is a very recent project. I wanted to focus on ambient music following the release of <em>Genus Euphony</em>, but the way this album came into being was decidedly unplanned.\r\n\r\nI had been composing, shaping, and reshaping 20 or so songs but could never quite get them to feel the way I wanted them to. After I got out of the hospital, playing the songs was a uniquely unpleasant experience. They sounded awful to me and I had trouble remembering why I had written them in the first place. When a song felt wrong, I either threw it away completely, or focused exclusively on its essence (often just one or two chords) and explored that as granularly as I could.\r\n\r\nMy close creative collaborator from The Very Hush Hush, Peter Bo Rappmund, had heard most of the songs in various stages of their composition. When I was able to play these new, post-amnesia versions for him he strongly urged me to release the record under a new name. The songs were so different from anything I’d ever recorded that it made sense that they be the start of a new project.\r\n\r\n<em> </em>\r\n\r\n<strong>What are your main influences and sources of inspiration?</strong>\r\n\r\nIt sounds odd, but a lot of my musical ideas come from mundane objects. There is a particularly pleasant sound that the metal vent in the roof of my house makes when it lightly rains outside. In my old neighborhood, there was an old row house whose laundry exhaust whistled beautifully whenever it was in use. I could listen to the sounds of an oscillating fan all day long.\r\n\r\nI enjoy sitting still and listening to the world, though it’s far too loud for me. This is one reason why I’m drawn to expansive silences. I draw an immense amount of inspiration and solace from the quiet that descends during a snowfall.\r\n\r\nLess esoteric and more to the point, I find the following works very influential (in no particular order):\r\n\r\nMarvin Gaye – <em>What’s Going On\r\n</em>Air – <em>Moon Safari\r\n</em>Billy Holiday – <em>Solitude\r\n</em>Gas – <em>Pop\r\n</em>Yo La Tengo – <em>And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out\r\n</em>Stars of the Lid – <em>The Tired Sounds of Stars of the Lid</em>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>You seem interested in exploring extreme minimalism in your music, creating a slow, surreal experience for the listener. How did you come to develop such a style?</strong>\r\n\r\nWhen I was studying classical music I was most attracted to dissonant passages. These “sour” notes and chords represented for me a warmer, more interesting way of approaching musical expression. I would sit for hours playing a single passage over and over, slow it down, and make subtle changes to it. As I grew older, I looked forward to this monastic repetition far more than completing whichever increasingly difficult piece of music I was learning.\r\n\r\nStarting in the early 2000s, I played bass in The Very Hush Hush. Like the piano, my method of approaching the bass has changed over the years but, even back then, I was more concerned with playing the most interesting note than playing the root. One well-placed note can heighten anticipation in ways little else can.\r\n\r\nMy ears most want to hear what happens in the moments after a note is played before it dissolves into silence. That tension is powerful and shaping that tension is my primary concern.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>In terms of your creative processes, are you driven by your technique, or do you let your emotions drive your composing and arranging? Or is it a combination of both?</strong>\r\n\r\nEmotion is the driving force behind my music.\r\n\r\nTo my ears, technique is only as useful as one’s ability to use it to express emotion. Technique for its own sake does little for me.  It’s not that I don’t admire accomplished musicians, I do; I fully understand the time and dedication it takes to become an accomplished musician. But when technique becomes the focal point music becomes hollow. There is a whole spectrum of emotional experiences to be had while listening to music and feeling awe at someone’s ability is only one.\r\n\r\nWhen I compose a new song, I try to keep my mind blank. Turn off my brain. Focus on what I’m feeling and sensing. What do I hear? What do I smell? Taste? I often begin with my eyes closed and open them once something interesting has presented itself. From there, repetition and manipulation of time and silence. How best to amplify what I’m feeling in the moment? What is the simplest way to say what needs to be said?\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Is there is a special place or time that you write music?</strong>\r\n\r\nThere used to be, but now I’m restricted to when my toddler son is either asleep or out of the house. Otherwise, he’ll come bounding from wherever he is and start mashing the keys. Adorable and amazing, but not conducive to thoughtful creation. I’m lucky if I get an uninterrupted chunk of 20 minutes per day.\r\n\r\nPlace is an interesting problem with the piano. You’re stuck wherever the piano is. My work around for this used to be scribbling ideas in a notebook, studying them when I couldn’t be at a piano, etc. Now, unless I’m particularly inspired and one of my 20-minute mini-sessions produces something more-or-less fully formed, I’ll hold a strong phrase in my mind for as long as I have to until I have time to explore it at the piano.\r\n\r\nThis results in a kind of fermentation. The most emotive part of an idea tends to become stronger, while the less necessary, more ancillary bits float off. This won’t always be my song writing process but, considering my 2 year old just had a baby brother, I don’t see it changing in the near future.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>How do you work on individual songs? Do they keep evolving as you experiment with them over time, or do you find it quick and easy to finish each piece?</strong>\r\n\r\nIt depends on the song. Many songs are vague and gauzy at the start and I have to sit with them for a while before they reveal themselves to me. I try not to force anything onto them, just wait for whatever emotion it was that drove me to sit down at the piano to come out. Sometimes this process is quick, other times it is glacial. It took 14 years for ‘Somnolent’ to become what it is.\r\n\r\nThat’s an aberrant example, though. Most songs take on average 2-3 years before I finally leave them be. So, at any given time, the batch of songs I’m working on tend to have been initially conceived several years previous.\r\n\r\nOccasionally, a song will emerge and I can’t figure out how to improve it. Those are always happy moments, though infrequent. I quite enjoy the long, slow evolution of a song. When one is finished, it may sound quite unlike it did in its infancy.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>In regards to your artistic process, are you a perfectionist, or more of a relaxed creator?</strong>\r\n\r\nA complete and utter perfectionist, though I’m trying to let that go. My compromise is to direct my perfectionist tendencies toward my process rather than toward my music, to stay dedicated to giving the songs room to breathe, to grow, to change. Rather than try to force the songs to be something I want them to be, I allow them to be what they are. Even if I don’t like the end result, being true to the process feels like being true to my nature.\r\n\r\nThe most important part of my process is letting go. Ego can be a useful tool, in crafting personae, in pushing yourself, but I find it a barrier to making meaningful music. My best songwriting comes after I’ve processed whatever drove me to write a song in the first place. What remains after the dust settles.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Silence, and the ambiguity it evokes, plays an important role in your music. Is this aspect of your music planned, or do you improvise?</strong>\r\n\r\nVery much planned, as much as one can plan silence.  I can never predict the affect any given length of silence will have, so I conduct tests. Do I add a single beat here? A measure of seven? Thirteen? It’s a little like introducing oneself to a strange animal.\r\n\r\nAs consumers of popular music our ears have been trained to expect predictability in regards to rhythm. 4/4 and 3/4 dominate the sonic landscape. The ghost of the Western classical music tradition is persistent. The purposeful shirking of predictable time signatures is a good thing but if not approached carefully it can estrange the casual listener.\r\n\r\nWhen I shape the silence in my songs, I pay close attention to what my ears want. Then I give them something else. Unusual time signatures often do the trick, but I try not to employ them for their own sake. Sometimes a standard time signature alternated with an irregular or changing amount of silence has a magical effect. The ultimate test is if someone can’t tell that a song is in 17/8 or 13/4.\r\n\r\nThe ideal is to make the unnatural feel natural.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Can you tell us about your experience of transient global amnesia and how it influenced the creation of this album.</strong>\r\n\r\nIn late February of 2014 my first son was two weeks old. He was curled up with my wife on the couch and I left to meet up with some friends. We had a couple of beers and I made my way home. It was lightly snowing.\r\n\r\nI walked in the house and my wife and son were still curled up on the couch. I took my son upstairs, swaddled him and put him in his crib, and put on my headphones.\r\n\r\nI woke up in a hospital roughly ten hours later on a gurney, obscenely bright fluorescent lights flashing over my face. I saw my wife and asked, “What am I doing here?” She patiently recounted the story of how I had come into our bedroom saying I couldn’t remember where I had been, what I had done, the people I had been with; how she had called the police, to whom I had apparently been quite charming and funny, who in turn summoned an ambulance that brought me to the hospital.\r\n\r\nMy poor wife told me this story over forty times before it stuck. Tests were run; EKGs, MRIs, CAT scans, toxicology screens. At one point, a group of medical students with clipboards surrounded my bed.\r\n\r\nThroughout it all, my wife sat holding our absurdly small son wondering if I’d had some sort of stroke.\r\n\r\nI was diagnosed with Transient Global Amnesia, which is, maddeningly, a diagnosis by exclusion. Once everything else has been ruled out, that’s what you get, a rare condition about which little is known. Extreme stress, sleep deprivation, and excessive physical exertion are thought to be the triggers.\r\n\r\nThe effect was as if a bomb had gone off in my brain. All memories months into the past and future were turned to glass.\r\n\r\nThe tests showed an increased sensitivity to light and sound. This proved problematic with a small baby at the house. I was given to carrying earplugs and noise-cancelling headphones with me for diaper changes. Going outside without sunglasses triggered a migraine. A screaming police siren triggered a migraine. A teakettle triggered a migraine. A loud sneeze triggered a migraine.\r\n\r\nI quit my job. The thought of trudging through that soulless routine coupled with my new condition caused me so much anxiety I couldn’t function.\r\n\r\nI was home all the time. When my son was sleeping, I had to do something. When my son was at day care, I had to do something. When I couldn’t sleep, I had to do something. I turned to the piano.\r\n\r\nThe songs I had been working on for the previous few years sounded like boxes of broken glass. Some of them literally gave me headaches. To heal, I picked them apart, focused on the parts that were soothing, that felt right, and threw out what remained. I reshaped them, let them ring out into silence, and created something new.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Did you know beforehand that you were writing songs specifically for this album, or did you choose from songs that had already been written?</strong>\r\n\r\nI chose from songs I had previously written, but completely altered them, post-amnesia. I had a concept for an album I had been pursuing before I awoke in the hospital. That’s the raw material to which I returned\r\n\r\nAt the time, it was important to me to force the issue, to make the collection of songs work even if they felt wrong. That’s when I really started focusing on silence. I threw out the superfluous, ornamental bits and chiseled the songs to their core. Then I wrapped them in silence.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>The title of the album, <em>Obsolete</em>, is very evocative. How did you settle on this title, and what does it mean to you?</strong>\r\n\r\nI really don’t like titling my own songs. When I do, they’re almost always non-sequiturs. I reached out to an old friend, gave him the raw, un-mastered tracks and asked him to title the songs. He suggested the title track be named “Requiem for Obsolete Technology.” A great song name, to be sure, but I felt single word song titles were more apropos, given my editing method and interest in silence.\r\n\r\nIn general, I often feel like I was born a couple hundred years too late. The world is the loudest it has ever been, and for someone who craves quiet it is a struggle to remain focused amongst the head-splitting sounds of squealing brakes, screaming people, crackling electric lines, and wailing sirens. I like to imagine what the world must have sounded like before the industrial revolution.\r\n\r\nActually finding a quiet place is becoming more difficult. I live in Denver, Colorado and the legalization of marijuana, along with our city’s policy of being as inviting as possible for new businesses, has created an immense influx of people. City streets are jammed beyond capacity, and what used to be an easy drive into the mountains has become an arduous chore. Hiking trails are as clogged as motorways. Landmarks are being vandalized.\r\n\r\nQuiet places are vanishing. So I create them in music.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Did you work on the songs for <em>Obsolete</em> individually or collectively? The titles of the songs suggest a link between them.</strong>\r\n\r\nThe songs I ended up including on <em>Obsolete</em> were originally written at completely different times. The only thing they had in common was the fact they were the ones I had been drawn to in the years and months leading up to my amnesia. When I slowed them down and picked them apart after my return from the hospital, I noticed new patterns and arranged their order on the album accordingly. I rarely worked on one song at a time. I typically shaped the whole set of songs at once. If I made a severe edit on one, it often let to a complementary edit on another.\r\n\r\nI touched on this earlier, but I find naming my own songs difficult. My natural inclination is to be abstract and sarcastic with names, but I felt it would be a disservice to the honest and existential nature of these songs to name them so. The titles of the songs are representative of various themes that were woven through my life when I reworked them. Koan is inspired by the Richard Brautigan poem, “Karma Repair Kit, Parts 1-4.” Ambulator is in reference to the Max Frisch novel, <em>Man in the Holocene</em>.\r\n\r\nBoth of these speak to me on a level that is difficult to articulate. “Karma Repair Kit” is a reminder to be still and accepting. Not of anything in particular, but of everything in general. <em>Man in the Holocene</em> is a meditation on loneliness and struck a note within me during my recovery, despite the fact I read it a very long time ago; it just bubbled up out of my mind.\r\n\r\nThe other song titles are fairly literal and loosely based on my friend’s suggestions. 2014 was unequivocally the worst year of my life. The amnesia wasn’t even the most difficult struggle, but I’m not going to elaborate. The songs are my way of processing what happened.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>What’s the main intent behind your music? What are you trying to communicate to your listeners?</strong>\r\n\r\nThat sitting still, especially when it is uncomfortable, is important; that the act of listening, whether it’s active or passive, is important. It slows down your thoughts, so you can spend time with them. Depending on your type of mind or life situation, that may not be desirable, but then it is all the more impactful.\r\n\r\nModern city life is fast and loud. We run around from place to place, from work to home, from the gym to the grocery store, checking our watches or phones, making sure we don’t miss appointments; little of that matters to our internal lives. We focus so intently on what we have to do that we rarely stop to think what we would like to do. Or what we should do, not only for our own happiness but also for our own mental health.\r\n\r\nSlow down and take a nap. Memorybell can help.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Do you have a lot of unreleased songs?</strong>\r\n\r\nI rarely make a proper recording until I’m satisfied that I have a cohesive collection of songs. I have a few songs that didn’t make the cut for <em>Obsolete</em>, but if I do anything with them, I’ll probably chop them up and use parts of them in another project. I’ve reworked one song that didn’t fit the way I wished it had for <em>Obsolete</em> and will most likely include it on the next record.\r\n\r\nI don’t have a lot of unreleased material but I do, however, have a lot of unrecorded material. I don’t write any musical ideas down, I just run the songs through my head over and over. I have several albums worth of songs in various stages of completion floating in my brain. Sometimes I’ll carry a song around for years before I return to it. One song I’ve been working on for 19 years and it still hasn’t fully revealed its mysteries to me. My approach is that if something is worth recording, I’ll remember it. Thankfully, the part of my brain that stores my musical ideas seems largely unaffected by my amnesia.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Are you currently working on something? What can we expect next from Memorybell?</strong>\r\n\r\nI’ve had my fill of reworking old material for the moment. I’m moving forward with my new approach and writing an album from scratch. It’s very freeing, and my process has quickened; I’ve let go of thinking of any given idea as precious, as worthy of meticulous appreciation. If something doesn’t feel right, it’s gone. If some essence of it sticks around, then it has merit and will find a place in some different form. It’s a looser and faster method than I’ve ever used before. I’m halfway done with the follow-up to <em>Obsolete</em>. The songs still breathe slowly and are still melodic, but it’s somehow…different.\r\n\r\nMy main obstacle is lack of time. I have a 2½ year-old and a newborn at home (both boys) and, unlike when I wrote <em>Obsolete</em>, I am now gainfully employed. My time to write is limited to naptime, or those rare occasions when I’m home alone. I’m finding it helps, actually. I carry around the songs in my head, tweak them, try different arrangements, and then when I finally have the time to play them and test my ideas out, the good ideas tend to present themselves more or less immediately.\r\n\r\nWhatever comes next will be looser and more organic.','The Spaces Between: An Interview with Memorybell','','inherit','closed','closed','','14977-revision-v1','','','2016-10-04 13:54:17','2016-10-04 05:54:17','',14977,'http://www.hiddenshoal.com/14977-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(14980,1,'2016-10-04 13:57:12','2016-10-04 05:57:12','On his debut album as Memorybell, Grant Hazard Outerbridge delivered an abject lesson in need versus want. <em>Obsolete</em> is more than a simple minimalist document, indeed it could be argued that Outerbridge\'s deft touch an innate sense of time make each of it\'s sparse notes laden with import. As if each successive strike of hammer on piano wire was the only thing in the world... until the next. So it\'s no surprise that Outerbridge is as much a thinker as a \"feeler\" when it comes to his musical work. In this utterly engaging interview the lovely Wagner Hertzog sat down with the artist and covered everything from Marvin Gaye to transient global amnesia. This really is a great read.\r\n\r\nMany thanks to Wagner for making this happen and to Grant for such thoughtful responses.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>You have been playing music for decades. Was the concept for Memorybell already in your mind before you started working on this music, or is it a more recent artistic project?</strong>\r\n\r\nMemorybell is a very recent project. I wanted to focus on ambient music following the release of <em>Genus Euphony</em>, but the way this album came into being was decidedly unplanned.\r\n\r\nI had been composing, shaping, and reshaping 20 or so songs but could never quite get them to feel the way I wanted them to. After I got out of the hospital, playing the songs was a uniquely unpleasant experience. They sounded awful to me and I had trouble remembering why I had written them in the first place. When a song felt wrong, I either threw it away completely, or focused exclusively on its essence (often just one or two chords) and explored that as granularly as I could.\r\n\r\nMy close creative collaborator from The Very Hush Hush, Peter Bo Rappmund, had heard most of the songs in various stages of their composition. When I was able to play these new, post-amnesia versions for him he strongly urged me to release the record under a new name. The songs were so different from anything I’d ever recorded that it made sense that they be the start of a new project.\r\n\r\n<em> </em>\r\n\r\n<strong>What are your main influences and sources of inspiration?</strong>\r\n\r\nIt sounds odd, but a lot of my musical ideas come from mundane objects. There is a particularly pleasant sound that the metal vent in the roof of my house makes when it lightly rains outside. In my old neighborhood, there was an old row house whose laundry exhaust whistled beautifully whenever it was in use. I could listen to the sounds of an oscillating fan all day long.\r\n\r\nI enjoy sitting still and listening to the world, though it’s far too loud for me. This is one reason why I’m drawn to expansive silences. I draw an immense amount of inspiration and solace from the quiet that descends during a snowfall.\r\n\r\nLess esoteric and more to the point, I find the following works very influential (in no particular order):\r\n\r\nMarvin Gaye – <em>What’s Going On\r\n</em>Air – <em>Moon Safari\r\n</em>Billy Holiday – <em>Solitude\r\n</em>Gas – <em>Pop\r\n</em>Yo La Tengo – <em>And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out\r\n</em>Stars of the Lid – <em>The Tired Sounds of Stars of the Lid</em>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>You seem interested in exploring extreme minimalism in your music, creating a slow, surreal experience for the listener. How did you come to develop such a style?</strong>\r\n\r\nWhen I was studying classical music I was most attracted to dissonant passages. These “sour” notes and chords represented for me a warmer, more interesting way of approaching musical expression. I would sit for hours playing a single passage over and over, slow it down, and make subtle changes to it. As I grew older, I looked forward to this monastic repetition far more than completing whichever increasingly difficult piece of music I was learning.\r\n\r\nStarting in the early 2000s, I played bass in The Very Hush Hush. Like the piano, my method of approaching the bass has changed over the years but, even back then, I was more concerned with playing the most interesting note than playing the root. One well-placed note can heighten anticipation in ways little else can.\r\n\r\nMy ears most want to hear what happens in the moments after a note is played before it dissolves into silence. That tension is powerful and shaping that tension is my primary concern.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>In terms of your creative processes, are you driven by your technique, or do you let your emotions drive your composing and arranging? Or is it a combination of both?</strong>\r\n\r\nEmotion is the driving force behind my music.\r\n\r\nTo my ears, technique is only as useful as one’s ability to use it to express emotion. Technique for its own sake does little for me.  It’s not that I don’t admire accomplished musicians, I do; I fully understand the time and dedication it takes to become an accomplished musician. But when technique becomes the focal point music becomes hollow. There is a whole spectrum of emotional experiences to be had while listening to music and feeling awe at someone’s ability is only one.\r\n\r\nWhen I compose a new song, I try to keep my mind blank. Turn off my brain. Focus on what I’m feeling and sensing. What do I hear? What do I smell? Taste? I often begin with my eyes closed and open them once something interesting has presented itself. From there, repetition and manipulation of time and silence. How best to amplify what I’m feeling in the moment? What is the simplest way to say what needs to be said?\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Is there is a special place or time that you write music?</strong>\r\n\r\nThere used to be, but now I’m restricted to when my toddler son is either asleep or out of the house. Otherwise, he’ll come bounding from wherever he is and start mashing the keys. Adorable and amazing, but not conducive to thoughtful creation. I’m lucky if I get an uninterrupted chunk of 20 minutes per day.\r\n\r\nPlace is an interesting problem with the piano. You’re stuck wherever the piano is. My work around for this used to be scribbling ideas in a notebook, studying them when I couldn’t be at a piano, etc. Now, unless I’m particularly inspired and one of my 20-minute mini-sessions produces something more-or-less fully formed, I’ll hold a strong phrase in my mind for as long as I have to until I have time to explore it at the piano.\r\n\r\nThis results in a kind of fermentation. The most emotive part of an idea tends to become stronger, while the less necessary, more ancillary bits float off. This won’t always be my song writing process but, considering my 2 year old just had a baby brother, I don’t see it changing in the near future.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>How do you work on individual songs? Do they keep evolving as you experiment with them over time, or do you find it quick and easy to finish each piece?</strong>\r\n\r\nIt depends on the song. Many songs are vague and gauzy at the start and I have to sit with them for a while before they reveal themselves to me. I try not to force anything onto them, just wait for whatever emotion it was that drove me to sit down at the piano to come out. Sometimes this process is quick, other times it is glacial. It took 14 years for ‘Somnolent’ to become what it is.\r\n\r\nThat’s an aberrant example, though. Most songs take on average 2-3 years before I finally leave them be. So, at any given time, the batch of songs I’m working on tend to have been initially conceived several years previous.\r\n\r\nOccasionally, a song will emerge and I can’t figure out how to improve it. Those are always happy moments, though infrequent. I quite enjoy the long, slow evolution of a song. When one is finished, it may sound quite unlike it did in its infancy.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>In regards to your artistic process, are you a perfectionist, or more of a relaxed creator?</strong>\r\n\r\nA complete and utter perfectionist, though I’m trying to let that go. My compromise is to direct my perfectionist tendencies toward my process rather than toward my music, to stay dedicated to giving the songs room to breathe, to grow, to change. Rather than try to force the songs to be something I want them to be, I allow them to be what they are. Even if I don’t like the end result, being true to the process feels like being true to my nature.\r\n\r\nThe most important part of my process is letting go. Ego can be a useful tool, in crafting personae, in pushing yourself, but I find it a barrier to making meaningful music. My best songwriting comes after I’ve processed whatever drove me to write a song in the first place. What remains after the dust settles.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Silence, and the ambiguity it evokes, plays an important role in your music. Is this aspect of your music planned, or do you improvise?</strong>\r\n\r\nVery much planned, as much as one can plan silence.  I can never predict the affect any given length of silence will have, so I conduct tests. Do I add a single beat here? A measure of seven? Thirteen? It’s a little like introducing oneself to a strange animal.\r\n\r\nAs consumers of popular music our ears have been trained to expect predictability in regards to rhythm. 4/4 and 3/4 dominate the sonic landscape. The ghost of the Western classical music tradition is persistent. The purposeful shirking of predictable time signatures is a good thing but if not approached carefully it can estrange the casual listener.\r\n\r\nWhen I shape the silence in my songs, I pay close attention to what my ears want. Then I give them something else. Unusual time signatures often do the trick, but I try not to employ them for their own sake. Sometimes a standard time signature alternated with an irregular or changing amount of silence has a magical effect. The ultimate test is if someone can’t tell that a song is in 17/8 or 13/4.\r\n\r\nThe ideal is to make the unnatural feel natural.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Can you tell us about your experience of transient global amnesia and how it influenced the creation of this album.</strong>\r\n\r\nIn late February of 2014 my first son was two weeks old. He was curled up with my wife on the couch and I left to meet up with some friends. We had a couple of beers and I made my way home. It was lightly snowing.\r\n\r\nI walked in the house and my wife and son were still curled up on the couch. I took my son upstairs, swaddled him and put him in his crib, and put on my headphones.\r\n\r\nI woke up in a hospital roughly ten hours later on a gurney, obscenely bright fluorescent lights flashing over my face. I saw my wife and asked, “What am I doing here?” She patiently recounted the story of how I had come into our bedroom saying I couldn’t remember where I had been, what I had done, the people I had been with; how she had called the police, to whom I had apparently been quite charming and funny, who in turn summoned an ambulance that brought me to the hospital.\r\n\r\nMy poor wife told me this story over forty times before it stuck. Tests were run; EKGs, MRIs, CAT scans, toxicology screens. At one point, a group of medical students with clipboards surrounded my bed.\r\n\r\nThroughout it all, my wife sat holding our absurdly small son wondering if I’d had some sort of stroke.\r\n\r\nI was diagnosed with Transient Global Amnesia, which is, maddeningly, a diagnosis by exclusion. Once everything else has been ruled out, that’s what you get, a rare condition about which little is known. Extreme stress, sleep deprivation, and excessive physical exertion are thought to be the triggers.\r\n\r\nThe effect was as if a bomb had gone off in my brain. All memories months into the past and future were turned to glass.\r\n\r\nThe tests showed an increased sensitivity to light and sound. This proved problematic with a small baby at the house. I was given to carrying earplugs and noise-cancelling headphones with me for diaper changes. Going outside without sunglasses triggered a migraine. A screaming police siren triggered a migraine. A teakettle triggered a migraine. A loud sneeze triggered a migraine.\r\n\r\nI quit my job. The thought of trudging through that soulless routine coupled with my new condition caused me so much anxiety I couldn’t function.\r\n\r\nI was home all the time. When my son was sleeping, I had to do something. When my son was at day care, I had to do something. When I couldn’t sleep, I had to do something. I turned to the piano.\r\n\r\nThe songs I had been working on for the previous few years sounded like boxes of broken glass. Some of them literally gave me headaches. To heal, I picked them apart, focused on the parts that were soothing, that felt right, and threw out what remained. I reshaped them, let them ring out into silence, and created something new.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Did you know beforehand that you were writing songs specifically for this album, or did you choose from songs that had already been written?</strong>\r\n\r\nI chose from songs I had previously written, but completely altered them, post-amnesia. I had a concept for an album I had been pursuing before I awoke in the hospital. That’s the raw material to which I returned\r\n\r\nAt the time, it was important to me to force the issue, to make the collection of songs work even if they felt wrong. That’s when I really started focusing on silence. I threw out the superfluous, ornamental bits and chiseled the songs to their core. Then I wrapped them in silence.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>The title of the album, <em>Obsolete</em>, is very evocative. How did you settle on this title, and what does it mean to you?</strong>\r\n\r\nI really don’t like titling my own songs. When I do, they’re almost always non-sequiturs. I reached out to an old friend, gave him the raw, un-mastered tracks and asked him to title the songs. He suggested the title track be named “Requiem for Obsolete Technology.” A great song name, to be sure, but I felt single word song titles were more apropos, given my editing method and interest in silence.\r\n\r\nIn general, I often feel like I was born a couple hundred years too late. The world is the loudest it has ever been, and for someone who craves quiet it is a struggle to remain focused amongst the head-splitting sounds of squealing brakes, screaming people, crackling electric lines, and wailing sirens. I like to imagine what the world must have sounded like before the industrial revolution.\r\n\r\nActually finding a quiet place is becoming more difficult. I live in Denver, Colorado and the legalization of marijuana, along with our city’s policy of being as inviting as possible for new businesses, has created an immense influx of people. City streets are jammed beyond capacity, and what used to be an easy drive into the mountains has become an arduous chore. Hiking trails are as clogged as motorways. Landmarks are being vandalized.\r\n\r\nQuiet places are vanishing. So I create them in music.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Did you work on the songs for <em>Obsolete</em> individually or collectively? The titles of the songs suggest a link between them.</strong>\r\n\r\nThe songs I ended up including on <em>Obsolete</em> were originally written at completely different times. The only thing they had in common was the fact they were the ones I had been drawn to in the years and months leading up to my amnesia. When I slowed them down and picked them apart after my return from the hospital, I noticed new patterns and arranged their order on the album accordingly. I rarely worked on one song at a time. I typically shaped the whole set of songs at once. If I made a severe edit on one, it often let to a complementary edit on another.\r\n\r\nI touched on this earlier, but I find naming my own songs difficult. My natural inclination is to be abstract and sarcastic with names, but I felt it would be a disservice to the honest and existential nature of these songs to name them so. The titles of the songs are representative of various themes that were woven through my life when I reworked them. Koan is inspired by the Richard Brautigan poem, “Karma Repair Kit, Parts 1-4.” Ambulator is in reference to the Max Frisch novel, <em>Man in the Holocene</em>.\r\n\r\nBoth of these speak to me on a level that is difficult to articulate. “Karma Repair Kit” is a reminder to be still and accepting. Not of anything in particular, but of everything in general. <em>Man in the Holocene</em> is a meditation on loneliness and struck a note within me during my recovery, despite the fact I read it a very long time ago; it just bubbled up out of my mind.\r\n\r\nThe other song titles are fairly literal and loosely based on my friend’s suggestions. 2014 was unequivocally the worst year of my life. The amnesia wasn’t even the most difficult struggle, but I’m not going to elaborate. The songs are my way of processing what happened.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>What’s the main intent behind your music? What are you trying to communicate to your listeners?</strong>\r\n\r\nThat sitting still, especially when it is uncomfortable, is important; that the act of listening, whether it’s active or passive, is important. It slows down your thoughts, so you can spend time with them. Depending on your type of mind or life situation, that may not be desirable, but then it is all the more impactful.\r\n\r\nModern city life is fast and loud. We run around from place to place, from work to home, from the gym to the grocery store, checking our watches or phones, making sure we don’t miss appointments; little of that matters to our internal lives. We focus so intently on what we have to do that we rarely stop to think what we would like to do. Or what we should do, not only for our own happiness but also for our own mental health.\r\n\r\nSlow down and take a nap. Memorybell can help.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Do you have a lot of unreleased songs?</strong>\r\n\r\nI rarely make a proper recording until I’m satisfied that I have a cohesive collection of songs. I have a few songs that didn’t make the cut for <em>Obsolete</em>, but if I do anything with them, I’ll probably chop them up and use parts of them in another project. I’ve reworked one song that didn’t fit the way I wished it had for <em>Obsolete</em> and will most likely include it on the next record.\r\n\r\nI don’t have a lot of unreleased material but I do, however, have a lot of unrecorded material. I don’t write any musical ideas down, I just run the songs through my head over and over. I have several albums worth of songs in various stages of completion floating in my brain. Sometimes I’ll carry a song around for years before I return to it. One song I’ve been working on for 19 years and it still hasn’t fully revealed its mysteries to me. My approach is that if something is worth recording, I’ll remember it. Thankfully, the part of my brain that stores my musical ideas seems largely unaffected by my amnesia.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Are you currently working on something? What can we expect next from Memorybell?</strong>\r\n\r\nI’ve had my fill of reworking old material for the moment. I’m moving forward with my new approach and writing an album from scratch. It’s very freeing, and my process has quickened; I’ve let go of thinking of any given idea as precious, as worthy of meticulous appreciation. If something doesn’t feel right, it’s gone. If some essence of it sticks around, then it has merit and will find a place in some different form. It’s a looser and faster method than I’ve ever used before. I’m halfway done with the follow-up to <em>Obsolete</em>. The songs still breathe slowly and are still melodic, but it’s somehow…different.\r\n\r\nMy main obstacle is lack of time. I have a 2½ year-old and a newborn at home (both boys) and, unlike when I wrote <em>Obsolete</em>, I am now gainfully employed. My time to write is limited to naptime, or those rare occasions when I’m home alone. I’m finding it helps, actually. I carry around the songs in my head, tweak them, try different arrangements, and then when I finally have the time to play them and test my ideas out, the good ideas tend to present themselves more or less immediately.\r\n\r\nWhatever comes next will be looser and more organic.','The Spaces Between: An Interview with Memorybell','','inherit','closed','closed','','14977-revision-v1','','','2016-10-04 13:57:12','2016-10-04 05:57:12','',14977,'http://www.hiddenshoal.com/14977-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(14981,1,'2016-10-04 14:00:56','2016-10-04 06:00:56','On his debut album as Memorybell, Grant Hazard Outerbridge delivered an abject lesson in need versus want. <em>Obsolete</em> is more than a simple minimalist document, indeed it could be argued that Outerbridge\'s deft touch an innate sense of time make each of it\'s sparse notes laden with import. As if each successive strike of hammer on piano wire was the only thing in the world... until the next. So it\'s no surprise that Outerbridge is as much a thinker as a \"feeler\" when it comes to his musical work. In this utterly engaging interview the lovely Wagner Hertzog sat down with the artist and covered everything from Marvin Gaye to transient global amnesia. This really is a great read.\r\n\r\nMany thanks to Wagner for their time and efforts in making this happen.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>You have been playing music for decades. Was the concept for Memorybell already in your mind before you started working on this music, or is it a more recent artistic project?</strong>\r\n\r\nMemorybell is a very recent project. I wanted to focus on ambient music following the release of <em>Genus Euphony</em>, but the way this album came into being was decidedly unplanned.\r\n\r\nI had been composing, shaping, and reshaping 20 or so songs but could never quite get them to feel the way I wanted them to. After I got out of the hospital, playing the songs was a uniquely unpleasant experience. They sounded awful to me and I had trouble remembering why I had written them in the first place. When a song felt wrong, I either threw it away completely, or focused exclusively on its essence (often just one or two chords) and explored that as granularly as I could.\r\n\r\nMy close creative collaborator from The Very Hush Hush, Peter Bo Rappmund, had heard most of the songs in various stages of their composition. When I was able to play these new, post-amnesia versions for him he strongly urged me to release the record under a new name. The songs were so different from anything I’d ever recorded that it made sense that they be the start of a new project.\r\n\r\n<em> </em>\r\n\r\n<strong>What are your main influences and sources of inspiration?</strong>\r\n\r\nIt sounds odd, but a lot of my musical ideas come from mundane objects. There is a particularly pleasant sound that the metal vent in the roof of my house makes when it lightly rains outside. In my old neighborhood, there was an old row house whose laundry exhaust whistled beautifully whenever it was in use. I could listen to the sounds of an oscillating fan all day long.\r\n\r\nI enjoy sitting still and listening to the world, though it’s far too loud for me. This is one reason why I’m drawn to expansive silences. I draw an immense amount of inspiration and solace from the quiet that descends during a snowfall.\r\n\r\nLess esoteric and more to the point, I find the following works very influential (in no particular order):\r\n\r\nMarvin Gaye – <em>What’s Going On\r\n</em>Air – <em>Moon Safari\r\n</em>Billy Holiday – <em>Solitude\r\n</em>Gas – <em>Pop\r\n</em>Yo La Tengo – <em>And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out\r\n</em>Stars of the Lid – <em>The Tired Sounds of Stars of the Lid</em>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>You seem interested in exploring extreme minimalism in your music, creating a slow, surreal experience for the listener. How did you come to develop such a style?</strong>\r\n\r\nWhen I was studying classical music I was most attracted to dissonant passages. These “sour” notes and chords represented for me a warmer, more interesting way of approaching musical expression. I would sit for hours playing a single passage over and over, slow it down, and make subtle changes to it. As I grew older, I looked forward to this monastic repetition far more than completing whichever increasingly difficult piece of music I was learning.\r\n\r\nStarting in the early 2000s, I played bass in The Very Hush Hush. Like the piano, my method of approaching the bass has changed over the years but, even back then, I was more concerned with playing the most interesting note than playing the root. One well-placed note can heighten anticipation in ways little else can.\r\n\r\nMy ears most want to hear what happens in the moments after a note is played before it dissolves into silence. That tension is powerful and shaping that tension is my primary concern.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>In terms of your creative processes, are you driven by your technique, or do you let your emotions drive your composing and arranging? Or is it a combination of both?</strong>\r\n\r\nEmotion is the driving force behind my music.\r\n\r\nTo my ears, technique is only as useful as one’s ability to use it to express emotion. Technique for its own sake does little for me.  It’s not that I don’t admire accomplished musicians, I do; I fully understand the time and dedication it takes to become an accomplished musician. But when technique becomes the focal point music becomes hollow. There is a whole spectrum of emotional experiences to be had while listening to music and feeling awe at someone’s ability is only one.\r\n\r\nWhen I compose a new song, I try to keep my mind blank. Turn off my brain. Focus on what I’m feeling and sensing. What do I hear? What do I smell? Taste? I often begin with my eyes closed and open them once something interesting has presented itself. From there, repetition and manipulation of time and silence. How best to amplify what I’m feeling in the moment? What is the simplest way to say what needs to be said?\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Is there is a special place or time that you write music?</strong>\r\n\r\nThere used to be, but now I’m restricted to when my toddler son is either asleep or out of the house. Otherwise, he’ll come bounding from wherever he is and start mashing the keys. Adorable and amazing, but not conducive to thoughtful creation. I’m lucky if I get an uninterrupted chunk of 20 minutes per day.\r\n\r\nPlace is an interesting problem with the piano. You’re stuck wherever the piano is. My work around for this used to be scribbling ideas in a notebook, studying them when I couldn’t be at a piano, etc. Now, unless I’m particularly inspired and one of my 20-minute mini-sessions produces something more-or-less fully formed, I’ll hold a strong phrase in my mind for as long as I have to until I have time to explore it at the piano.\r\n\r\nThis results in a kind of fermentation. The most emotive part of an idea tends to become stronger, while the less necessary, more ancillary bits float off. This won’t always be my song writing process but, considering my 2 year old just had a baby brother, I don’t see it changing in the near future.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>How do you work on individual songs? Do they keep evolving as you experiment with them over time, or do you find it quick and easy to finish each piece?</strong>\r\n\r\nIt depends on the song. Many songs are vague and gauzy at the start and I have to sit with them for a while before they reveal themselves to me. I try not to force anything onto them, just wait for whatever emotion it was that drove me to sit down at the piano to come out. Sometimes this process is quick, other times it is glacial. It took 14 years for ‘Somnolent’ to become what it is.\r\n\r\nThat’s an aberrant example, though. Most songs take on average 2-3 years before I finally leave them be. So, at any given time, the batch of songs I’m working on tend to have been initially conceived several years previous.\r\n\r\nOccasionally, a song will emerge and I can’t figure out how to improve it. Those are always happy moments, though infrequent. I quite enjoy the long, slow evolution of a song. When one is finished, it may sound quite unlike it did in its infancy.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>In regards to your artistic process, are you a perfectionist, or more of a relaxed creator?</strong>\r\n\r\nA complete and utter perfectionist, though I’m trying to let that go. My compromise is to direct my perfectionist tendencies toward my process rather than toward my music, to stay dedicated to giving the songs room to breathe, to grow, to change. Rather than try to force the songs to be something I want them to be, I allow them to be what they are. Even if I don’t like the end result, being true to the process feels like being true to my nature.\r\n\r\nThe most important part of my process is letting go. Ego can be a useful tool, in crafting personae, in pushing yourself, but I find it a barrier to making meaningful music. My best songwriting comes after I’ve processed whatever drove me to write a song in the first place. What remains after the dust settles.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Silence, and the ambiguity it evokes, plays an important role in your music. Is this aspect of your music planned, or do you improvise?</strong>\r\n\r\nVery much planned, as much as one can plan silence.  I can never predict the affect any given length of silence will have, so I conduct tests. Do I add a single beat here? A measure of seven? Thirteen? It’s a little like introducing oneself to a strange animal.\r\n\r\nAs consumers of popular music our ears have been trained to expect predictability in regards to rhythm. 4/4 and 3/4 dominate the sonic landscape. The ghost of the Western classical music tradition is persistent. The purposeful shirking of predictable time signatures is a good thing but if not approached carefully it can estrange the casual listener.\r\n\r\nWhen I shape the silence in my songs, I pay close attention to what my ears want. Then I give them something else. Unusual time signatures often do the trick, but I try not to employ them for their own sake. Sometimes a standard time signature alternated with an irregular or changing amount of silence has a magical effect. The ultimate test is if someone can’t tell that a song is in 17/8 or 13/4.\r\n\r\nThe ideal is to make the unnatural feel natural.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Can you tell us about your experience of transient global amnesia and how it influenced the creation of this album.</strong>\r\n\r\nIn late February of 2014 my first son was two weeks old. He was curled up with my wife on the couch and I left to meet up with some friends. We had a couple of beers and I made my way home. It was lightly snowing.\r\n\r\nI walked in the house and my wife and son were still curled up on the couch. I took my son upstairs, swaddled him and put him in his crib, and put on my headphones.\r\n\r\nI woke up in a hospital roughly ten hours later on a gurney, obscenely bright fluorescent lights flashing over my face. I saw my wife and asked, “What am I doing here?” She patiently recounted the story of how I had come into our bedroom saying I couldn’t remember where I had been, what I had done, the people I had been with; how she had called the police, to whom I had apparently been quite charming and funny, who in turn summoned an ambulance that brought me to the hospital.\r\n\r\nMy poor wife told me this story over forty times before it stuck. Tests were run; EKGs, MRIs, CAT scans, toxicology screens. At one point, a group of medical students with clipboards surrounded my bed.\r\n\r\nThroughout it all, my wife sat holding our absurdly small son wondering if I’d had some sort of stroke.\r\n\r\nI was diagnosed with Transient Global Amnesia, which is, maddeningly, a diagnosis by exclusion. Once everything else has been ruled out, that’s what you get, a rare condition about which little is known. Extreme stress, sleep deprivation, and excessive physical exertion are thought to be the triggers.\r\n\r\nThe effect was as if a bomb had gone off in my brain. All memories months into the past and future were turned to glass.\r\n\r\nThe tests showed an increased sensitivity to light and sound. This proved problematic with a small baby at the house. I was given to carrying earplugs and noise-cancelling headphones with me for diaper changes. Going outside without sunglasses triggered a migraine. A screaming police siren triggered a migraine. A teakettle triggered a migraine. A loud sneeze triggered a migraine.\r\n\r\nI quit my job. The thought of trudging through that soulless routine coupled with my new condition caused me so much anxiety I couldn’t function.\r\n\r\nI was home all the time. When my son was sleeping, I had to do something. When my son was at day care, I had to do something. When I couldn’t sleep, I had to do something. I turned to the piano.\r\n\r\nThe songs I had been working on for the previous few years sounded like boxes of broken glass. Some of them literally gave me headaches. To heal, I picked them apart, focused on the parts that were soothing, that felt right, and threw out what remained. I reshaped them, let them ring out into silence, and created something new.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Did you know beforehand that you were writing songs specifically for this album, or did you choose from songs that had already been written?</strong>\r\n\r\nI chose from songs I had previously written, but completely altered them, post-amnesia. I had a concept for an album I had been pursuing before I awoke in the hospital. That’s the raw material to which I returned\r\n\r\nAt the time, it was important to me to force the issue, to make the collection of songs work even if they felt wrong. That’s when I really started focusing on silence. I threw out the superfluous, ornamental bits and chiseled the songs to their core. Then I wrapped them in silence.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>The title of the album, <em>Obsolete</em>, is very evocative. How did you settle on this title, and what does it mean to you?</strong>\r\n\r\nI really don’t like titling my own songs. When I do, they’re almost always non-sequiturs. I reached out to an old friend, gave him the raw, un-mastered tracks and asked him to title the songs. He suggested the title track be named “Requiem for Obsolete Technology.” A great song name, to be sure, but I felt single word song titles were more apropos, given my editing method and interest in silence.\r\n\r\nIn general, I often feel like I was born a couple hundred years too late. The world is the loudest it has ever been, and for someone who craves quiet it is a struggle to remain focused amongst the head-splitting sounds of squealing brakes, screaming people, crackling electric lines, and wailing sirens. I like to imagine what the world must have sounded like before the industrial revolution.\r\n\r\nActually finding a quiet place is becoming more difficult. I live in Denver, Colorado and the legalization of marijuana, along with our city’s policy of being as inviting as possible for new businesses, has created an immense influx of people. City streets are jammed beyond capacity, and what used to be an easy drive into the mountains has become an arduous chore. Hiking trails are as clogged as motorways. Landmarks are being vandalized.\r\n\r\nQuiet places are vanishing. So I create them in music.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Did you work on the songs for <em>Obsolete</em> individually or collectively? The titles of the songs suggest a link between them.</strong>\r\n\r\nThe songs I ended up including on <em>Obsolete</em> were originally written at completely different times. The only thing they had in common was the fact they were the ones I had been drawn to in the years and months leading up to my amnesia. When I slowed them down and picked them apart after my return from the hospital, I noticed new patterns and arranged their order on the album accordingly. I rarely worked on one song at a time. I typically shaped the whole set of songs at once. If I made a severe edit on one, it often let to a complementary edit on another.\r\n\r\nI touched on this earlier, but I find naming my own songs difficult. My natural inclination is to be abstract and sarcastic with names, but I felt it would be a disservice to the honest and existential nature of these songs to name them so. The titles of the songs are representative of various themes that were woven through my life when I reworked them. Koan is inspired by the Richard Brautigan poem, “Karma Repair Kit, Parts 1-4.” Ambulator is in reference to the Max Frisch novel, <em>Man in the Holocene</em>.\r\n\r\nBoth of these speak to me on a level that is difficult to articulate. “Karma Repair Kit” is a reminder to be still and accepting. Not of anything in particular, but of everything in general. <em>Man in the Holocene</em> is a meditation on loneliness and struck a note within me during my recovery, despite the fact I read it a very long time ago; it just bubbled up out of my mind.\r\n\r\nThe other song titles are fairly literal and loosely based on my friend’s suggestions. 2014 was unequivocally the worst year of my life. The amnesia wasn’t even the most difficult struggle, but I’m not going to elaborate. The songs are my way of processing what happened.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>What’s the main intent behind your music? What are you trying to communicate to your listeners?</strong>\r\n\r\nThat sitting still, especially when it is uncomfortable, is important; that the act of listening, whether it’s active or passive, is important. It slows down your thoughts, so you can spend time with them. Depending on your type of mind or life situation, that may not be desirable, but then it is all the more impactful.\r\n\r\nModern city life is fast and loud. We run around from place to place, from work to home, from the gym to the grocery store, checking our watches or phones, making sure we don’t miss appointments; little of that matters to our internal lives. We focus so intently on what we have to do that we rarely stop to think what we would like to do. Or what we should do, not only for our own happiness but also for our own mental health.\r\n\r\nSlow down and take a nap. Memorybell can help.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Do you have a lot of unreleased songs?</strong>\r\n\r\nI rarely make a proper recording until I’m satisfied that I have a cohesive collection of songs. I have a few songs that didn’t make the cut for <em>Obsolete</em>, but if I do anything with them, I’ll probably chop them up and use parts of them in another project. I’ve reworked one song that didn’t fit the way I wished it had for <em>Obsolete</em> and will most likely include it on the next record.\r\n\r\nI don’t have a lot of unreleased material but I do, however, have a lot of unrecorded material. I don’t write any musical ideas down, I just run the songs through my head over and over. I have several albums worth of songs in various stages of completion floating in my brain. Sometimes I’ll carry a song around for years before I return to it. One song I’ve been working on for 19 years and it still hasn’t fully revealed its mysteries to me. My approach is that if something is worth recording, I’ll remember it. Thankfully, the part of my brain that stores my musical ideas seems largely unaffected by my amnesia.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Are you currently working on something? What can we expect next from Memorybell?</strong>\r\n\r\nI’ve had my fill of reworking old material for the moment. I’m moving forward with my new approach and writing an album from scratch. It’s very freeing, and my process has quickened; I’ve let go of thinking of any given idea as precious, as worthy of meticulous appreciation. If something doesn’t feel right, it’s gone. If some essence of it sticks around, then it has merit and will find a place in some different form. It’s a looser and faster method than I’ve ever used before. I’m halfway done with the follow-up to <em>Obsolete</em>. The songs still breathe slowly and are still melodic, but it’s somehow…different.\r\n\r\nMy main obstacle is lack of time. I have a 2½ year-old and a newborn at home (both boys) and, unlike when I wrote <em>Obsolete</em>, I am now gainfully employed. My time to write is limited to naptime, or those rare occasions when I’m home alone. I’m finding it helps, actually. I carry around the songs in my head, tweak them, try different arrangements, and then when I finally have the time to play them and test my ideas out, the good ideas tend to present themselves more or less immediately.\r\n\r\nWhatever comes next will be looser and more organic.','The Spaces Between: An Interview with Memorybell','','inherit','closed','closed','','14977-revision-v1','','','2016-10-04 14:00:56','2016-10-04 06:00:56','',14977,'http://www.hiddenshoal.com/14977-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(14982,1,'2016-10-04 14:01:50','2016-10-04 06:01:50','<a href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/GHO-web-photo-1_2000x2000-b.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft wp-image-14204 size-medium\" src=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/GHO-web-photo-1_2000x2000-b-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"Grant Hazard Outerbridge\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" /></a>On his debut album as <a title=\"Memorybell\" href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/project/memorybell/\">Memorybell</a>, Grant Hazard Outerbridge delivered an abject lesson in need versus want. <em>Obsolete</em> is more than a simple minimalist document, indeed it could be argued that Outerbridge\'s deft touch an innate sense of time make each of it\'s sparse notes laden with import. As if each successive strike of hammer on piano wire was the only thing in the world... until the next. So it\'s no surprise that Outerbridge is as much a thinker as a \"feeler\" when it comes to his musical work. In this utterly engaging interview the lovely Wagner Hertzog sat down with the artist and covered everything from Marvin Gaye to transient global amnesia. This really is a great read.\r\n\r\nMany thanks to Wagner for their time and efforts in making this happen.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>You have been playing music for decades. Was the concept for Memorybell already in your mind before you started working on this music, or is it a more recent artistic project?</strong>\r\n\r\nMemorybell is a very recent project. I wanted to focus on ambient music following the release of <em>Genus Euphony</em>, but the way this album came into being was decidedly unplanned.\r\n\r\nI had been composing, shaping, and reshaping 20 or so songs but could never quite get them to feel the way I wanted them to. After I got out of the hospital, playing the songs was a uniquely unpleasant experience. They sounded awful to me and I had trouble remembering why I had written them in the first place. When a song felt wrong, I either threw it away completely, or focused exclusively on its essence (often just one or two chords) and explored that as granularly as I could.\r\n\r\nMy close creative collaborator from The Very Hush Hush, Peter Bo Rappmund, had heard most of the songs in various stages of their composition. When I was able to play these new, post-amnesia versions for him he strongly urged me to release the record under a new name. The songs were so different from anything I’d ever recorded that it made sense that they be the start of a new project.\r\n\r\n<em> </em>\r\n\r\n<strong>What are your main influences and sources of inspiration?</strong>\r\n\r\nIt sounds odd, but a lot of my musical ideas come from mundane objects. There is a particularly pleasant sound that the metal vent in the roof of my house makes when it lightly rains outside. In my old neighborhood, there was an old row house whose laundry exhaust whistled beautifully whenever it was in use. I could listen to the sounds of an oscillating fan all day long.\r\n\r\nI enjoy sitting still and listening to the world, though it’s far too loud for me. This is one reason why I’m drawn to expansive silences. I draw an immense amount of inspiration and solace from the quiet that descends during a snowfall.\r\n\r\nLess esoteric and more to the point, I find the following works very influential (in no particular order):\r\n\r\nMarvin Gaye – <em>What’s Going On\r\n</em>Air – <em>Moon Safari\r\n</em>Billy Holiday – <em>Solitude\r\n</em>Gas – <em>Pop\r\n</em>Yo La Tengo – <em>And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out\r\n</em>Stars of the Lid – <em>The Tired Sounds of Stars of the Lid</em>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>You seem interested in exploring extreme minimalism in your music, creating a slow, surreal experience for the listener. How did you come to develop such a style?</strong>\r\n\r\nWhen I was studying classical music I was most attracted to dissonant passages. These “sour” notes and chords represented for me a warmer, more interesting way of approaching musical expression. I would sit for hours playing a single passage over and over, slow it down, and make subtle changes to it. As I grew older, I looked forward to this monastic repetition far more than completing whichever increasingly difficult piece of music I was learning.\r\n\r\nStarting in the early 2000s, I played bass in The Very Hush Hush. Like the piano, my method of approaching the bass has changed over the years but, even back then, I was more concerned with playing the most interesting note than playing the root. One well-placed note can heighten anticipation in ways little else can.\r\n\r\nMy ears most want to hear what happens in the moments after a note is played before it dissolves into silence. That tension is powerful and shaping that tension is my primary concern.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>In terms of your creative processes, are you driven by your technique, or do you let your emotions drive your composing and arranging? Or is it a combination of both?</strong>\r\n\r\nEmotion is the driving force behind my music.\r\n\r\nTo my ears, technique is only as useful as one’s ability to use it to express emotion. Technique for its own sake does little for me.  It’s not that I don’t admire accomplished musicians, I do; I fully understand the time and dedication it takes to become an accomplished musician. But when technique becomes the focal point music becomes hollow. There is a whole spectrum of emotional experiences to be had while listening to music and feeling awe at someone’s ability is only one.\r\n\r\nWhen I compose a new song, I try to keep my mind blank. Turn off my brain. Focus on what I’m feeling and sensing. What do I hear? What do I smell? Taste? I often begin with my eyes closed and open them once something interesting has presented itself. From there, repetition and manipulation of time and silence. How best to amplify what I’m feeling in the moment? What is the simplest way to say what needs to be said?\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Is there is a special place or time that you write music?</strong>\r\n\r\nThere used to be, but now I’m restricted to when my toddler son is either asleep or out of the house. Otherwise, he’ll come bounding from wherever he is and start mashing the keys. Adorable and amazing, but not conducive to thoughtful creation. I’m lucky if I get an uninterrupted chunk of 20 minutes per day.\r\n\r\nPlace is an interesting problem with the piano. You’re stuck wherever the piano is. My work around for this used to be scribbling ideas in a notebook, studying them when I couldn’t be at a piano, etc. Now, unless I’m particularly inspired and one of my 20-minute mini-sessions produces something more-or-less fully formed, I’ll hold a strong phrase in my mind for as long as I have to until I have time to explore it at the piano.\r\n\r\nThis results in a kind of fermentation. The most emotive part of an idea tends to become stronger, while the less necessary, more ancillary bits float off. This won’t always be my song writing process but, considering my 2 year old just had a baby brother, I don’t see it changing in the near future.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>How do you work on individual songs? Do they keep evolving as you experiment with them over time, or do you find it quick and easy to finish each piece?</strong>\r\n\r\nIt depends on the song. Many songs are vague and gauzy at the start and I have to sit with them for a while before they reveal themselves to me. I try not to force anything onto them, just wait for whatever emotion it was that drove me to sit down at the piano to come out. Sometimes this process is quick, other times it is glacial. It took 14 years for ‘Somnolent’ to become what it is.\r\n\r\nThat’s an aberrant example, though. Most songs take on average 2-3 years before I finally leave them be. So, at any given time, the batch of songs I’m working on tend to have been initially conceived several years previous.\r\n\r\nOccasionally, a song will emerge and I can’t figure out how to improve it. Those are always happy moments, though infrequent. I quite enjoy the long, slow evolution of a song. When one is finished, it may sound quite unlike it did in its infancy.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>In regards to your artistic process, are you a perfectionist, or more of a relaxed creator?</strong>\r\n\r\nA complete and utter perfectionist, though I’m trying to let that go. My compromise is to direct my perfectionist tendencies toward my process rather than toward my music, to stay dedicated to giving the songs room to breathe, to grow, to change. Rather than try to force the songs to be something I want them to be, I allow them to be what they are. Even if I don’t like the end result, being true to the process feels like being true to my nature.\r\n\r\nThe most important part of my process is letting go. Ego can be a useful tool, in crafting personae, in pushing yourself, but I find it a barrier to making meaningful music. My best songwriting comes after I’ve processed whatever drove me to write a song in the first place. What remains after the dust settles.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Silence, and the ambiguity it evokes, plays an important role in your music. Is this aspect of your music planned, or do you improvise?</strong>\r\n\r\nVery much planned, as much as one can plan silence.  I can never predict the affect any given length of silence will have, so I conduct tests. Do I add a single beat here? A measure of seven? Thirteen? It’s a little like introducing oneself to a strange animal.\r\n\r\nAs consumers of popular music our ears have been trained to expect predictability in regards to rhythm. 4/4 and 3/4 dominate the sonic landscape. The ghost of the Western classical music tradition is persistent. The purposeful shirking of predictable time signatures is a good thing but if not approached carefully it can estrange the casual listener.\r\n\r\nWhen I shape the silence in my songs, I pay close attention to what my ears want. Then I give them something else. Unusual time signatures often do the trick, but I try not to employ them for their own sake. Sometimes a standard time signature alternated with an irregular or changing amount of silence has a magical effect. The ultimate test is if someone can’t tell that a song is in 17/8 or 13/4.\r\n\r\nThe ideal is to make the unnatural feel natural.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Can you tell us about your experience of transient global amnesia and how it influenced the creation of this album.</strong>\r\n\r\nIn late February of 2014 my first son was two weeks old. He was curled up with my wife on the couch and I left to meet up with some friends. We had a couple of beers and I made my way home. It was lightly snowing.\r\n\r\nI walked in the house and my wife and son were still curled up on the couch. I took my son upstairs, swaddled him and put him in his crib, and put on my headphones.\r\n\r\nI woke up in a hospital roughly ten hours later on a gurney, obscenely bright fluorescent lights flashing over my face. I saw my wife and asked, “What am I doing here?” She patiently recounted the story of how I had come into our bedroom saying I couldn’t remember where I had been, what I had done, the people I had been with; how she had called the police, to whom I had apparently been quite charming and funny, who in turn summoned an ambulance that brought me to the hospital.\r\n\r\nMy poor wife told me this story over forty times before it stuck. Tests were run; EKGs, MRIs, CAT scans, toxicology screens. At one point, a group of medical students with clipboards surrounded my bed.\r\n\r\nThroughout it all, my wife sat holding our absurdly small son wondering if I’d had some sort of stroke.\r\n\r\nI was diagnosed with Transient Global Amnesia, which is, maddeningly, a diagnosis by exclusion. Once everything else has been ruled out, that’s what you get, a rare condition about which little is known. Extreme stress, sleep deprivation, and excessive physical exertion are thought to be the triggers.\r\n\r\nThe effect was as if a bomb had gone off in my brain. All memories months into the past and future were turned to glass.\r\n\r\nThe tests showed an increased sensitivity to light and sound. This proved problematic with a small baby at the house. I was given to carrying earplugs and noise-cancelling headphones with me for diaper changes. Going outside without sunglasses triggered a migraine. A screaming police siren triggered a migraine. A teakettle triggered a migraine. A loud sneeze triggered a migraine.\r\n\r\nI quit my job. The thought of trudging through that soulless routine coupled with my new condition caused me so much anxiety I couldn’t function.\r\n\r\nI was home all the time. When my son was sleeping, I had to do something. When my son was at day care, I had to do something. When I couldn’t sleep, I had to do something. I turned to the piano.\r\n\r\nThe songs I had been working on for the previous few years sounded like boxes of broken glass. Some of them literally gave me headaches. To heal, I picked them apart, focused on the parts that were soothing, that felt right, and threw out what remained. I reshaped them, let them ring out into silence, and created something new.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Did you know beforehand that you were writing songs specifically for this album, or did you choose from songs that had already been written?</strong>\r\n\r\nI chose from songs I had previously written, but completely altered them, post-amnesia. I had a concept for an album I had been pursuing before I awoke in the hospital. That’s the raw material to which I returned\r\n\r\nAt the time, it was important to me to force the issue, to make the collection of songs work even if they felt wrong. That’s when I really started focusing on silence. I threw out the superfluous, ornamental bits and chiseled the songs to their core. Then I wrapped them in silence.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>The title of the album, <em>Obsolete</em>, is very evocative. How did you settle on this title, and what does it mean to you?</strong>\r\n\r\nI really don’t like titling my own songs. When I do, they’re almost always non-sequiturs. I reached out to an old friend, gave him the raw, un-mastered tracks and asked him to title the songs. He suggested the title track be named “Requiem for Obsolete Technology.” A great song name, to be sure, but I felt single word song titles were more apropos, given my editing method and interest in silence.\r\n\r\nIn general, I often feel like I was born a couple hundred years too late. The world is the loudest it has ever been, and for someone who craves quiet it is a struggle to remain focused amongst the head-splitting sounds of squealing brakes, screaming people, crackling electric lines, and wailing sirens. I like to imagine what the world must have sounded like before the industrial revolution.\r\n\r\nActually finding a quiet place is becoming more difficult. I live in Denver, Colorado and the legalization of marijuana, along with our city’s policy of being as inviting as possible for new businesses, has created an immense influx of people. City streets are jammed beyond capacity, and what used to be an easy drive into the mountains has become an arduous chore. Hiking trails are as clogged as motorways. Landmarks are being vandalized.\r\n\r\nQuiet places are vanishing. So I create them in music.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Did you work on the songs for <em>Obsolete</em> individually or collectively? The titles of the songs suggest a link between them.</strong>\r\n\r\nThe songs I ended up including on <em>Obsolete</em> were originally written at completely different times. The only thing they had in common was the fact they were the ones I had been drawn to in the years and months leading up to my amnesia. When I slowed them down and picked them apart after my return from the hospital, I noticed new patterns and arranged their order on the album accordingly. I rarely worked on one song at a time. I typically shaped the whole set of songs at once. If I made a severe edit on one, it often let to a complementary edit on another.\r\n\r\nI touched on this earlier, but I find naming my own songs difficult. My natural inclination is to be abstract and sarcastic with names, but I felt it would be a disservice to the honest and existential nature of these songs to name them so. The titles of the songs are representative of various themes that were woven through my life when I reworked them. Koan is inspired by the Richard Brautigan poem, “Karma Repair Kit, Parts 1-4.” Ambulator is in reference to the Max Frisch novel, <em>Man in the Holocene</em>.\r\n\r\nBoth of these speak to me on a level that is difficult to articulate. “Karma Repair Kit” is a reminder to be still and accepting. Not of anything in particular, but of everything in general. <em>Man in the Holocene</em> is a meditation on loneliness and struck a note within me during my recovery, despite the fact I read it a very long time ago; it just bubbled up out of my mind.\r\n\r\nThe other song titles are fairly literal and loosely based on my friend’s suggestions. 2014 was unequivocally the worst year of my life. The amnesia wasn’t even the most difficult struggle, but I’m not going to elaborate. The songs are my way of processing what happened.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>What’s the main intent behind your music? What are you trying to communicate to your listeners?</strong>\r\n\r\nThat sitting still, especially when it is uncomfortable, is important; that the act of listening, whether it’s active or passive, is important. It slows down your thoughts, so you can spend time with them. Depending on your type of mind or life situation, that may not be desirable, but then it is all the more impactful.\r\n\r\nModern city life is fast and loud. We run around from place to place, from work to home, from the gym to the grocery store, checking our watches or phones, making sure we don’t miss appointments; little of that matters to our internal lives. We focus so intently on what we have to do that we rarely stop to think what we would like to do. Or what we should do, not only for our own happiness but also for our own mental health.\r\n\r\nSlow down and take a nap. Memorybell can help.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Do you have a lot of unreleased songs?</strong>\r\n\r\nI rarely make a proper recording until I’m satisfied that I have a cohesive collection of songs. I have a few songs that didn’t make the cut for <em>Obsolete</em>, but if I do anything with them, I’ll probably chop them up and use parts of them in another project. I’ve reworked one song that didn’t fit the way I wished it had for <em>Obsolete</em> and will most likely include it on the next record.\r\n\r\nI don’t have a lot of unreleased material but I do, however, have a lot of unrecorded material. I don’t write any musical ideas down, I just run the songs through my head over and over. I have several albums worth of songs in various stages of completion floating in my brain. Sometimes I’ll carry a song around for years before I return to it. One song I’ve been working on for 19 years and it still hasn’t fully revealed its mysteries to me. My approach is that if something is worth recording, I’ll remember it. Thankfully, the part of my brain that stores my musical ideas seems largely unaffected by my amnesia.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Are you currently working on something? What can we expect next from Memorybell?</strong>\r\n\r\nI’ve had my fill of reworking old material for the moment. I’m moving forward with my new approach and writing an album from scratch. It’s very freeing, and my process has quickened; I’ve let go of thinking of any given idea as precious, as worthy of meticulous appreciation. If something doesn’t feel right, it’s gone. If some essence of it sticks around, then it has merit and will find a place in some different form. It’s a looser and faster method than I’ve ever used before. I’m halfway done with the follow-up to <em>Obsolete</em>. The songs still breathe slowly and are still melodic, but it’s somehow…different.\r\n\r\nMy main obstacle is lack of time. I have a 2½ year-old and a newborn at home (both boys) and, unlike when I wrote <em>Obsolete</em>, I am now gainfully employed. My time to write is limited to naptime, or those rare occasions when I’m home alone. I’m finding it helps, actually. I carry around the songs in my head, tweak them, try different arrangements, and then when I finally have the time to play them and test my ideas out, the good ideas tend to present themselves more or less immediately.\r\n\r\nWhatever comes next will be looser and more organic.','The Spaces Between: An Interview with Memorybell','','inherit','closed','closed','','14977-revision-v1','','','2016-10-04 14:01:50','2016-10-04 06:01:50','',14977,'http://www.hiddenshoal.com/14977-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(14983,1,'2016-10-04 14:02:50','2016-10-04 06:02:50','','Obsolete Recording Sessions (Dallas)','','inherit','closed','closed','','dallas_sessions-5','','','2016-10-04 14:23:37','2016-10-04 06:23:37','',14977,'http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/DALLAS_SESSIONS-5.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(14984,1,'2016-10-04 14:03:26','2016-10-04 06:03:26','<a href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/GHO-web-photo-1_2000x2000-b.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft wp-image-14204 size-medium\" src=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/GHO-web-photo-1_2000x2000-b-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"Grant Hazard Outerbridge\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" /></a>On his debut album as <a title=\"Memorybell\" href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/project/memorybell/\">Memorybell</a>, Grant Hazard Outerbridge delivered an abject lesson in need versus want. <em>Obsolete</em> is more than a simple minimalist document, indeed it could be argued that Outerbridge\'s deft touch an innate sense of time make each of it\'s sparse notes laden with import. As if each successive strike of hammer on piano wire was the only thing in the world... until the next. So it\'s no surprise that Outerbridge is as much a thinker as a \"feeler\" when it comes to his musical work. In this utterly engaging interview the lovely Wagner Hertzog sat down with the artist and covered everything from Marvin Gaye to transient global amnesia. This really is a great read.\r\n\r\nMany thanks to Wagner for their time and efforts in making this happen.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>You have been playing music for decades. Was the concept for Memorybell already in your mind before you started working on this music, or is it a more recent artistic project?</strong>\r\n\r\nMemorybell is a very recent project. I wanted to focus on ambient music following the release of <em>Genus Euphony</em>, but the way this album came into being was decidedly unplanned.\r\n\r\nI had been composing, shaping, and reshaping 20 or so songs but could never quite get them to feel the way I wanted them to. After I got out of the hospital, playing the songs was a uniquely unpleasant experience. They sounded awful to me and I had trouble remembering why I had written them in the first place. When a song felt wrong, I either threw it away completely, or focused exclusively on its essence (often just one or two chords) and explored that as granularly as I could.\r\n\r\nMy close creative collaborator from The Very Hush Hush, Peter Bo Rappmund, had heard most of the songs in various stages of their composition. When I was able to play these new, post-amnesia versions for him he strongly urged me to release the record under a new name. The songs were so different from anything I’d ever recorded that it made sense that they be the start of a new project.\r\n\r\n<em> </em>\r\n\r\n<strong>What are your main influences and sources of inspiration?</strong>\r\n\r\nIt sounds odd, but a lot of my musical ideas come from mundane objects. There is a particularly pleasant sound that the metal vent in the roof of my house makes when it lightly rains outside. In my old neighborhood, there was an old row house whose laundry exhaust whistled beautifully whenever it was in use. I could listen to the sounds of an oscillating fan all day long.\r\n\r\nI enjoy sitting still and listening to the world, though it’s far too loud for me. This is one reason why I’m drawn to expansive silences. I draw an immense amount of inspiration and solace from the quiet that descends during a snowfall.\r\n\r\nLess esoteric and more to the point, I find the following works very influential (in no particular order):\r\n\r\nMarvin Gaye – <em>What’s Going On\r\n</em>Air – <em>Moon Safari\r\n</em>Billy Holiday – <em>Solitude\r\n</em>Gas – <em>Pop\r\n</em>Yo La Tengo – <em>And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out\r\n</em>Stars of the Lid – <em>The Tired Sounds of Stars of the Lid</em>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>You seem interested in exploring extreme minimalism in your music, creating a slow, surreal experience for the listener. How did you come to develop such a style?</strong>\r\n\r\nWhen I was studying classical music I was most attracted to dissonant passages. These “sour” notes and chords represented for me a warmer, more interesting way of approaching musical expression. I would sit for hours playing a single passage over and over, slow it down, and make subtle changes to it. As I grew older, I looked forward to this monastic repetition far more than completing whichever increasingly difficult piece of music I was learning.\r\n\r\nStarting in the early 2000s, I played bass in The Very Hush Hush. Like the piano, my method of approaching the bass has changed over the years but, even back then, I was more concerned with playing the most interesting note than playing the root. One well-placed note can heighten anticipation in ways little else can.\r\n\r\nMy ears most want to hear what happens in the moments after a note is played before it dissolves into silence. That tension is powerful and shaping that tension is my primary concern.\r\n\r\n<a href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/DALLAS_SESSIONS-5.jpg\"><img class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-14983\" src=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/DALLAS_SESSIONS-5-300x195.jpg\" alt=\"Memorybell in the Studio\" width=\"300\" height=\"195\" /></a>\r\n\r\n<strong>In terms of your creative processes, are you driven by your technique, or do you let your emotions drive your composing and arranging? Or is it a combination of both?</strong>\r\n\r\nEmotion is the driving force behind my music.\r\n\r\nTo my ears, technique is only as useful as one’s ability to use it to express emotion. Technique for its own sake does little for me.  It’s not that I don’t admire accomplished musicians, I do; I fully understand the time and dedication it takes to become an accomplished musician. But when technique becomes the focal point music becomes hollow. There is a whole spectrum of emotional experiences to be had while listening to music and feeling awe at someone’s ability is only one.\r\n\r\nWhen I compose a new song, I try to keep my mind blank. Turn off my brain. Focus on what I’m feeling and sensing. What do I hear? What do I smell? Taste? I often begin with my eyes closed and open them once something interesting has presented itself. From there, repetition and manipulation of time and silence. How best to amplify what I’m feeling in the moment? What is the simplest way to say what needs to be said?\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Is there is a special place or time that you write music?</strong>\r\n\r\nThere used to be, but now I’m restricted to when my toddler son is either asleep or out of the house. Otherwise, he’ll come bounding from wherever he is and start mashing the keys. Adorable and amazing, but not conducive to thoughtful creation. I’m lucky if I get an uninterrupted chunk of 20 minutes per day.\r\n\r\nPlace is an interesting problem with the piano. You’re stuck wherever the piano is. My work around for this used to be scribbling ideas in a notebook, studying them when I couldn’t be at a piano, etc. Now, unless I’m particularly inspired and one of my 20-minute mini-sessions produces something more-or-less fully formed, I’ll hold a strong phrase in my mind for as long as I have to until I have time to explore it at the piano.\r\n\r\nThis results in a kind of fermentation. The most emotive part of an idea tends to become stronger, while the less necessary, more ancillary bits float off. This won’t always be my song writing process but, considering my 2 year old just had a baby brother, I don’t see it changing in the near future.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>How do you work on individual songs? Do they keep evolving as you experiment with them over time, or do you find it quick and easy to finish each piece?</strong>\r\n\r\nIt depends on the song. Many songs are vague and gauzy at the start and I have to sit with them for a while before they reveal themselves to me. I try not to force anything onto them, just wait for whatever emotion it was that drove me to sit down at the piano to come out. Sometimes this process is quick, other times it is glacial. It took 14 years for ‘Somnolent’ to become what it is.\r\n\r\nThat’s an aberrant example, though. Most songs take on average 2-3 years before I finally leave them be. So, at any given time, the batch of songs I’m working on tend to have been initially conceived several years previous.\r\n\r\nOccasionally, a song will emerge and I can’t figure out how to improve it. Those are always happy moments, though infrequent. I quite enjoy the long, slow evolution of a song. When one is finished, it may sound quite unlike it did in its infancy.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>In regards to your artistic process, are you a perfectionist, or more of a relaxed creator?</strong>\r\n\r\nA complete and utter perfectionist, though I’m trying to let that go. My compromise is to direct my perfectionist tendencies toward my process rather than toward my music, to stay dedicated to giving the songs room to breathe, to grow, to change. Rather than try to force the songs to be something I want them to be, I allow them to be what they are. Even if I don’t like the end result, being true to the process feels like being true to my nature.\r\n\r\nThe most important part of my process is letting go. Ego can be a useful tool, in crafting personae, in pushing yourself, but I find it a barrier to making meaningful music. My best songwriting comes after I’ve processed whatever drove me to write a song in the first place. What remains after the dust settles.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Silence, and the ambiguity it evokes, plays an important role in your music. Is this aspect of your music planned, or do you improvise?</strong>\r\n\r\nVery much planned, as much as one can plan silence.  I can never predict the affect any given length of silence will have, so I conduct tests. Do I add a single beat here? A measure of seven? Thirteen? It’s a little like introducing oneself to a strange animal.\r\n\r\nAs consumers of popular music our ears have been trained to expect predictability in regards to rhythm. 4/4 and 3/4 dominate the sonic landscape. The ghost of the Western classical music tradition is persistent. The purposeful shirking of predictable time signatures is a good thing but if not approached carefully it can estrange the casual listener.\r\n\r\nWhen I shape the silence in my songs, I pay close attention to what my ears want. Then I give them something else. Unusual time signatures often do the trick, but I try not to employ them for their own sake. Sometimes a standard time signature alternated with an irregular or changing amount of silence has a magical effect. The ultimate test is if someone can’t tell that a song is in 17/8 or 13/4.\r\n\r\nThe ideal is to make the unnatural feel natural.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Can you tell us about your experience of transient global amnesia and how it influenced the creation of this album.</strong>\r\n\r\nIn late February of 2014 my first son was two weeks old. He was curled up with my wife on the couch and I left to meet up with some friends. We had a couple of beers and I made my way home. It was lightly snowing.\r\n\r\nI walked in the house and my wife and son were still curled up on the couch. I took my son upstairs, swaddled him and put him in his crib, and put on my headphones.\r\n\r\nI woke up in a hospital roughly ten hours later on a gurney, obscenely bright fluorescent lights flashing over my face. I saw my wife and asked, “What am I doing here?” She patiently recounted the story of how I had come into our bedroom saying I couldn’t remember where I had been, what I had done, the people I had been with; how she had called the police, to whom I had apparently been quite charming and funny, who in turn summoned an ambulance that brought me to the hospital.\r\n\r\nMy poor wife told me this story over forty times before it stuck. Tests were run; EKGs, MRIs, CAT scans, toxicology screens. At one point, a group of medical students with clipboards surrounded my bed.\r\n\r\nThroughout it all, my wife sat holding our absurdly small son wondering if I’d had some sort of stroke.\r\n\r\nI was diagnosed with Transient Global Amnesia, which is, maddeningly, a diagnosis by exclusion. Once everything else has been ruled out, that’s what you get, a rare condition about which little is known. Extreme stress, sleep deprivation, and excessive physical exertion are thought to be the triggers.\r\n\r\nThe effect was as if a bomb had gone off in my brain. All memories months into the past and future were turned to glass.\r\n\r\nThe tests showed an increased sensitivity to light and sound. This proved problematic with a small baby at the house. I was given to carrying earplugs and noise-cancelling headphones with me for diaper changes. Going outside without sunglasses triggered a migraine. A screaming police siren triggered a migraine. A teakettle triggered a migraine. A loud sneeze triggered a migraine.\r\n\r\nI quit my job. The thought of trudging through that soulless routine coupled with my new condition caused me so much anxiety I couldn’t function.\r\n\r\nI was home all the time. When my son was sleeping, I had to do something. When my son was at day care, I had to do something. When I couldn’t sleep, I had to do something. I turned to the piano.\r\n\r\nThe songs I had been working on for the previous few years sounded like boxes of broken glass. Some of them literally gave me headaches. To heal, I picked them apart, focused on the parts that were soothing, that felt right, and threw out what remained. I reshaped them, let them ring out into silence, and created something new.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Did you know beforehand that you were writing songs specifically for this album, or did you choose from songs that had already been written?</strong>\r\n\r\nI chose from songs I had previously written, but completely altered them, post-amnesia. I had a concept for an album I had been pursuing before I awoke in the hospital. That’s the raw material to which I returned\r\n\r\nAt the time, it was important to me to force the issue, to make the collection of songs work even if they felt wrong. That’s when I really started focusing on silence. I threw out the superfluous, ornamental bits and chiseled the songs to their core. Then I wrapped them in silence.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>The title of the album, <em>Obsolete</em>, is very evocative. How did you settle on this title, and what does it mean to you?</strong>\r\n\r\nI really don’t like titling my own songs. When I do, they’re almost always non-sequiturs. I reached out to an old friend, gave him the raw, un-mastered tracks and asked him to title the songs. He suggested the title track be named “Requiem for Obsolete Technology.” A great song name, to be sure, but I felt single word song titles were more apropos, given my editing method and interest in silence.\r\n\r\nIn general, I often feel like I was born a couple hundred years too late. The world is the loudest it has ever been, and for someone who craves quiet it is a struggle to remain focused amongst the head-splitting sounds of squealing brakes, screaming people, crackling electric lines, and wailing sirens. I like to imagine what the world must have sounded like before the industrial revolution.\r\n\r\nActually finding a quiet place is becoming more difficult. I live in Denver, Colorado and the legalization of marijuana, along with our city’s policy of being as inviting as possible for new businesses, has created an immense influx of people. City streets are jammed beyond capacity, and what used to be an easy drive into the mountains has become an arduous chore. Hiking trails are as clogged as motorways. Landmarks are being vandalized.\r\n\r\nQuiet places are vanishing. So I create them in music.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Did you work on the songs for <em>Obsolete</em> individually or collectively? The titles of the songs suggest a link between them.</strong>\r\n\r\nThe songs I ended up including on <em>Obsolete</em> were originally written at completely different times. The only thing they had in common was the fact they were the ones I had been drawn to in the years and months leading up to my amnesia. When I slowed them down and picked them apart after my return from the hospital, I noticed new patterns and arranged their order on the album accordingly. I rarely worked on one song at a time. I typically shaped the whole set of songs at once. If I made a severe edit on one, it often let to a complementary edit on another.\r\n\r\nI touched on this earlier, but I find naming my own songs difficult. My natural inclination is to be abstract and sarcastic with names, but I felt it would be a disservice to the honest and existential nature of these songs to name them so. The titles of the songs are representative of various themes that were woven through my life when I reworked them. Koan is inspired by the Richard Brautigan poem, “Karma Repair Kit, Parts 1-4.” Ambulator is in reference to the Max Frisch novel, <em>Man in the Holocene</em>.\r\n\r\nBoth of these speak to me on a level that is difficult to articulate. “Karma Repair Kit” is a reminder to be still and accepting. Not of anything in particular, but of everything in general. <em>Man in the Holocene</em> is a meditation on loneliness and struck a note within me during my recovery, despite the fact I read it a very long time ago; it just bubbled up out of my mind.\r\n\r\nThe other song titles are fairly literal and loosely based on my friend’s suggestions. 2014 was unequivocally the worst year of my life. The amnesia wasn’t even the most difficult struggle, but I’m not going to elaborate. The songs are my way of processing what happened.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>What’s the main intent behind your music? What are you trying to communicate to your listeners?</strong>\r\n\r\nThat sitting still, especially when it is uncomfortable, is important; that the act of listening, whether it’s active or passive, is important. It slows down your thoughts, so you can spend time with them. Depending on your type of mind or life situation, that may not be desirable, but then it is all the more impactful.\r\n\r\nModern city life is fast and loud. We run around from place to place, from work to home, from the gym to the grocery store, checking our watches or phones, making sure we don’t miss appointments; little of that matters to our internal lives. We focus so intently on what we have to do that we rarely stop to think what we would like to do. Or what we should do, not only for our own happiness but also for our own mental health.\r\n\r\nSlow down and take a nap. Memorybell can help.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Do you have a lot of unreleased songs?</strong>\r\n\r\nI rarely make a proper recording until I’m satisfied that I have a cohesive collection of songs. I have a few songs that didn’t make the cut for <em>Obsolete</em>, but if I do anything with them, I’ll probably chop them up and use parts of them in another project. I’ve reworked one song that didn’t fit the way I wished it had for <em>Obsolete</em> and will most likely include it on the next record.\r\n\r\nI don’t have a lot of unreleased material but I do, however, have a lot of unrecorded material. I don’t write any musical ideas down, I just run the songs through my head over and over. I have several albums worth of songs in various stages of completion floating in my brain. Sometimes I’ll carry a song around for years before I return to it. One song I’ve been working on for 19 years and it still hasn’t fully revealed its mysteries to me. My approach is that if something is worth recording, I’ll remember it. Thankfully, the part of my brain that stores my musical ideas seems largely unaffected by my amnesia.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Are you currently working on something? What can we expect next from Memorybell?</strong>\r\n\r\nI’ve had my fill of reworking old material for the moment. I’m moving forward with my new approach and writing an album from scratch. It’s very freeing, and my process has quickened; I’ve let go of thinking of any given idea as precious, as worthy of meticulous appreciation. If something doesn’t feel right, it’s gone. If some essence of it sticks around, then it has merit and will find a place in some different form. It’s a looser and faster method than I’ve ever used before. I’m halfway done with the follow-up to <em>Obsolete</em>. The songs still breathe slowly and are still melodic, but it’s somehow…different.\r\n\r\nMy main obstacle is lack of time. I have a 2½ year-old and a newborn at home (both boys) and, unlike when I wrote <em>Obsolete</em>, I am now gainfully employed. My time to write is limited to naptime, or those rare occasions when I’m home alone. I’m finding it helps, actually. I carry around the songs in my head, tweak them, try different arrangements, and then when I finally have the time to play them and test my ideas out, the good ideas tend to present themselves more or less immediately.\r\n\r\nWhatever comes next will be looser and more organic.','The Spaces Between: An Interview with Memorybell','','inherit','closed','closed','','14977-revision-v1','','','2016-10-04 14:03:26','2016-10-04 06:03:26','',14977,'http://www.hiddenshoal.com/14977-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(14985,1,'2016-10-04 14:06:27','2016-10-04 06:06:27','','Memorybell','Memorybell','inherit','closed','closed','','gho-web-photo-2_2000x1000-2','','','2016-10-04 14:30:43','2016-10-04 06:30:43','',14977,'http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/GHO-web-photo-2_2000x1000.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(14986,1,'2016-10-04 14:08:04','2016-10-04 06:08:04','','Obsolete Recording Sessions (Dallas)','Obsolete Recording Sessions (Dallas)','inherit','closed','closed','','dallas_sessions-3-1','','','2016-10-04 14:32:46','2016-10-04 06:32:46','',14977,'http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/DALLAS_SESSIONS-3-1.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(14987,1,'2016-10-04 14:08:30','2016-10-04 06:08:30','<a href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/GHO-web-photo-1_2000x2000-b.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft wp-image-14204 size-medium\" src=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/GHO-web-photo-1_2000x2000-b-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"Grant Hazard Outerbridge\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" /></a>On his debut album as <a title=\"Memorybell\" href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/project/memorybell/\">Memorybell</a>, Grant Hazard Outerbridge delivered an abject lesson in need versus want. <em>Obsolete</em> is more than a simple minimalist document, indeed it could be argued that Outerbridge\'s deft touch an innate sense of time make each of it\'s sparse notes laden with import. As if each successive strike of hammer on piano wire was the only thing in the world... until the next. So it\'s no surprise that Outerbridge is as much a thinker as a \"feeler\" when it comes to his musical work. In this utterly engaging interview the lovely Wagner Hertzog sat down with the artist and covered everything from Marvin Gaye to transient global amnesia. This really is a great read.\r\n\r\nMany thanks to Wagner for their time and efforts in making this happen.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>You have been playing music for decades. Was the concept for Memorybell already in your mind before you started working on this music, or is it a more recent artistic project?</strong>\r\n\r\nMemorybell is a very recent project. I wanted to focus on ambient music following the release of <em>Genus Euphony</em>, but the way this album came into being was decidedly unplanned.\r\n\r\nI had been composing, shaping, and reshaping 20 or so songs but could never quite get them to feel the way I wanted them to. After I got out of the hospital, playing the songs was a uniquely unpleasant experience. They sounded awful to me and I had trouble remembering why I had written them in the first place. When a song felt wrong, I either threw it away completely, or focused exclusively on its essence (often just one or two chords) and explored that as granularly as I could.\r\n\r\nMy close creative collaborator from The Very Hush Hush, Peter Bo Rappmund, had heard most of the songs in various stages of their composition. When I was able to play these new, post-amnesia versions for him he strongly urged me to release the record under a new name. The songs were so different from anything I’d ever recorded that it made sense that they be the start of a new project.\r\n\r\n<em> </em>\r\n\r\n<strong>What are your main influences and sources of inspiration?</strong>\r\n\r\nIt sounds odd, but a lot of my musical ideas come from mundane objects. There is a particularly pleasant sound that the metal vent in the roof of my house makes when it lightly rains outside. In my old neighborhood, there was an old row house whose laundry exhaust whistled beautifully whenever it was in use. I could listen to the sounds of an oscillating fan all day long.\r\n\r\nI enjoy sitting still and listening to the world, though it’s far too loud for me. This is one reason why I’m drawn to expansive silences. I draw an immense amount of inspiration and solace from the quiet that descends during a snowfall.\r\n\r\nLess esoteric and more to the point, I find the following works very influential (in no particular order):\r\n\r\nMarvin Gaye – <em>What’s Going On\r\n</em>Air – <em>Moon Safari\r\n</em>Billy Holiday – <em>Solitude\r\n</em>Gas – <em>Pop\r\n</em>Yo La Tengo – <em>And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out\r\n</em>Stars of the Lid – <em>The Tired Sounds of Stars of the Lid</em>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>You seem interested in exploring extreme minimalism in your music, creating a slow, surreal experience for the listener. How did you come to develop such a style?</strong>\r\n\r\nWhen I was studying classical music I was most attracted to dissonant passages. These “sour” notes and chords represented for me a warmer, more interesting way of approaching musical expression. I would sit for hours playing a single passage over and over, slow it down, and make subtle changes to it. As I grew older, I looked forward to this monastic repetition far more than completing whichever increasingly difficult piece of music I was learning.\r\n\r\nStarting in the early 2000s, I played bass in The Very Hush Hush. Like the piano, my method of approaching the bass has changed over the years but, even back then, I was more concerned with playing the most interesting note than playing the root. One well-placed note can heighten anticipation in ways little else can.\r\n\r\nMy ears most want to hear what happens in the moments after a note is played before it dissolves into silence. That tension is powerful and shaping that tension is my primary concern.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_14983\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\"]<a href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/DALLAS_SESSIONS-5.jpg\"><img class=\"wp-image-14983 size-medium\" src=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/DALLAS_SESSIONS-5-300x195.jpg\" alt=\"Memorybell in the Studio\" width=\"300\" height=\"195\" /></a> The Obsolete Recording Sessions[/caption]\r\n\r\n<strong>In terms of your creative processes, are you driven by your technique, or do you let your emotions drive your composing and arranging? Or is it a combination of both?</strong>\r\n\r\nEmotion is the driving force behind my music.\r\n\r\nTo my ears, technique is only as useful as one’s ability to use it to express emotion. Technique for its own sake does little for me.  It’s not that I don’t admire accomplished musicians, I do; I fully understand the time and dedication it takes to become an accomplished musician. But when technique becomes the focal point music becomes hollow. There is a whole spectrum of emotional experiences to be had while listening to music and feeling awe at someone’s ability is only one.\r\n\r\nWhen I compose a new song, I try to keep my mind blank. Turn off my brain. Focus on what I’m feeling and sensing. What do I hear? What do I smell? Taste? I often begin with my eyes closed and open them once something interesting has presented itself. From there, repetition and manipulation of time and silence. How best to amplify what I’m feeling in the moment? What is the simplest way to say what needs to be said?\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Is there is a special place or time that you write music?</strong>\r\n\r\nThere used to be, but now I’m restricted to when my toddler son is either asleep or out of the house. Otherwise, he’ll come bounding from wherever he is and start mashing the keys. Adorable and amazing, but not conducive to thoughtful creation. I’m lucky if I get an uninterrupted chunk of 20 minutes per day.\r\n\r\nPlace is an interesting problem with the piano. You’re stuck wherever the piano is. My work around for this used to be scribbling ideas in a notebook, studying them when I couldn’t be at a piano, etc. Now, unless I’m particularly inspired and one of my 20-minute mini-sessions produces something more-or-less fully formed, I’ll hold a strong phrase in my mind for as long as I have to until I have time to explore it at the piano.\r\n\r\nThis results in a kind of fermentation. The most emotive part of an idea tends to become stronger, while the less necessary, more ancillary bits float off. This won’t always be my song writing process but, considering my 2 year old just had a baby brother, I don’t see it changing in the near future.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>How do you work on individual songs? Do they keep evolving as you experiment with them over time, or do you find it quick and easy to finish each piece?</strong>\r\n\r\nIt depends on the song. Many songs are vague and gauzy at the start and I have to sit with them for a while before they reveal themselves to me. I try not to force anything onto them, just wait for whatever emotion it was that drove me to sit down at the piano to come out. Sometimes this process is quick, other times it is glacial. It took 14 years for ‘Somnolent’ to become what it is.\r\n\r\nThat’s an aberrant example, though. Most songs take on average 2-3 years before I finally leave them be. So, at any given time, the batch of songs I’m working on tend to have been initially conceived several years previous.\r\n\r\nOccasionally, a song will emerge and I can’t figure out how to improve it. Those are always happy moments, though infrequent. I quite enjoy the long, slow evolution of a song. When one is finished, it may sound quite unlike it did in its infancy.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_14986\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\"]<a href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/DALLAS_SESSIONS-3-1.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-14986\" src=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/DALLAS_SESSIONS-3-1-300x195.jpg\" alt=\"Grant Hazard Outerbridge\" width=\"300\" height=\"195\" /></a> Grant Hazard Outerbridge[/caption]\r\n\r\n<strong>In regards to your artistic process, are you a perfectionist, or more of a relaxed creator?</strong>\r\n\r\nA complete and utter perfectionist, though I’m trying to let that go. My compromise is to direct my perfectionist tendencies toward my process rather than toward my music, to stay dedicated to giving the songs room to breathe, to grow, to change. Rather than try to force the songs to be something I want them to be, I allow them to be what they are. Even if I don’t like the end result, being true to the process feels like being true to my nature.\r\n\r\nThe most important part of my process is letting go. Ego can be a useful tool, in crafting personae, in pushing yourself, but I find it a barrier to making meaningful music. My best songwriting comes after I’ve processed whatever drove me to write a song in the first place. What remains after the dust settles.\r\n\r\n<strong>Silence, and the ambiguity it evokes, plays an important role in your music. Is this aspect of your music planned, or do you improvise?</strong>\r\n\r\nVery much planned, as much as one can plan silence.  I can never predict the affect any given length of silence will have, so I conduct tests. Do I add a single beat here? A measure of seven? Thirteen? It’s a little like introducing oneself to a strange animal.\r\n\r\nAs consumers of popular music our ears have been trained to expect predictability in regards to rhythm. 4/4 and 3/4 dominate the sonic landscape. The ghost of the Western classical music tradition is persistent. The purposeful shirking of predictable time signatures is a good thing but if not approached carefully it can estrange the casual listener.\r\n\r\nWhen I shape the silence in my songs, I pay close attention to what my ears want. Then I give them something else. Unusual time signatures often do the trick, but I try not to employ them for their own sake. Sometimes a standard time signature alternated with an irregular or changing amount of silence has a magical effect. The ultimate test is if someone can’t tell that a song is in 17/8 or 13/4.\r\n\r\nThe ideal is to make the unnatural feel natural.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Can you tell us about your experience of transient global amnesia and how it influenced the creation of this album.</strong>\r\n\r\nIn late February of 2014 my first son was two weeks old. He was curled up with my wife on the couch and I left to meet up with some friends. We had a couple of beers and I made my way home. It was lightly snowing.\r\n\r\nI walked in the house and my wife and son were still curled up on the couch. I took my son upstairs, swaddled him and put him in his crib, and put on my headphones.\r\n\r\nI woke up in a hospital roughly ten hours later on a gurney, obscenely bright fluorescent lights flashing over my face. I saw my wife and asked, “What am I doing here?” She patiently recounted the story of how I had come into our bedroom saying I couldn’t remember where I had been, what I had done, the people I had been with; how she had called the police, to whom I had apparently been quite charming and funny, who in turn summoned an ambulance that brought me to the hospital.\r\n\r\nMy poor wife told me this story over forty times before it stuck. Tests were run; EKGs, MRIs, CAT scans, toxicology screens. At one point, a group of medical students with clipboards surrounded my bed.\r\n\r\nThroughout it all, my wife sat holding our absurdly small son wondering if I’d had some sort of stroke.\r\n\r\nI was diagnosed with Transient Global Amnesia, which is, maddeningly, a diagnosis by exclusion. Once everything else has been ruled out, that’s what you get, a rare condition about which little is known. Extreme stress, sleep deprivation, and excessive physical exertion are thought to be the triggers.\r\n\r\nThe effect was as if a bomb had gone off in my brain. All memories months into the past and future were turned to glass.\r\n\r\nThe tests showed an increased sensitivity to light and sound. This proved problematic with a small baby at the house. I was given to carrying earplugs and noise-cancelling headphones with me for diaper changes. Going outside without sunglasses triggered a migraine. A screaming police siren triggered a migraine. A teakettle triggered a migraine. A loud sneeze triggered a migraine.\r\n\r\nI quit my job. The thought of trudging through that soulless routine coupled with my new condition caused me so much anxiety I couldn’t function.\r\n\r\nI was home all the time. When my son was sleeping, I had to do something. When my son was at day care, I had to do something. When I couldn’t sleep, I had to do something. I turned to the piano.\r\n\r\nThe songs I had been working on for the previous few years sounded like boxes of broken glass. Some of them literally gave me headaches. To heal, I picked them apart, focused on the parts that were soothing, that felt right, and threw out what remained. I reshaped them, let them ring out into silence, and created something new.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Did you know beforehand that you were writing songs specifically for this album, or did you choose from songs that had already been written?</strong>\r\n\r\nI chose from songs I had previously written, but completely altered them, post-amnesia. I had a concept for an album I had been pursuing before I awoke in the hospital. That’s the raw material to which I returned\r\n\r\nAt the time, it was important to me to force the issue, to make the collection of songs work even if they felt wrong. That’s when I really started focusing on silence. I threw out the superfluous, ornamental bits and chiseled the songs to their core. Then I wrapped them in silence.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_14571\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\"]<a href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Obsolete-Cover-Art.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-14571\" src=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Obsolete-Cover-Art-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"Obsolete Cover Art\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" /></a> Obsolete[/caption]\r\n\r\n<strong>The title of the album, <em>Obsolete</em>, is very evocative. How did you settle on this title, and what does it mean to you?</strong>\r\n\r\nI really don’t like titling my own songs. When I do, they’re almost always non-sequiturs. I reached out to an old friend, gave him the raw, un-mastered tracks and asked him to title the songs. He suggested the title track be named “Requiem for Obsolete Technology.” A great song name, to be sure, but I felt single word song titles were more apropos, given my editing method and interest in silence.\r\n\r\nIn general, I often feel like I was born a couple hundred years too late. The world is the loudest it has ever been, and for someone who craves quiet it is a struggle to remain focused amongst the head-splitting sounds of squealing brakes, screaming people, crackling electric lines, and wailing sirens. I like to imagine what the world must have sounded like before the industrial revolution.\r\n\r\nActually finding a quiet place is becoming more difficult. I live in Denver, Colorado and the legalization of marijuana, along with our city’s policy of being as inviting as possible for new businesses, has created an immense influx of people. City streets are jammed beyond capacity, and what used to be an easy drive into the mountains has become an arduous chore. Hiking trails are as clogged as motorways. Landmarks are being vandalized.\r\n\r\nQuiet places are vanishing. So I create them in music.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Did you work on the songs for <em>Obsolete</em> individually or collectively? The titles of the songs suggest a link between them.</strong>\r\n\r\nThe songs I ended up including on <em>Obsolete</em> were originally written at completely different times. The only thing they had in common was the fact they were the ones I had been drawn to in the years and months leading up to my amnesia. When I slowed them down and picked them apart after my return from the hospital, I noticed new patterns and arranged their order on the album accordingly. I rarely worked on one song at a time. I typically shaped the whole set of songs at once. If I made a severe edit on one, it often let to a complementary edit on another.\r\n\r\nI touched on this earlier, but I find naming my own songs difficult. My natural inclination is to be abstract and sarcastic with names, but I felt it would be a disservice to the honest and existential nature of these songs to name them so. The titles of the songs are representative of various themes that were woven through my life when I reworked them. Koan is inspired by the Richard Brautigan poem, “Karma Repair Kit, Parts 1-4.” Ambulator is in reference to the Max Frisch novel, <em>Man in the Holocene</em>.\r\n\r\nBoth of these speak to me on a level that is difficult to articulate. “Karma Repair Kit” is a reminder to be still and accepting. Not of anything in particular, but of everything in general. <em>Man in the Holocene</em> is a meditation on loneliness and struck a note within me during my recovery, despite the fact I read it a very long time ago; it just bubbled up out of my mind.\r\n\r\nThe other song titles are fairly literal and loosely based on my friend’s suggestions. 2014 was unequivocally the worst year of my life. The amnesia wasn’t even the most difficult struggle, but I’m not going to elaborate. The songs are my way of processing what happened.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>What’s the main intent behind your music? What are you trying to communicate to your listeners?</strong>\r\n\r\nThat sitting still, especially when it is uncomfortable, is important; that the act of listening, whether it’s active or passive, is important. It slows down your thoughts, so you can spend time with them. Depending on your type of mind or life situation, that may not be desirable, but then it is all the more impactful.\r\n\r\nModern city life is fast and loud. We run around from place to place, from work to home, from the gym to the grocery store, checking our watches or phones, making sure we don’t miss appointments; little of that matters to our internal lives. We focus so intently on what we have to do that we rarely stop to think what we would like to do. Or what we should do, not only for our own happiness but also for our own mental health.\r\n\r\nSlow down and take a nap. Memorybell can help.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_14985\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\"]<a href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/GHO-web-photo-2_2000x1000.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-14985\" src=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/GHO-web-photo-2_2000x1000-300x150.jpg\" alt=\"Grant Hazard Outerbridge\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\" /></a> Memorybell[/caption]\r\n\r\n<strong>Do you have a lot of unreleased songs?</strong>\r\n\r\nI rarely make a proper recording until I’m satisfied that I have a cohesive collection of songs. I have a few songs that didn’t make the cut for <em>Obsolete</em>, but if I do anything with them, I’ll probably chop them up and use parts of them in another project. I’ve reworked one song that didn’t fit the way I wished it had for <em>Obsolete</em> and will most likely include it on the next record.\r\n\r\nI don’t have a lot of unreleased material but I do, however, have a lot of unrecorded material. I don’t write any musical ideas down, I just run the songs through my head over and over. I have several albums worth of songs in various stages of completion floating in my brain. Sometimes I’ll carry a song around for years before I return to it. One song I’ve been working on for 19 years and it still hasn’t fully revealed its mysteries to me. My approach is that if something is worth recording, I’ll remember it. Thankfully, the part of my brain that stores my musical ideas seems largely unaffected by my amnesia.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Are you currently working on something? What can we expect next from Memorybell?</strong>\r\n\r\nI’ve had my fill of reworking old material for the moment. I’m moving forward with my new approach and writing an album from scratch. It’s very freeing, and my process has quickened; I’ve let go of thinking of any given idea as precious, as worthy of meticulous appreciation. If something doesn’t feel right, it’s gone. If some essence of it sticks around, then it has merit and will find a place in some different form. It’s a looser and faster method than I’ve ever used before. I’m halfway done with the follow-up to <em>Obsolete</em>. The songs still breathe slowly and are still melodic, but it’s somehow…different.\r\n\r\nMy main obstacle is lack of time. I have a 2½ year-old and a newborn at home (both boys) and, unlike when I wrote <em>Obsolete</em>, I am now gainfully employed. My time to write is limited to naptime, or those rare occasions when I’m home alone. I’m finding it helps, actually. I carry around the songs in my head, tweak them, try different arrangements, and then when I finally have the time to play them and test my ideas out, the good ideas tend to present themselves more or less immediately.\r\n\r\nWhatever comes next will be looser and more organic.','The Spaces Between: An Interview with Memorybell','','inherit','closed','closed','','14977-revision-v1','','','2016-10-04 14:08:30','2016-10-04 06:08:30','',14977,'http://www.hiddenshoal.com/14977-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(14988,1,'2016-10-04 14:08:45','2016-10-04 06:08:45','<a href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/GHO-web-photo-1_2000x2000-b.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft wp-image-14204 size-medium\" src=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/GHO-web-photo-1_2000x2000-b-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"Grant Hazard Outerbridge\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" /></a>On his debut album as <a title=\"Memorybell\" href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/project/memorybell/\">Memorybell</a>, Grant Hazard Outerbridge delivered an abject lesson in need versus want. <em>Obsolete</em> is more than a simple minimalist document, indeed it could be argued that Outerbridge\'s deft touch an innate sense of time make each of it\'s sparse notes laden with import. As if each successive strike of hammer on piano wire was the only thing in the world... until the next. So it\'s no surprise that Outerbridge is as much a thinker as a \"feeler\" when it comes to his musical work. In this utterly engaging interview the lovely Wagner Hertzog sat down with the artist and covered everything from Marvin Gaye to transient global amnesia. This really is a great read.\r\n\r\nMany thanks to Wagner and Grant for their time and efforts in making this happen.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>You have been playing music for decades. Was the concept for Memorybell already in your mind before you started working on this music, or is it a more recent artistic project?</strong>\r\n\r\nMemorybell is a very recent project. I wanted to focus on ambient music following the release of <em>Genus Euphony</em>, but the way this album came into being was decidedly unplanned.\r\n\r\nI had been composing, shaping, and reshaping 20 or so songs but could never quite get them to feel the way I wanted them to. After I got out of the hospital, playing the songs was a uniquely unpleasant experience. They sounded awful to me and I had trouble remembering why I had written them in the first place. When a song felt wrong, I either threw it away completely, or focused exclusively on its essence (often just one or two chords) and explored that as granularly as I could.\r\n\r\nMy close creative collaborator from The Very Hush Hush, Peter Bo Rappmund, had heard most of the songs in various stages of their composition. When I was able to play these new, post-amnesia versions for him he strongly urged me to release the record under a new name. The songs were so different from anything I’d ever recorded that it made sense that they be the start of a new project.\r\n\r\n<em> </em>\r\n\r\n<strong>What are your main influences and sources of inspiration?</strong>\r\n\r\nIt sounds odd, but a lot of my musical ideas come from mundane objects. There is a particularly pleasant sound that the metal vent in the roof of my house makes when it lightly rains outside. In my old neighborhood, there was an old row house whose laundry exhaust whistled beautifully whenever it was in use. I could listen to the sounds of an oscillating fan all day long.\r\n\r\nI enjoy sitting still and listening to the world, though it’s far too loud for me. This is one reason why I’m drawn to expansive silences. I draw an immense amount of inspiration and solace from the quiet that descends during a snowfall.\r\n\r\nLess esoteric and more to the point, I find the following works very influential (in no particular order):\r\n\r\nMarvin Gaye – <em>What’s Going On\r\n</em>Air – <em>Moon Safari\r\n</em>Billy Holiday – <em>Solitude\r\n</em>Gas – <em>Pop\r\n</em>Yo La Tengo – <em>And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out\r\n</em>Stars of the Lid – <em>The Tired Sounds of Stars of the Lid</em>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>You seem interested in exploring extreme minimalism in your music, creating a slow, surreal experience for the listener. How did you come to develop such a style?</strong>\r\n\r\nWhen I was studying classical music I was most attracted to dissonant passages. These “sour” notes and chords represented for me a warmer, more interesting way of approaching musical expression. I would sit for hours playing a single passage over and over, slow it down, and make subtle changes to it. As I grew older, I looked forward to this monastic repetition far more than completing whichever increasingly difficult piece of music I was learning.\r\n\r\nStarting in the early 2000s, I played bass in The Very Hush Hush. Like the piano, my method of approaching the bass has changed over the years but, even back then, I was more concerned with playing the most interesting note than playing the root. One well-placed note can heighten anticipation in ways little else can.\r\n\r\nMy ears most want to hear what happens in the moments after a note is played before it dissolves into silence. That tension is powerful and shaping that tension is my primary concern.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_14983\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\"]<a href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/DALLAS_SESSIONS-5.jpg\"><img class=\"wp-image-14983 size-medium\" src=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/DALLAS_SESSIONS-5-300x195.jpg\" alt=\"Memorybell in the Studio\" width=\"300\" height=\"195\" /></a> The Obsolete Recording Sessions[/caption]\r\n\r\n<strong>In terms of your creative processes, are you driven by your technique, or do you let your emotions drive your composing and arranging? Or is it a combination of both?</strong>\r\n\r\nEmotion is the driving force behind my music.\r\n\r\nTo my ears, technique is only as useful as one’s ability to use it to express emotion. Technique for its own sake does little for me.  It’s not that I don’t admire accomplished musicians, I do; I fully understand the time and dedication it takes to become an accomplished musician. But when technique becomes the focal point music becomes hollow. There is a whole spectrum of emotional experiences to be had while listening to music and feeling awe at someone’s ability is only one.\r\n\r\nWhen I compose a new song, I try to keep my mind blank. Turn off my brain. Focus on what I’m feeling and sensing. What do I hear? What do I smell? Taste? I often begin with my eyes closed and open them once something interesting has presented itself. From there, repetition and manipulation of time and silence. How best to amplify what I’m feeling in the moment? What is the simplest way to say what needs to be said?\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Is there is a special place or time that you write music?</strong>\r\n\r\nThere used to be, but now I’m restricted to when my toddler son is either asleep or out of the house. Otherwise, he’ll come bounding from wherever he is and start mashing the keys. Adorable and amazing, but not conducive to thoughtful creation. I’m lucky if I get an uninterrupted chunk of 20 minutes per day.\r\n\r\nPlace is an interesting problem with the piano. You’re stuck wherever the piano is. My work around for this used to be scribbling ideas in a notebook, studying them when I couldn’t be at a piano, etc. Now, unless I’m particularly inspired and one of my 20-minute mini-sessions produces something more-or-less fully formed, I’ll hold a strong phrase in my mind for as long as I have to until I have time to explore it at the piano.\r\n\r\nThis results in a kind of fermentation. The most emotive part of an idea tends to become stronger, while the less necessary, more ancillary bits float off. This won’t always be my song writing process but, considering my 2 year old just had a baby brother, I don’t see it changing in the near future.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>How do you work on individual songs? Do they keep evolving as you experiment with them over time, or do you find it quick and easy to finish each piece?</strong>\r\n\r\nIt depends on the song. Many songs are vague and gauzy at the start and I have to sit with them for a while before they reveal themselves to me. I try not to force anything onto them, just wait for whatever emotion it was that drove me to sit down at the piano to come out. Sometimes this process is quick, other times it is glacial. It took 14 years for ‘Somnolent’ to become what it is.\r\n\r\nThat’s an aberrant example, though. Most songs take on average 2-3 years before I finally leave them be. So, at any given time, the batch of songs I’m working on tend to have been initially conceived several years previous.\r\n\r\nOccasionally, a song will emerge and I can’t figure out how to improve it. Those are always happy moments, though infrequent. I quite enjoy the long, slow evolution of a song. When one is finished, it may sound quite unlike it did in its infancy.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_14986\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\"]<a href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/DALLAS_SESSIONS-3-1.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-14986\" src=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/DALLAS_SESSIONS-3-1-300x195.jpg\" alt=\"Grant Hazard Outerbridge\" width=\"300\" height=\"195\" /></a> Grant Hazard Outerbridge[/caption]\r\n\r\n<strong>In regards to your artistic process, are you a perfectionist, or more of a relaxed creator?</strong>\r\n\r\nA complete and utter perfectionist, though I’m trying to let that go. My compromise is to direct my perfectionist tendencies toward my process rather than toward my music, to stay dedicated to giving the songs room to breathe, to grow, to change. Rather than try to force the songs to be something I want them to be, I allow them to be what they are. Even if I don’t like the end result, being true to the process feels like being true to my nature.\r\n\r\nThe most important part of my process is letting go. Ego can be a useful tool, in crafting personae, in pushing yourself, but I find it a barrier to making meaningful music. My best songwriting comes after I’ve processed whatever drove me to write a song in the first place. What remains after the dust settles.\r\n\r\n<strong>Silence, and the ambiguity it evokes, plays an important role in your music. Is this aspect of your music planned, or do you improvise?</strong>\r\n\r\nVery much planned, as much as one can plan silence.  I can never predict the affect any given length of silence will have, so I conduct tests. Do I add a single beat here? A measure of seven? Thirteen? It’s a little like introducing oneself to a strange animal.\r\n\r\nAs consumers of popular music our ears have been trained to expect predictability in regards to rhythm. 4/4 and 3/4 dominate the sonic landscape. The ghost of the Western classical music tradition is persistent. The purposeful shirking of predictable time signatures is a good thing but if not approached carefully it can estrange the casual listener.\r\n\r\nWhen I shape the silence in my songs, I pay close attention to what my ears want. Then I give them something else. Unusual time signatures often do the trick, but I try not to employ them for their own sake. Sometimes a standard time signature alternated with an irregular or changing amount of silence has a magical effect. The ultimate test is if someone can’t tell that a song is in 17/8 or 13/4.\r\n\r\nThe ideal is to make the unnatural feel natural.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Can you tell us about your experience of transient global amnesia and how it influenced the creation of this album.</strong>\r\n\r\nIn late February of 2014 my first son was two weeks old. He was curled up with my wife on the couch and I left to meet up with some friends. We had a couple of beers and I made my way home. It was lightly snowing.\r\n\r\nI walked in the house and my wife and son were still curled up on the couch. I took my son upstairs, swaddled him and put him in his crib, and put on my headphones.\r\n\r\nI woke up in a hospital roughly ten hours later on a gurney, obscenely bright fluorescent lights flashing over my face. I saw my wife and asked, “What am I doing here?” She patiently recounted the story of how I had come into our bedroom saying I couldn’t remember where I had been, what I had done, the people I had been with; how she had called the police, to whom I had apparently been quite charming and funny, who in turn summoned an ambulance that brought me to the hospital.\r\n\r\nMy poor wife told me this story over forty times before it stuck. Tests were run; EKGs, MRIs, CAT scans, toxicology screens. At one point, a group of medical students with clipboards surrounded my bed.\r\n\r\nThroughout it all, my wife sat holding our absurdly small son wondering if I’d had some sort of stroke.\r\n\r\nI was diagnosed with Transient Global Amnesia, which is, maddeningly, a diagnosis by exclusion. Once everything else has been ruled out, that’s what you get, a rare condition about which little is known. Extreme stress, sleep deprivation, and excessive physical exertion are thought to be the triggers.\r\n\r\nThe effect was as if a bomb had gone off in my brain. All memories months into the past and future were turned to glass.\r\n\r\nThe tests showed an increased sensitivity to light and sound. This proved problematic with a small baby at the house. I was given to carrying earplugs and noise-cancelling headphones with me for diaper changes. Going outside without sunglasses triggered a migraine. A screaming police siren triggered a migraine. A teakettle triggered a migraine. A loud sneeze triggered a migraine.\r\n\r\nI quit my job. The thought of trudging through that soulless routine coupled with my new condition caused me so much anxiety I couldn’t function.\r\n\r\nI was home all the time. When my son was sleeping, I had to do something. When my son was at day care, I had to do something. When I couldn’t sleep, I had to do something. I turned to the piano.\r\n\r\nThe songs I had been working on for the previous few years sounded like boxes of broken glass. Some of them literally gave me headaches. To heal, I picked them apart, focused on the parts that were soothing, that felt right, and threw out what remained. I reshaped them, let them ring out into silence, and created something new.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Did you know beforehand that you were writing songs specifically for this album, or did you choose from songs that had already been written?</strong>\r\n\r\nI chose from songs I had previously written, but completely altered them, post-amnesia. I had a concept for an album I had been pursuing before I awoke in the hospital. That’s the raw material to which I returned\r\n\r\nAt the time, it was important to me to force the issue, to make the collection of songs work even if they felt wrong. That’s when I really started focusing on silence. I threw out the superfluous, ornamental bits and chiseled the songs to their core. Then I wrapped them in silence.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_14571\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\"]<a href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Obsolete-Cover-Art.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-14571\" src=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Obsolete-Cover-Art-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"Obsolete Cover Art\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" /></a> Obsolete[/caption]\r\n\r\n<strong>The title of the album, <em>Obsolete</em>, is very evocative. How did you settle on this title, and what does it mean to you?</strong>\r\n\r\nI really don’t like titling my own songs. When I do, they’re almost always non-sequiturs. I reached out to an old friend, gave him the raw, un-mastered tracks and asked him to title the songs. He suggested the title track be named “Requiem for Obsolete Technology.” A great song name, to be sure, but I felt single word song titles were more apropos, given my editing method and interest in silence.\r\n\r\nIn general, I often feel like I was born a couple hundred years too late. The world is the loudest it has ever been, and for someone who craves quiet it is a struggle to remain focused amongst the head-splitting sounds of squealing brakes, screaming people, crackling electric lines, and wailing sirens. I like to imagine what the world must have sounded like before the industrial revolution.\r\n\r\nActually finding a quiet place is becoming more difficult. I live in Denver, Colorado and the legalization of marijuana, along with our city’s policy of being as inviting as possible for new businesses, has created an immense influx of people. City streets are jammed beyond capacity, and what used to be an easy drive into the mountains has become an arduous chore. Hiking trails are as clogged as motorways. Landmarks are being vandalized.\r\n\r\nQuiet places are vanishing. So I create them in music.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Did you work on the songs for <em>Obsolete</em> individually or collectively? The titles of the songs suggest a link between them.</strong>\r\n\r\nThe songs I ended up including on <em>Obsolete</em> were originally written at completely different times. The only thing they had in common was the fact they were the ones I had been drawn to in the years and months leading up to my amnesia. When I slowed them down and picked them apart after my return from the hospital, I noticed new patterns and arranged their order on the album accordingly. I rarely worked on one song at a time. I typically shaped the whole set of songs at once. If I made a severe edit on one, it often let to a complementary edit on another.\r\n\r\nI touched on this earlier, but I find naming my own songs difficult. My natural inclination is to be abstract and sarcastic with names, but I felt it would be a disservice to the honest and existential nature of these songs to name them so. The titles of the songs are representative of various themes that were woven through my life when I reworked them. Koan is inspired by the Richard Brautigan poem, “Karma Repair Kit, Parts 1-4.” Ambulator is in reference to the Max Frisch novel, <em>Man in the Holocene</em>.\r\n\r\nBoth of these speak to me on a level that is difficult to articulate. “Karma Repair Kit” is a reminder to be still and accepting. Not of anything in particular, but of everything in general. <em>Man in the Holocene</em> is a meditation on loneliness and struck a note within me during my recovery, despite the fact I read it a very long time ago; it just bubbled up out of my mind.\r\n\r\nThe other song titles are fairly literal and loosely based on my friend’s suggestions. 2014 was unequivocally the worst year of my life. The amnesia wasn’t even the most difficult struggle, but I’m not going to elaborate. The songs are my way of processing what happened.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>What’s the main intent behind your music? What are you trying to communicate to your listeners?</strong>\r\n\r\nThat sitting still, especially when it is uncomfortable, is important; that the act of listening, whether it’s active or passive, is important. It slows down your thoughts, so you can spend time with them. Depending on your type of mind or life situation, that may not be desirable, but then it is all the more impactful.\r\n\r\nModern city life is fast and loud. We run around from place to place, from work to home, from the gym to the grocery store, checking our watches or phones, making sure we don’t miss appointments; little of that matters to our internal lives. We focus so intently on what we have to do that we rarely stop to think what we would like to do. Or what we should do, not only for our own happiness but also for our own mental health.\r\n\r\nSlow down and take a nap. Memorybell can help.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_14985\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\"]<a href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/GHO-web-photo-2_2000x1000.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-14985\" src=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/GHO-web-photo-2_2000x1000-300x150.jpg\" alt=\"Grant Hazard Outerbridge\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\" /></a> Memorybell[/caption]\r\n\r\n<strong>Do you have a lot of unreleased songs?</strong>\r\n\r\nI rarely make a proper recording until I’m satisfied that I have a cohesive collection of songs. I have a few songs that didn’t make the cut for <em>Obsolete</em>, but if I do anything with them, I’ll probably chop them up and use parts of them in another project. I’ve reworked one song that didn’t fit the way I wished it had for <em>Obsolete</em> and will most likely include it on the next record.\r\n\r\nI don’t have a lot of unreleased material but I do, however, have a lot of unrecorded material. I don’t write any musical ideas down, I just run the songs through my head over and over. I have several albums worth of songs in various stages of completion floating in my brain. Sometimes I’ll carry a song around for years before I return to it. One song I’ve been working on for 19 years and it still hasn’t fully revealed its mysteries to me. My approach is that if something is worth recording, I’ll remember it. Thankfully, the part of my brain that stores my musical ideas seems largely unaffected by my amnesia.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Are you currently working on something? What can we expect next from Memorybell?</strong>\r\n\r\nI’ve had my fill of reworking old material for the moment. I’m moving forward with my new approach and writing an album from scratch. It’s very freeing, and my process has quickened; I’ve let go of thinking of any given idea as precious, as worthy of meticulous appreciation. If something doesn’t feel right, it’s gone. If some essence of it sticks around, then it has merit and will find a place in some different form. It’s a looser and faster method than I’ve ever used before. I’m halfway done with the follow-up to <em>Obsolete</em>. The songs still breathe slowly and are still melodic, but it’s somehow…different.\r\n\r\nMy main obstacle is lack of time. I have a 2½ year-old and a newborn at home (both boys) and, unlike when I wrote <em>Obsolete</em>, I am now gainfully employed. My time to write is limited to naptime, or those rare occasions when I’m home alone. I’m finding it helps, actually. I carry around the songs in my head, tweak them, try different arrangements, and then when I finally have the time to play them and test my ideas out, the good ideas tend to present themselves more or less immediately.\r\n\r\nWhatever comes next will be looser and more organic.','The Spaces Between: An Interview with Memorybell','','inherit','closed','closed','','14977-revision-v1','','','2016-10-04 14:08:45','2016-10-04 06:08:45','',14977,'http://www.hiddenshoal.com/14977-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(14989,1,'2016-10-04 14:12:19','2016-10-04 06:12:19','<a href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/GHO-web-photo-1_2000x2000-b.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft wp-image-14204 size-medium\" src=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/GHO-web-photo-1_2000x2000-b-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"Grant Hazard Outerbridge\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" /></a>On his debut album as <a title=\"Memorybell\" href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/project/memorybell/\">Memorybell</a>, Grant Hazard Outerbridge delivered an abject lesson in need versus want. <em>Obsolete</em> is more than a simple minimalist document, indeed it could be argued that Outerbridge\'s deft touch an innate sense of time make each of it\'s sparse notes laden with import. As if each successive strike of hammer on piano wire was the only thing in the world... until the next. So it\'s no surprise that Outerbridge is as much a thinker as a \"feeler\" when it comes to his musical work. In this utterly engaging interview the lovely Wagner Hertzog sat down with the artist and covered everything from Marvin Gaye to transient global amnesia. This really is a great read.\r\n\r\nMany thanks to Wagner and Grant for their time and efforts in making this happen.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>You have been playing music for decades. Was the concept for Memorybell already in your mind before you started working on this music, or is it a more recent artistic project?</strong>\r\n\r\nMemorybell is a very recent project. I wanted to focus on ambient music following the release of <em>Genus Euphony</em>, but the way this album came into being was decidedly unplanned.\r\n\r\nI had been composing, shaping, and reshaping 20 or so songs but could never quite get them to feel the way I wanted them to. After I got out of the hospital, playing the songs was a uniquely unpleasant experience. They sounded awful to me and I had trouble remembering why I had written them in the first place. When a song felt wrong, I either threw it away completely, or focused exclusively on its essence (often just one or two chords) and explored that as granularly as I could.\r\n\r\nMy close creative collaborator from The Very Hush Hush, Peter Bo Rappmund, had heard most of the songs in various stages of their composition. When I was able to play these new, post-amnesia versions for him he strongly urged me to release the record under a new name. The songs were so different from anything I’d ever recorded that it made sense that they be the start of a new project.\r\n\r\n<em> </em>\r\n\r\n<strong>What are your main influences and sources of inspiration?</strong>\r\n\r\nIt sounds odd, but a lot of my musical ideas come from mundane objects. There is a particularly pleasant sound that the metal vent in the roof of my house makes when it lightly rains outside. In my old neighborhood, there was an old row house whose laundry exhaust whistled beautifully whenever it was in use. I could listen to the sounds of an oscillating fan all day long.\r\n\r\nI enjoy sitting still and listening to the world, though it’s far too loud for me. This is one reason why I’m drawn to expansive silences. I draw an immense amount of inspiration and solace from the quiet that descends during a snowfall.\r\n\r\nLess esoteric and more to the point, I find the following works very influential (in no particular order):\r\n\r\nMarvin Gaye – <em>What’s Going On\r\n</em>Air – <em>Moon Safari\r\n</em>Billy Holiday – <em>Solitude\r\n</em>Gas – <em>Pop\r\n</em>Yo La Tengo – <em>And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out\r\n</em>Stars of the Lid – <em>The Tired Sounds of Stars of the Lid</em>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>You seem interested in exploring extreme minimalism in your music, creating a slow, surreal experience for the listener. How did you come to develop such a style?</strong>\r\n\r\nWhen I was studying classical music I was most attracted to dissonant passages. These “sour” notes and chords represented for me a warmer, more interesting way of approaching musical expression. I would sit for hours playing a single passage over and over, slow it down, and make subtle changes to it. As I grew older, I looked forward to this monastic repetition far more than completing whichever increasingly difficult piece of music I was learning.\r\n\r\nStarting in the early 2000s, I played bass in The Very Hush Hush. Like the piano, my method of approaching the bass has changed over the years but, even back then, I was more concerned with playing the most interesting note than playing the root. One well-placed note can heighten anticipation in ways little else can.\r\n\r\nMy ears most want to hear what happens in the moments after a note is played before it dissolves into silence. That tension is powerful and shaping that tension is my primary concern.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_14983\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\"]<a href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/DALLAS_SESSIONS-5.jpg\"><img class=\"wp-image-14983 size-medium\" src=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/DALLAS_SESSIONS-5-300x195.jpg\" alt=\"Memorybell in the Studio\" width=\"300\" height=\"195\" /></a> The Obsolete Recording Sessions[/caption]\r\n\r\n<strong>In terms of your creative processes, are you driven by your technique, or do you let your emotions drive your composing and arranging? Or is it a combination of both?</strong>\r\n\r\nEmotion is the driving force behind my music.\r\n\r\nTo my ears, technique is only as useful as one’s ability to use it to express emotion. Technique for its own sake does little for me.  It’s not that I don’t admire accomplished musicians, I do; I fully understand the time and dedication it takes to become an accomplished musician. But when technique becomes the focal point music becomes hollow. There is a whole spectrum of emotional experiences to be had while listening to music and feeling awe at someone’s ability is only one.\r\n\r\nWhen I compose a new song, I try to keep my mind blank. Turn off my brain. Focus on what I’m feeling and sensing. What do I hear? What do I smell? Taste? I often begin with my eyes closed and open them once something interesting has presented itself. From there, repetition and manipulation of time and silence. How best to amplify what I’m feeling in the moment? What is the simplest way to say what needs to be said?\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Is there is a special place or time that you write music?</strong>\r\n\r\nThere used to be, but now I’m restricted to when my toddler son is either asleep or out of the house. Otherwise, he’ll come bounding from wherever he is and start mashing the keys. Adorable and amazing, but not conducive to thoughtful creation. I’m lucky if I get an uninterrupted chunk of 20 minutes per day.\r\n\r\nPlace is an interesting problem with the piano. You’re stuck wherever the piano is. My work around for this used to be scribbling ideas in a notebook, studying them when I couldn’t be at a piano, etc. Now, unless I’m particularly inspired and one of my 20-minute mini-sessions produces something more-or-less fully formed, I’ll hold a strong phrase in my mind for as long as I have to until I have time to explore it at the piano.\r\n\r\nThis results in a kind of fermentation. The most emotive part of an idea tends to become stronger, while the less necessary, more ancillary bits float off. This won’t always be my song writing process but, considering my 2 year old just had a baby brother, I don’t see it changing in the near future.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>How do you work on individual songs? Do they keep evolving as you experiment with them over time, or do you find it quick and easy to finish each piece?</strong>\r\n\r\nIt depends on the song. Many songs are vague and gauzy at the start and I have to sit with them for a while before they reveal themselves to me. I try not to force anything onto them, just wait for whatever emotion it was that drove me to sit down at the piano to come out. Sometimes this process is quick, other times it is glacial. It took 14 years for ‘Somnolent’ to become what it is.\r\n\r\nThat’s an aberrant example, though. Most songs take on average 2-3 years before I finally leave them be. So, at any given time, the batch of songs I’m working on tend to have been initially conceived several years previous.\r\n\r\nOccasionally, a song will emerge and I can’t figure out how to improve it. Those are always happy moments, though infrequent. I quite enjoy the long, slow evolution of a song. When one is finished, it may sound quite unlike it did in its infancy.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>In regards to your artistic process, are you a perfectionist, or more of a relaxed creator?</strong>\r\n\r\nA complete and utter perfectionist, though I’m trying to let that go. My compromise is to direct my perfectionist tendencies toward my process rather than toward my music, to stay dedicated to giving the songs room to breathe, to grow, to change. Rather than try to force the songs to be something I want them to be, I allow them to be what they are. Even if I don’t like the end result, being true to the process feels like being true to my nature.\r\n\r\nThe most important part of my process is letting go. Ego can be a useful tool, in crafting personae, in pushing yourself, but I find it a barrier to making meaningful music. My best songwriting comes after I’ve processed whatever drove me to write a song in the first place. What remains after the dust settles.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_14986\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\"]<a href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/DALLAS_SESSIONS-3-1.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-14986\" src=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/DALLAS_SESSIONS-3-1-300x195.jpg\" alt=\"Grant Hazard Outerbridge\" width=\"300\" height=\"195\" /></a> Grant Hazard Outerbridge[/caption]\r\n\r\n<strong>Silence, and the ambiguity it evokes, plays an important role in your music. Is this aspect of your music planned, or do you improvise?</strong>\r\n\r\nVery much planned, as much as one can plan silence.  I can never predict the affect any given length of silence will have, so I conduct tests. Do I add a single beat here? A measure of seven? Thirteen? It’s a little like introducing oneself to a strange animal.\r\n\r\nAs consumers of popular music our ears have been trained to expect predictability in regards to rhythm. 4/4 and 3/4 dominate the sonic landscape. The ghost of the Western classical music tradition is persistent. The purposeful shirking of predictable time signatures is a good thing but if not approached carefully it can estrange the casual listener.\r\n\r\nWhen I shape the silence in my songs, I pay close attention to what my ears want. Then I give them something else. Unusual time signatures often do the trick, but I try not to employ them for their own sake. Sometimes a standard time signature alternated with an irregular or changing amount of silence has a magical effect. The ultimate test is if someone can’t tell that a song is in 17/8 or 13/4.\r\n\r\nThe ideal is to make the unnatural feel natural.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Can you tell us about your experience of transient global amnesia and how it influenced the creation of this album.</strong>\r\n\r\nIn late February of 2014 my first son was two weeks old. He was curled up with my wife on the couch and I left to meet up with some friends. We had a couple of beers and I made my way home. It was lightly snowing.\r\n\r\nI walked in the house and my wife and son were still curled up on the couch. I took my son upstairs, swaddled him and put him in his crib, and put on my headphones.\r\n\r\nI woke up in a hospital roughly ten hours later on a gurney, obscenely bright fluorescent lights flashing over my face. I saw my wife and asked, “What am I doing here?” She patiently recounted the story of how I had come into our bedroom saying I couldn’t remember where I had been, what I had done, the people I had been with; how she had called the police, to whom I had apparently been quite charming and funny, who in turn summoned an ambulance that brought me to the hospital.\r\n\r\nMy poor wife told me this story over forty times before it stuck. Tests were run; EKGs, MRIs, CAT scans, toxicology screens. At one point, a group of medical students with clipboards surrounded my bed.\r\n\r\nThroughout it all, my wife sat holding our absurdly small son wondering if I’d had some sort of stroke.\r\n\r\nI was diagnosed with Transient Global Amnesia, which is, maddeningly, a diagnosis by exclusion. Once everything else has been ruled out, that’s what you get, a rare condition about which little is known. Extreme stress, sleep deprivation, and excessive physical exertion are thought to be the triggers.\r\n\r\nThe effect was as if a bomb had gone off in my brain. All memories months into the past and future were turned to glass.\r\n\r\nThe tests showed an increased sensitivity to light and sound. This proved problematic with a small baby at the house. I was given to carrying earplugs and noise-cancelling headphones with me for diaper changes. Going outside without sunglasses triggered a migraine. A screaming police siren triggered a migraine. A teakettle triggered a migraine. A loud sneeze triggered a migraine.\r\n\r\nI quit my job. The thought of trudging through that soulless routine coupled with my new condition caused me so much anxiety I couldn’t function.\r\n\r\nI was home all the time. When my son was sleeping, I had to do something. When my son was at day care, I had to do something. When I couldn’t sleep, I had to do something. I turned to the piano.\r\n\r\nThe songs I had been working on for the previous few years sounded like boxes of broken glass. Some of them literally gave me headaches. To heal, I picked them apart, focused on the parts that were soothing, that felt right, and threw out what remained. I reshaped them, let them ring out into silence, and created something new.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Did you know beforehand that you were writing songs specifically for this album, or did you choose from songs that had already been written?</strong>\r\n\r\nI chose from songs I had previously written, but completely altered them, post-amnesia. I had a concept for an album I had been pursuing before I awoke in the hospital. That’s the raw material to which I returned\r\n\r\nAt the time, it was important to me to force the issue, to make the collection of songs work even if they felt wrong. That’s when I really started focusing on silence. I threw out the superfluous, ornamental bits and chiseled the songs to their core. Then I wrapped them in silence.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_14571\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\"]<a href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Obsolete-Cover-Art.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-14571\" src=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Obsolete-Cover-Art-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"Obsolete Cover Art\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" /></a> Obsolete[/caption]\r\n\r\n<strong>The title of the album, <em>Obsolete</em>, is very evocative. How did you settle on this title, and what does it mean to you?</strong>\r\n\r\nI really don’t like titling my own songs. When I do, they’re almost always non-sequiturs. I reached out to an old friend, gave him the raw, un-mastered tracks and asked him to title the songs. He suggested the title track be named “Requiem for Obsolete Technology.” A great song name, to be sure, but I felt single word song titles were more apropos, given my editing method and interest in silence.\r\n\r\nIn general, I often feel like I was born a couple hundred years too late. The world is the loudest it has ever been, and for someone who craves quiet it is a struggle to remain focused amongst the head-splitting sounds of squealing brakes, screaming people, crackling electric lines, and wailing sirens. I like to imagine what the world must have sounded like before the industrial revolution.\r\n\r\nActually finding a quiet place is becoming more difficult. I live in Denver, Colorado and the legalization of marijuana, along with our city’s policy of being as inviting as possible for new businesses, has created an immense influx of people. City streets are jammed beyond capacity, and what used to be an easy drive into the mountains has become an arduous chore. Hiking trails are as clogged as motorways. Landmarks are being vandalized.\r\n\r\nQuiet places are vanishing. So I create them in music.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Did you work on the songs for <em>Obsolete</em> individually or collectively? The titles of the songs suggest a link between them.</strong>\r\n\r\nThe songs I ended up including on <em>Obsolete</em> were originally written at completely different times. The only thing they had in common was the fact they were the ones I had been drawn to in the years and months leading up to my amnesia. When I slowed them down and picked them apart after my return from the hospital, I noticed new patterns and arranged their order on the album accordingly. I rarely worked on one song at a time. I typically shaped the whole set of songs at once. If I made a severe edit on one, it often let to a complementary edit on another.\r\n\r\nI touched on this earlier, but I find naming my own songs difficult. My natural inclination is to be abstract and sarcastic with names, but I felt it would be a disservice to the honest and existential nature of these songs to name them so. The titles of the songs are representative of various themes that were woven through my life when I reworked them. Koan is inspired by the Richard Brautigan poem, “Karma Repair Kit, Parts 1-4.” Ambulator is in reference to the Max Frisch novel, <em>Man in the Holocene</em>.\r\n\r\nBoth of these speak to me on a level that is difficult to articulate. “Karma Repair Kit” is a reminder to be still and accepting. Not of anything in particular, but of everything in general. <em>Man in the Holocene</em> is a meditation on loneliness and struck a note within me during my recovery, despite the fact I read it a very long time ago; it just bubbled up out of my mind.\r\n\r\nThe other song titles are fairly literal and loosely based on my friend’s suggestions. 2014 was unequivocally the worst year of my life. The amnesia wasn’t even the most difficult struggle, but I’m not going to elaborate. The songs are my way of processing what happened.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>What’s the main intent behind your music? What are you trying to communicate to your listeners?</strong>\r\n\r\nThat sitting still, especially when it is uncomfortable, is important; that the act of listening, whether it’s active or passive, is important. It slows down your thoughts, so you can spend time with them. Depending on your type of mind or life situation, that may not be desirable, but then it is all the more impactful.\r\n\r\nModern city life is fast and loud. We run around from place to place, from work to home, from the gym to the grocery store, checking our watches or phones, making sure we don’t miss appointments; little of that matters to our internal lives. We focus so intently on what we have to do that we rarely stop to think what we would like to do. Or what we should do, not only for our own happiness but also for our own mental health.\r\n\r\nSlow down and take a nap. Memorybell can help.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_14985\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\"]<a href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/GHO-web-photo-2_2000x1000.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-14985\" src=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/GHO-web-photo-2_2000x1000-300x150.jpg\" alt=\"Grant Hazard Outerbridge\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\" /></a> Memorybell[/caption]\r\n\r\n<strong>Do you have a lot of unreleased songs?</strong>\r\n\r\nI rarely make a proper recording until I’m satisfied that I have a cohesive collection of songs. I have a few songs that didn’t make the cut for <em>Obsolete</em>, but if I do anything with them, I’ll probably chop them up and use parts of them in another project. I’ve reworked one song that didn’t fit the way I wished it had for <em>Obsolete</em> and will most likely include it on the next record.\r\n\r\nI don’t have a lot of unreleased material but I do, however, have a lot of unrecorded material. I don’t write any musical ideas down, I just run the songs through my head over and over. I have several albums worth of songs in various stages of completion floating in my brain. Sometimes I’ll carry a song around for years before I return to it. One song I’ve been working on for 19 years and it still hasn’t fully revealed its mysteries to me. My approach is that if something is worth recording, I’ll remember it. Thankfully, the part of my brain that stores my musical ideas seems largely unaffected by my amnesia.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>Are you currently working on something? What can we expect next from Memorybell?</strong>\r\n\r\nI’ve had my fill of reworking old material for the moment. I’m moving forward with my new approach and writing an album from scratch. It’s very freeing, and my process has quickened; I’ve let go of thinking of any given idea as precious, as worthy of meticulous appreciation. If something doesn’t feel right, it’s gone. If some essence of it sticks around, then it has merit and will find a place in some different form. It’s a looser and faster method than I’ve ever used before. I’m halfway done with the follow-up to <em>Obsolete</em>. The songs still breathe slowly and are still melodic, but it’s somehow…different.\r\n\r\nMy main obstacle is lack of time. I have a 2½ year-old and a newborn at home (both boys) and, unlike when I wrote <em>Obsolete</em>, I am now gainfully employed. My time to write is limited to naptime, or those rare occasions when I’m home alone. I’m finding it helps, actually. I carry around the songs in my head, tweak them, try different arrangements, and then when I finally have the time to play them and test my ideas out, the good ideas tend to present themselves more or less immediately.\r\n\r\nWhatever comes next will be looser and more organic.','The Spaces Between: An Interview with Memorybell','','inherit','closed','closed','','14977-revision-v1','','','2016-10-04 14:12:19','2016-10-04 06:12:19','',14977,'http://www.hiddenshoal.com/14977-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(14990,1,'2016-10-04 14:16:34','2016-10-04 06:16:34','<a href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/GHO-web-photo-1_2000x2000-b.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft wp-image-14204 size-medium\" src=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/GHO-web-photo-1_2000x2000-b-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"Grant Hazard Outerbridge\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" /></a>On his debut album as <a title=\"Memorybell\" href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/project/memorybell/\">Memorybell</a>, Grant Hazard Outerbridge delivered an abject lesson in need versus want. <em>Obsolete</em> is more than a simple minimalist document, indeed it could be argued that Outerbridge\'s deft touch an innate sense of time make each of it\'s sparse notes laden with import. As if each successive strike of hammer on piano wire was the only thing in the world... until the next. So it\'s no surprise that Outerbridge is as much a thinker as a \"feeler\" when it comes to his musical work. In this utterly engaging interview the lovely Wagner Hertzog sat down with the artist and covered everything from Marvin Gaye to transient global amnesia. This really is a great read.\r\n\r\nMany thanks to Wagner and Grant for their time and efforts in making this happen.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>WH: You have been playing music for decades. Was the concept for Memorybell already in your mind before you started working on this music, or is it a more recent artistic project?</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>GHO: </strong>Memorybell is a very recent project. I wanted to focus on ambient music following the release of <em>Genus Euphony</em>, but the way this album came into being was decidedly unplanned.\r\n\r\nI had been composing, shaping, and reshaping 20 or so songs but could never quite get them to feel the way I wanted them to. After I got out of the hospital, playing the songs was a uniquely unpleasant experience. They sounded awful to me and I had trouble remembering why I had written them in the first place. When a song felt wrong, I either threw it away completely, or focused exclusively on its essence (often just one or two chords) and explored that as granularly as I could.\r\n\r\nMy close creative collaborator from The Very Hush Hush, Peter Bo Rappmund, had heard most of the songs in various stages of their composition. When I was able to play these new, post-amnesia versions for him he strongly urged me to release the record under a new name. The songs were so different from anything I’d ever recorded that it made sense that they be the start of a new project.\r\n\r\n<em> </em>\r\n\r\n<strong>WH: What are your main influences and sources of inspiration?</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>GHO: </strong>It sounds odd, but a lot of my musical ideas come from mundane objects. There is a particularly pleasant sound that the metal vent in the roof of my house makes when it lightly rains outside. In my old neighborhood, there was an old row house whose laundry exhaust whistled beautifully whenever it was in use. I could listen to the sounds of an oscillating fan all day long.\r\n\r\nI enjoy sitting still and listening to the world, though it’s far too loud for me. This is one reason why I’m drawn to expansive silences. I draw an immense amount of inspiration and solace from the quiet that descends during a snowfall.\r\n\r\nLess esoteric and more to the point, I find the following works very influential (in no particular order):\r\n\r\nMarvin Gaye – <em>What’s Going On\r\n</em>Air – <em>Moon Safari\r\n</em>Billy Holiday – <em>Solitude\r\n</em>Gas – <em>Pop\r\n</em>Yo La Tengo – <em>And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out\r\n</em>Stars of the Lid – <em>The Tired Sounds of Stars of the Lid</em>\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>WH: You seem interested in exploring extreme minimalism in your music, creating a slow, surreal experience for the listener. How did you come to develop such a style?</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>GHO: </strong>When I was studying classical music I was most attracted to dissonant passages. These “sour” notes and chords represented for me a warmer, more interesting way of approaching musical expression. I would sit for hours playing a single passage over and over, slow it down, and make subtle changes to it. As I grew older, I looked forward to this monastic repetition far more than completing whichever increasingly difficult piece of music I was learning.\r\n\r\nStarting in the early 2000s, I played bass in The Very Hush Hush. Like the piano, my method of approaching the bass has changed over the years but, even back then, I was more concerned with playing the most interesting note than playing the root. One well-placed note can heighten anticipation in ways little else can.\r\n\r\nMy ears most want to hear what happens in the moments after a note is played before it dissolves into silence. That tension is powerful and shaping that tension is my primary concern.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_14983\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\"]<a href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/DALLAS_SESSIONS-5.jpg\"><img class=\"wp-image-14983 size-medium\" src=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/DALLAS_SESSIONS-5-300x195.jpg\" alt=\"Memorybell in the Studio\" width=\"300\" height=\"195\" /></a> The Obsolete Recording Sessions[/caption]\r\n\r\n<strong>WH: In terms of your creative processes, are you driven by your technique, or do you let your emotions drive your composing and arranging? Or is it a combination of both?</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>GHO: </strong>Emotion is the driving force behind my music.\r\n\r\nTo my ears, technique is only as useful as one’s ability to use it to express emotion. Technique for its own sake does little for me.  It’s not that I don’t admire accomplished musicians, I do; I fully understand the time and dedication it takes to become an accomplished musician. But when technique becomes the focal point music becomes hollow. There is a whole spectrum of emotional experiences to be had while listening to music and feeling awe at someone’s ability is only one.\r\n\r\nWhen I compose a new song, I try to keep my mind blank. Turn off my brain. Focus on what I’m feeling and sensing. What do I hear? What do I smell? Taste? I often begin with my eyes closed and open them once something interesting has presented itself. From there, repetition and manipulation of time and silence. How best to amplify what I’m feeling in the moment? What is the simplest way to say what needs to be said?\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>WH: Is there is a special place or time that you write music?</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>GHO: </strong>There used to be, but now I’m restricted to when my toddler son is either asleep or out of the house. Otherwise, he’ll come bounding from wherever he is and start mashing the keys. Adorable and amazing, but not conducive to thoughtful creation. I’m lucky if I get an uninterrupted chunk of 20 minutes per day.\r\n\r\nPlace is an interesting problem with the piano. You’re stuck wherever the piano is. My work around for this used to be scribbling ideas in a notebook, studying them when I couldn’t be at a piano, etc. Now, unless I’m particularly inspired and one of my 20-minute mini-sessions produces something more-or-less fully formed, I’ll hold a strong phrase in my mind for as long as I have to until I have time to explore it at the piano.\r\n\r\nThis results in a kind of fermentation. The most emotive part of an idea tends to become stronger, while the less necessary, more ancillary bits float off. This won’t always be my song writing process but, considering my 2 year old just had a baby brother, I don’t see it changing in the near future.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>WH: How do you work on individual songs? Do they keep evolving as you experiment with them over time, or do you find it quick and easy to finish each piece?</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>GHO: </strong>It depends on the song. Many songs are vague and gauzy at the start and I have to sit with them for a while before they reveal themselves to me. I try not to force anything onto them, just wait for whatever emotion it was that drove me to sit down at the piano to come out. Sometimes this process is quick, other times it is glacial. It took 14 years for ‘Somnolent’ to become what it is.\r\n\r\nThat’s an aberrant example, though. Most songs take on average 2-3 years before I finally leave them be. So, at any given time, the batch of songs I’m working on tend to have been initially conceived several years previous.\r\n\r\nOccasionally, a song will emerge and I can’t figure out how to improve it. Those are always happy moments, though infrequent. I quite enjoy the long, slow evolution of a song. When one is finished, it may sound quite unlike it did in its infancy.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>WH: In regards to your artistic process, are you a perfectionist, or more of a relaxed creator?</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>GHO: </strong>A complete and utter perfectionist, though I’m trying to let that go. My compromise is to direct my perfectionist tendencies toward my process rather than toward my music, to stay dedicated to giving the songs room to breathe, to grow, to change. Rather than try to force the songs to be something I want them to be, I allow them to be what they are. Even if I don’t like the end result, being true to the process feels like being true to my nature.\r\n\r\nThe most important part of my process is letting go. Ego can be a useful tool, in crafting personae, in pushing yourself, but I find it a barrier to making meaningful music. My best songwriting comes after I’ve processed whatever drove me to write a song in the first place. What remains after the dust settles.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_14986\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\"]<a href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/DALLAS_SESSIONS-3-1.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-14986\" src=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/DALLAS_SESSIONS-3-1-300x195.jpg\" alt=\"Grant Hazard Outerbridge\" width=\"300\" height=\"195\" /></a> Grant Hazard Outerbridge[/caption]\r\n\r\n<strong>WH: Silence, and the ambiguity it evokes, plays an important role in your music. Is this aspect of your music planned, or do you improvise?</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>GHO: </strong>Very much planned, as much as one can plan silence.  I can never predict the affect any given length of silence will have, so I conduct tests. Do I add a single beat here? A measure of seven? Thirteen? It’s a little like introducing oneself to a strange animal.\r\n\r\nAs consumers of popular music our ears have been trained to expect predictability in regards to rhythm. 4/4 and 3/4 dominate the sonic landscape. The ghost of the Western classical music tradition is persistent. The purposeful shirking of predictable time signatures is a good thing but if not approached carefully it can estrange the casual listener.\r\n\r\nWhen I shape the silence in my songs, I pay close attention to what my ears want. Then I give them something else. Unusual time signatures often do the trick, but I try not to employ them for their own sake. Sometimes a standard time signature alternated with an irregular or changing amount of silence has a magical effect. The ultimate test is if someone can’t tell that a song is in 17/8 or 13/4.\r\n\r\nThe ideal is to make the unnatural feel natural.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>WH: Can you tell us about your experience of transient global amnesia and how it influenced the creation of this album.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>GHO: </strong>In late February of 2014 my first son was two weeks old. He was curled up with my wife on the couch and I left to meet up with some friends. We had a couple of beers and I made my way home. It was lightly snowing.\r\n\r\nI walked in the house and my wife and son were still curled up on the couch. I took my son upstairs, swaddled him and put him in his crib, and put on my headphones.\r\n\r\nI woke up in a hospital roughly ten hours later on a gurney, obscenely bright fluorescent lights flashing over my face. I saw my wife and asked, “What am I doing here?” She patiently recounted the story of how I had come into our bedroom saying I couldn’t remember where I had been, what I had done, the people I had been with; how she had called the police, to whom I had apparently been quite charming and funny, who in turn summoned an ambulance that brought me to the hospital.\r\n\r\nMy poor wife told me this story over forty times before it stuck. Tests were run; EKGs, MRIs, CAT scans, toxicology screens. At one point, a group of medical students with clipboards surrounded my bed.\r\n\r\nThroughout it all, my wife sat holding our absurdly small son wondering if I’d had some sort of stroke.\r\n\r\nI was diagnosed with Transient Global Amnesia, which is, maddeningly, a diagnosis by exclusion. Once everything else has been ruled out, that’s what you get, a rare condition about which little is known. Extreme stress, sleep deprivation, and excessive physical exertion are thought to be the triggers.\r\n\r\nThe effect was as if a bomb had gone off in my brain. All memories months into the past and future were turned to glass.\r\n\r\nThe tests showed an increased sensitivity to light and sound. This proved problematic with a small baby at the house. I was given to carrying earplugs and noise-cancelling headphones with me for diaper changes. Going outside without sunglasses triggered a migraine. A screaming police siren triggered a migraine. A teakettle triggered a migraine. A loud sneeze triggered a migraine.\r\n\r\nI quit my job. The thought of trudging through that soulless routine coupled with my new condition caused me so much anxiety I couldn’t function.\r\n\r\nI was home all the time. When my son was sleeping, I had to do something. When my son was at day care, I had to do something. When I couldn’t sleep, I had to do something. I turned to the piano.\r\n\r\nThe songs I had been working on for the previous few years sounded like boxes of broken glass. Some of them literally gave me headaches. To heal, I picked them apart, focused on the parts that were soothing, that felt right, and threw out what remained. I reshaped them, let them ring out into silence, and created something new.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>WH: Did you know beforehand that you were writing songs specifically for this album, or did you choose from songs that had already been written?</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>GHO: </strong>I chose from songs I had previously written, but completely altered them, post-amnesia. I had a concept for an album I had been pursuing before I awoke in the hospital. That’s the raw material to which I returned\r\n\r\nAt the time, it was important to me to force the issue, to make the collection of songs work even if they felt wrong. That’s when I really started focusing on silence. I threw out the superfluous, ornamental bits and chiseled the songs to their core. Then I wrapped them in silence.\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_14571\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\"]<a href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Obsolete-Cover-Art.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-14571\" src=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Obsolete-Cover-Art-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"Obsolete Cover Art\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" /></a> Obsolete[/caption]\r\n\r\n<strong>WH: The title of the album, <em>Obsolete</em>, is very evocative. How did you settle on this title, and what does it mean to you?</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>GHO: </strong>I really don’t like titling my own songs. When I do, they’re almost always non-sequiturs. I reached out to an old friend, gave him the raw, un-mastered tracks and asked him to title the songs. He suggested the title track be named “Requiem for Obsolete Technology.” A great song name, to be sure, but I felt single word song titles were more apropos, given my editing method and interest in silence.\r\n\r\nIn general, I often feel like I was born a couple hundred years too late. The world is the loudest it has ever been, and for someone who craves quiet it is a struggle to remain focused amongst the head-splitting sounds of squealing brakes, screaming people, crackling electric lines, and wailing sirens. I like to imagine what the world must have sounded like before the industrial revolution.\r\n\r\nActually finding a quiet place is becoming more difficult. I live in Denver, Colorado and the legalization of marijuana, along with our city’s policy of being as inviting as possible for new businesses, has created an immense influx of people. City streets are jammed beyond capacity, and what used to be an easy drive into the mountains has become an arduous chore. Hiking trails are as clogged as motorways. Landmarks are being vandalized.\r\n\r\nQuiet places are vanishing. So I create them in music.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>WH: Did you work on the songs for <em>Obsolete</em> individually or collectively? The titles of the songs suggest a link between them.</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>GHO: </strong>The songs I ended up including on <em>Obsolete</em> were originally written at completely different times. The only thing they had in common was the fact they were the ones I had been drawn to in the years and months leading up to my amnesia. When I slowed them down and picked them apart after my return from the hospital, I noticed new patterns and arranged their order on the album accordingly. I rarely worked on one song at a time. I typically shaped the whole set of songs at once. If I made a severe edit on one, it often let to a complementary edit on another.\r\n\r\nI touched on this earlier, but I find naming my own songs difficult. My natural inclination is to be abstract and sarcastic with names, but I felt it would be a disservice to the honest and existential nature of these songs to name them so. The titles of the songs are representative of various themes that were woven through my life when I reworked them. Koan is inspired by the Richard Brautigan poem, “Karma Repair Kit, Parts 1-4.” Ambulator is in reference to the Max Frisch novel, <em>Man in the Holocene</em>.\r\n\r\nBoth of these speak to me on a level that is difficult to articulate. “Karma Repair Kit” is a reminder to be still and accepting. Not of anything in particular, but of everything in general. <em>Man in the Holocene</em> is a meditation on loneliness and struck a note within me during my recovery, despite the fact I read it a very long time ago; it just bubbled up out of my mind.\r\n\r\nThe other song titles are fairly literal and loosely based on my friend’s suggestions. 2014 was unequivocally the worst year of my life. The amnesia wasn’t even the most difficult struggle, but I’m not going to elaborate. The songs are my way of processing what happened.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>WH: What’s the main intent behind your music? What are you trying to communicate to your listeners?</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>GHO: </strong>That sitting still, especially when it is uncomfortable, is important; that the act of listening, whether it’s active or passive, is important. It slows down your thoughts, so you can spend time with them. Depending on your type of mind or life situation, that may not be desirable, but then it is all the more impactful.\r\n\r\nModern city life is fast and loud. We run around from place to place, from work to home, from the gym to the grocery store, checking our watches or phones, making sure we don’t miss appointments; little of that matters to our internal lives. We focus so intently on what we have to do that we rarely stop to think what we would like to do. Or what we should do, not only for our own happiness but also for our own mental health.\r\n\r\nSlow down and take a nap. Memorybell can help.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_14985\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\"]<a href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/GHO-web-photo-2_2000x1000.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-14985\" src=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/GHO-web-photo-2_2000x1000-300x150.jpg\" alt=\"Grant Hazard Outerbridge\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\" /></a> Memorybell[/caption]\r\n\r\n<strong>WH: Do you have a lot of unreleased songs?</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>GHO: </strong>I rarely make a proper recording until I’m satisfied that I have a cohesive collection of songs. I have a few songs that didn’t make the cut for <em>Obsolete</em>, but if I do anything with them, I’ll probably chop them up and use parts of them in another project. I’ve reworked one song that didn’t fit the way I wished it had for <em>Obsolete</em> and will most likely include it on the next record.\r\n\r\nI don’t have a lot of unreleased material but I do, however, have a lot of unrecorded material. I don’t write any musical ideas down, I just run the songs through my head over and over. I have several albums worth of songs in various stages of completion floating in my brain. Sometimes I’ll carry a song around for years before I return to it. One song I’ve been working on for 19 years and it still hasn’t fully revealed its mysteries to me. My approach is that if something is worth recording, I’ll remember it. Thankfully, the part of my brain that stores my musical ideas seems largely unaffected by my amnesia.\r\n\r\n&nbsp;\r\n\r\n<strong>WH: Are you currently working on something? What can we expect next from Memorybell?</strong>\r\n\r\n<strong>GHO: </strong>I’ve had my fill of reworking old material for the moment. I’m moving forward with my new approach and writing an album from scratch. It’s very freeing, and my process has quickened; I’ve let go of thinking of any given idea as precious, as worthy of meticulous appreciation. If something doesn’t feel right, it’s gone. If some essence of it sticks around, then it has merit and will find a place in some different form. It’s a looser and faster method than I’ve ever used before. I’m halfway done with the follow-up to <em>Obsolete</em>. The songs still breathe slowly and are still melodic, but it’s somehow…different.\r\n\r\nMy main obstacle is lack of time. I have a 2½ year-old and a newborn at home (both boys) and, unlike when I wrote <em>Obsolete</em>, I am now gainfully employed. My time to write is limited to naptime, or those rare occasions when I’m home alone. I’m finding it helps, actually. I carry around the songs in my head, tweak them, try different arrangements, and then when I finally have the time to play them and test my ideas out, the good ideas tend to present themselves more or less immediately.\r\n\r\nWhatever comes next will be looser and more organic.','The Spaces Between: An Interview with Memorybell','','inherit','closed','closed','','14977-revision-v1','','','2016-10-04 14:16:34','2016-10-04 06:16:34','',14977,'http://www.hiddenshoal.com/14977-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(15012,1,'2016-10-04 14:38:45','2016-10-04 06:38:45','','Memorybell','Memorybell','inherit','closed','closed','','gho-web-photo-2_2000x2000-a-2','','','2016-10-04 14:39:06','2016-10-04 06:39:06','',14977,'http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/GHO-web-photo-2_2000x2000-a.jpg',0,'attachment','image/jpeg',0),(14992,1,'2016-10-04 14:18:33','2016-10-04 06:18:33','<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><a href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/GHO-web-photo-1_2000x2000-b.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft wp-image-14204 size-medium\" src=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/GHO-web-photo-1_2000x2000-b-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"Grant Hazard Outerbridge\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" /></a>On his debut album as <a title=\"Memorybell\" href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/project/memorybell/\">Memorybell</a>, Grant Hazard Outerbridge delivered an abject lesson in need versus want. <em>Obsolete</em> is more than a simple minimalist document, indeed it could be argued that Outerbridge\'s deft touch an innate sense of time make each of it\'s sparse notes laden with import. As if each successive strike of hammer on piano wire was the only thing in the world... until the next. So it\'s no surprise that Outerbridge is as much a thinker as a \"feeler\" when it comes to his musical work. In this utterly engaging interview the lovely Wagner Hertzog sat down with the artist and covered everything from Marvin Gaye to transient global amnesia. This really is a great read.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Many thanks to Wagner and Grant for their time and efforts in making this happen.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>WH: You have been playing music for decades. Was the concept for Memorybell already in your mind before you started working on this music, or is it a more recent artistic project?</strong></p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>GHO: </strong>Memorybell is a very recent project. I wanted to focus on ambient music following the release of <em>Genus Euphony</em>, but the way this album came into being was decidedly unplanned.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">I had been composing, shaping, and reshaping 20 or so songs but could never quite get them to feel the way I wanted them to. After I got out of the hospital, playing the songs was a uniquely unpleasant experience. They sounded awful to me and I had trouble remembering why I had written them in the first place. When a song felt wrong, I either threw it away completely, or focused exclusively on its essence (often just one or two chords) and explored that as granularly as I could.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">My close creative collaborator from The Very Hush Hush, Peter Bo Rappmund, had heard most of the songs in various stages of their composition. When I was able to play these new, post-amnesia versions for him he strongly urged me to release the record under a new name. The songs were so different from anything I’d ever recorded that it made sense that they be the start of a new project.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em> </em></p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>WH: What are your main influences and sources of inspiration?</strong></p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>GHO: </strong>It sounds odd, but a lot of my musical ideas come from mundane objects. There is a particularly pleasant sound that the metal vent in the roof of my house makes when it lightly rains outside. In my old neighborhood, there was an old row house whose laundry exhaust whistled beautifully whenever it was in use. I could listen to the sounds of an oscillating fan all day long.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">I enjoy sitting still and listening to the world, though it’s far too loud for me. This is one reason why I’m drawn to expansive silences. I draw an immense amount of inspiration and solace from the quiet that descends during a snowfall.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Less esoteric and more to the point, I find the following works very influential (in no particular order):</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Marvin Gaye – <em>What’s Going On\r\n</em>Air – <em>Moon Safari\r\n</em>Billy Holiday – <em>Solitude\r\n</em>Gas – <em>Pop\r\n</em>Yo La Tengo – <em>And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out\r\n</em>Stars of the Lid – <em>The Tired Sounds of Stars of the Lid</em></p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>WH: You seem interested in exploring extreme minimalism in your music, creating a slow, surreal experience for the listener. How did you come to develop such a style?</strong></p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>GHO: </strong>When I was studying classical music I was most attracted to dissonant passages. These “sour” notes and chords represented for me a warmer, more interesting way of approaching musical expression. I would sit for hours playing a single passage over and over, slow it down, and make subtle changes to it. As I grew older, I looked forward to this monastic repetition far more than completing whichever increasingly difficult piece of music I was learning.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Starting in the early 2000s, I played bass in The Very Hush Hush. Like the piano, my method of approaching the bass has changed over the years but, even back then, I was more concerned with playing the most interesting note than playing the root. One well-placed note can heighten anticipation in ways little else can.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">My ears most want to hear what happens in the moments after a note is played before it dissolves into silence. That tension is powerful and shaping that tension is my primary concern.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>WH: In terms of your creative processes, are you driven by your technique, or do you let your emotions drive your composing and arranging? Or is it a combination of both?</strong></p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>GHO: </strong>Emotion is the driving force behind my music.<a href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/DALLAS_SESSIONS-5.jpg\"><img class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-14983\" src=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/DALLAS_SESSIONS-5-300x195.jpg\" alt=\"Memorybell in the Studio\" width=\"300\" height=\"195\" /></a></p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">To my ears, technique is only as useful as one’s ability to use it to express emotion. Technique for its own sake does little for me.  It’s not that I don’t admire accomplished musicians, I do; I fully understand the time and dedication it takes to become an accomplished musician. But when technique becomes the focal point music becomes hollow. There is a whole spectrum of emotional experiences to be had while listening to music and feeling awe at someone’s ability is only one.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">When I compose a new song, I try to keep my mind blank. Turn off my brain. Focus on what I’m feeling and sensing. What do I hear? What do I smell? Taste? I often begin with my eyes closed and open them once something interesting has presented itself. From there, repetition and manipulation of time and silence. How best to amplify what I’m feeling in the moment? What is the simplest way to say what needs to be said?</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>WH: Is there is a special place or time that you write music?</strong></p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>GHO: </strong>There used to be, but now I’m restricted to when my toddler son is either asleep or out of the house. Otherwise, he’ll come bounding from wherever he is and start mashing the keys. Adorable and amazing, but not conducive to thoughtful creation. I’m lucky if I get an uninterrupted chunk of 20 minutes per day.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Place is an interesting problem with the piano. You’re stuck wherever the piano is. My work around for this used to be scribbling ideas in a notebook, studying them when I couldn’t be at a piano, etc. Now, unless I’m particularly inspired and one of my 20-minute mini-sessions produces something more-or-less fully formed, I’ll hold a strong phrase in my mind for as long as I have to until I have time to explore it at the piano.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">This results in a kind of fermentation. The most emotive part of an idea tends to become stronger, while the less necessary, more ancillary bits float off. This won’t always be my song writing process but, considering my 2 year old just had a baby brother, I don’t see it changing in the near future.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>WH: How do you work on individual songs? Do they keep evolving as you experiment with them over time, or do you find it quick and easy to finish each piece?</strong></p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>GHO: </strong>It depends on the song. Many songs are vague and gauzy at the start and I have to sit with them for a while before they reveal themselves to me. I try not to force anything onto them, just wait for whatever emotion it was that drove me to sit down at the piano to come out. Sometimes this process is quick, other times it is glacial. It took 14 years for ‘Somnolent’ to become what it is.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">That’s an aberrant example, though. Most songs take on average 2-3 years before I finally leave them be. So, at any given time, the batch of songs I’m working on tend to have been initially conceived several years previous.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Occasionally, a song will emerge and I can’t figure out how to improve it. Those are always happy moments, though infrequent. I quite enjoy the long, slow evolution of a song. When one is finished, it may sound quite unlike it did in its infancy.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>WH: In regards to your artistic process, are you a perfectionist, or more of a relaxed creator?</strong></p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>GHO: </strong>A complete and utter perfectionist, though I’m trying to let that go. My compromise is to direct my perfectionist tendencies toward my process rather than toward my music, to stay dedicated to giving the songs room to breathe, to grow, to change. Rather than try to force the songs to be something I want them to be, I allow them to be what they are. Even if I don’t like the end result, being true to the process feels like being true to my nature.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The most important part of my process is letting go. Ego can be a useful tool, in crafting personae, in pushing yourself, but I find it a barrier to making meaningful music. My best songwriting comes after I’ve processed whatever drove me to write a song in the first place. What remains after the dust settles.</p>\r\n\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_14986\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\"]<a href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/DALLAS_SESSIONS-3-1.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-14986\" src=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/DALLAS_SESSIONS-3-1-300x195.jpg\" alt=\"Grant Hazard Outerbridge\" width=\"300\" height=\"195\" /></a> Grant Hazard Outerbridge[/caption]\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>WH: Silence, and the ambiguity it evokes, plays an important role in your music. Is this aspect of your music planned, or do you improvise?</strong></p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>GHO: </strong>Very much planned, as much as one can plan silence.  I can never predict the affect any given length of silence will have, so I conduct tests. Do I add a single beat here? A measure of seven? Thirteen? It’s a little like introducing oneself to a strange animal.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">As consumers of popular music our ears have been trained to expect predictability in regards to rhythm. 4/4 and 3/4 dominate the sonic landscape. The ghost of the Western classical music tradition is persistent. The purposeful shirking of predictable time signatures is a good thing but if not approached carefully it can estrange the casual listener.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">When I shape the silence in my songs, I pay close attention to what my ears want. Then I give them something else. Unusual time signatures often do the trick, but I try not to employ them for their own sake. Sometimes a standard time signature alternated with an irregular or changing amount of silence has a magical effect. The ultimate test is if someone can’t tell that a song is in 17/8 or 13/4.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The ideal is to make the unnatural feel natural.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>WH: Can you tell us about your experience of transient global amnesia and how it influenced the creation of this album.</strong></p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>GHO: </strong>In late February of 2014 my first son was two weeks old. He was curled up with my wife on the couch and I left to meet up with some friends. We had a couple of beers and I made my way home. It was lightly snowing.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">I walked in the house and my wife and son were still curled up on the couch. I took my son upstairs, swaddled him and put him in his crib, and put on my headphones.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">I woke up in a hospital roughly ten hours later on a gurney, obscenely bright fluorescent lights flashing over my face. I saw my wife and asked, “What am I doing here?” She patiently recounted the story of how I had come into our bedroom saying I couldn’t remember where I had been, what I had done, the people I had been with; how she had called the police, to whom I had apparently been quite charming and funny, who in turn summoned an ambulance that brought me to the hospital.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">My poor wife told me this story over forty times before it stuck. Tests were run; EKGs, MRIs, CAT scans, toxicology screens. At one point, a group of medical students with clipboards surrounded my bed.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Throughout it all, my wife sat holding our absurdly small son wondering if I’d had some sort of stroke.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">I was diagnosed with Transient Global Amnesia, which is, maddeningly, a diagnosis by exclusion. Once everything else has been ruled out, that’s what you get, a rare condition about which little is known. Extreme stress, sleep deprivation, and excessive physical exertion are thought to be the triggers.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The effect was as if a bomb had gone off in my brain. All memories months into the past and future were turned to glass.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The tests showed an increased sensitivity to light and sound. This proved problematic with a small baby at the house. I was given to carrying earplugs and noise-cancelling headphones with me for diaper changes. Going outside without sunglasses triggered a migraine. A screaming police siren triggered a migraine. A teakettle triggered a migraine. A loud sneeze triggered a migraine.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">I quit my job. The thought of trudging through that soulless routine coupled with my new condition caused me so much anxiety I couldn’t function.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">I was home all the time. When my son was sleeping, I had to do something. When my son was at day care, I had to do something. When I couldn’t sleep, I had to do something. I turned to the piano.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The songs I had been working on for the previous few years sounded like boxes of broken glass. Some of them literally gave me headaches. To heal, I picked them apart, focused on the parts that were soothing, that felt right, and threw out what remained. I reshaped them, let them ring out into silence, and created something new.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>WH: Did you know beforehand that you were writing songs specifically for this album, or did you choose from songs that had already been written?</strong></p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>GHO: </strong>I chose from songs I had previously written, but completely altered them, post-amnesia. I had a concept for an album I had been pursuing before I awoke in the hospital. That’s the raw material to which I returned</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">At the time, it was important to me to force the issue, to make the collection of songs work even if they felt wrong. That’s when I really started focusing on silence. I threw out the superfluous, ornamental bits and chiseled the songs to their core. Then I wrapped them in silence.</p>\r\n\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_14571\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\"]<a href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Obsolete-Cover-Art.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-14571\" src=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Obsolete-Cover-Art-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"Obsolete Cover Art\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" /></a> Obsolete[/caption]\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>WH: The title of the album, <em>Obsolete</em>, is very evocative. How did you settle on this title, and what does it mean to you?</strong></p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>GHO: </strong>I really don’t like titling my own songs. When I do, they’re almost always non-sequiturs. I reached out to an old friend, gave him the raw, un-mastered tracks and asked him to title the songs. He suggested the title track be named “Requiem for Obsolete Technology.” A great song name, to be sure, but I felt single word song titles were more apropos, given my editing method and interest in silence.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">In general, I often feel like I was born a couple hundred years too late. The world is the loudest it has ever been, and for someone who craves quiet it is a struggle to remain focused amongst the head-splitting sounds of squealing brakes, screaming people, crackling electric lines, and wailing sirens. I like to imagine what the world must have sounded like before the industrial revolution.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Actually finding a quiet place is becoming more difficult. I live in Denver, Colorado and the legalization of marijuana, along with our city’s policy of being as inviting as possible for new businesses, has created an immense influx of people. City streets are jammed beyond capacity, and what used to be an easy drive into the mountains has become an arduous chore. Hiking trails are as clogged as motorways. Landmarks are being vandalized.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Quiet places are vanishing. So I create them in music.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>WH: Did you work on the songs for <em>Obsolete</em> individually or collectively? The titles of the songs suggest a link between them.</strong></p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>GHO: </strong>The songs I ended up including on <em>Obsolete</em> were originally written at completely different times. The only thing they had in common was the fact they were the ones I had been drawn to in the years and months leading up to my amnesia. When I slowed them down and picked them apart after my return from the hospital, I noticed new patterns and arranged their order on the album accordingly. I rarely worked on one song at a time. I typically shaped the whole set of songs at once. If I made a severe edit on one, it often let to a complementary edit on another.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">I touched on this earlier, but I find naming my own songs difficult. My natural inclination is to be abstract and sarcastic with names, but I felt it would be a disservice to the honest and existential nature of these songs to name them so. The titles of the songs are representative of various themes that were woven through my life when I reworked them. Koan is inspired by the Richard Brautigan poem, “Karma Repair Kit, Parts 1-4.” Ambulator is in reference to the Max Frisch novel, <em>Man in the Holocene</em>.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Both of these speak to me on a level that is difficult to articulate. “Karma Repair Kit” is a reminder to be still and accepting. Not of anything in particular, but of everything in general. <em>Man in the Holocene</em> is a meditation on loneliness and struck a note within me during my recovery, despite the fact I read it a very long time ago; it just bubbled up out of my mind.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The other song titles are fairly literal and loosely based on my friend’s suggestions. 2014 was unequivocally the worst year of my life. The amnesia wasn’t even the most difficult struggle, but I’m not going to elaborate. The songs are my way of processing what happened.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>WH: What’s the main intent behind your music? What are you trying to communicate to your listeners?</strong></p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>GHO: </strong>That sitting still, especially when it is uncomfortable, is important; that the act of listening, whether it’s active or passive, is important. It slows down your thoughts, so you can spend time with them. Depending on your type of mind or life situation, that may not be desirable, but then it is all the more impactful.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Modern city life is fast and loud. We run around from place to place, from work to home, from the gym to the grocery store, checking our watches or phones, making sure we don’t miss appointments; little of that matters to our internal lives. We focus so intently on what we have to do that we rarely stop to think what we would like to do. Or what we should do, not only for our own happiness but also for our own mental health.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Slow down and take a nap. Memorybell can help.</p>\r\n\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_14985\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\"]<a href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/GHO-web-photo-2_2000x1000.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-14985\" src=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/GHO-web-photo-2_2000x1000-300x150.jpg\" alt=\"Grant Hazard Outerbridge\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\" /></a> Memorybell[/caption]\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>WH: Do you have a lot of unreleased songs?</strong></p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>GHO: </strong>I rarely make a proper recording until I’m satisfied that I have a cohesive collection of songs. I have a few songs that didn’t make the cut for <em>Obsolete</em>, but if I do anything with them, I’ll probably chop them up and use parts of them in another project. I’ve reworked one song that didn’t fit the way I wished it had for <em>Obsolete</em> and will most likely include it on the next record.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">I don’t have a lot of unreleased material but I do, however, have a lot of unrecorded material. I don’t write any musical ideas down, I just run the songs through my head over and over. I have several albums worth of songs in various stages of completion floating in my brain. Sometimes I’ll carry a song around for years before I return to it. One song I’ve been working on for 19 years and it still hasn’t fully revealed its mysteries to me. My approach is that if something is worth recording, I’ll remember it. Thankfully, the part of my brain that stores my musical ideas seems largely unaffected by my amnesia.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>WH: Are you currently working on something? What can we expect next from Memorybell?</strong></p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>GHO: </strong>I’ve had my fill of reworking old material for the moment. I’m moving forward with my new approach and writing an album from scratch. It’s very freeing, and my process has quickened; I’ve let go of thinking of any given idea as precious, as worthy of meticulous appreciation. If something doesn’t feel right, it’s gone. If some essence of it sticks around, then it has merit and will find a place in some different form. It’s a looser and faster method than I’ve ever used before. I’m halfway done with the follow-up to <em>Obsolete</em>. The songs still breathe slowly and are still melodic, but it’s somehow…different.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">My main obstacle is lack of time. I have a 2½ year-old and a newborn at home (both boys) and, unlike when I wrote <em>Obsolete</em>, I am now gainfully employed. My time to write is limited to naptime, or those rare occasions when I’m home alone. I’m finding it helps, actually. I carry around the songs in my head, tweak them, try different arrangements, and then when I finally have the time to play them and test my ideas out, the good ideas tend to present themselves more or less immediately.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Whatever comes next will be looser and more organic.</p>','The Spaces Between: An Interview with Memorybell','','inherit','closed','closed','','14977-revision-v1','','','2016-10-04 14:18:33','2016-10-04 06:18:33','',14977,'http://www.hiddenshoal.com/14977-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0),(14991,1,'2016-10-04 14:17:44','2016-10-04 06:17:44','<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><a href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/GHO-web-photo-1_2000x2000-b.jpg\"><img class=\"alignleft wp-image-14204 size-medium\" src=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/GHO-web-photo-1_2000x2000-b-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"Grant Hazard Outerbridge\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" /></a>On his debut album as <a title=\"Memorybell\" href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/project/memorybell/\">Memorybell</a>, Grant Hazard Outerbridge delivered an abject lesson in need versus want. <em>Obsolete</em> is more than a simple minimalist document, indeed it could be argued that Outerbridge\'s deft touch an innate sense of time make each of it\'s sparse notes laden with import. As if each successive strike of hammer on piano wire was the only thing in the world... until the next. So it\'s no surprise that Outerbridge is as much a thinker as a \"feeler\" when it comes to his musical work. In this utterly engaging interview the lovely Wagner Hertzog sat down with the artist and covered everything from Marvin Gaye to transient global amnesia. This really is a great read.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Many thanks to Wagner and Grant for their time and efforts in making this happen.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"></p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>WH: You have been playing music for decades. Was the concept for Memorybell already in your mind before you started working on this music, or is it a more recent artistic project?</strong></p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>GHO: </strong>Memorybell is a very recent project. I wanted to focus on ambient music following the release of <em>Genus Euphony</em>, but the way this album came into being was decidedly unplanned.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">I had been composing, shaping, and reshaping 20 or so songs but could never quite get them to feel the way I wanted them to. After I got out of the hospital, playing the songs was a uniquely unpleasant experience. They sounded awful to me and I had trouble remembering why I had written them in the first place. When a song felt wrong, I either threw it away completely, or focused exclusively on its essence (often just one or two chords) and explored that as granularly as I could.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">My close creative collaborator from The Very Hush Hush, Peter Bo Rappmund, had heard most of the songs in various stages of their composition. When I was able to play these new, post-amnesia versions for him he strongly urged me to release the record under a new name. The songs were so different from anything I’d ever recorded that it made sense that they be the start of a new project.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><em> </em></p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>WH: What are your main influences and sources of inspiration?</strong></p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>GHO: </strong>It sounds odd, but a lot of my musical ideas come from mundane objects. There is a particularly pleasant sound that the metal vent in the roof of my house makes when it lightly rains outside. In my old neighborhood, there was an old row house whose laundry exhaust whistled beautifully whenever it was in use. I could listen to the sounds of an oscillating fan all day long.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">I enjoy sitting still and listening to the world, though it’s far too loud for me. This is one reason why I’m drawn to expansive silences. I draw an immense amount of inspiration and solace from the quiet that descends during a snowfall.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Less esoteric and more to the point, I find the following works very influential (in no particular order):</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Marvin Gaye – <em>What’s Going On\r\n</em>Air – <em>Moon Safari\r\n</em>Billy Holiday – <em>Solitude\r\n</em>Gas – <em>Pop\r\n</em>Yo La Tengo – <em>And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out\r\n</em>Stars of the Lid – <em>The Tired Sounds of Stars of the Lid</em></p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"></p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>WH: You seem interested in exploring extreme minimalism in your music, creating a slow, surreal experience for the listener. How did you come to develop such a style?</strong></p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>GHO: </strong>When I was studying classical music I was most attracted to dissonant passages. These “sour” notes and chords represented for me a warmer, more interesting way of approaching musical expression. I would sit for hours playing a single passage over and over, slow it down, and make subtle changes to it. As I grew older, I looked forward to this monastic repetition far more than completing whichever increasingly difficult piece of music I was learning.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Starting in the early 2000s, I played bass in The Very Hush Hush. Like the piano, my method of approaching the bass has changed over the years but, even back then, I was more concerned with playing the most interesting note than playing the root. One well-placed note can heighten anticipation in ways little else can.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">My ears most want to hear what happens in the moments after a note is played before it dissolves into silence. That tension is powerful and shaping that tension is my primary concern.</p>\r\n\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_14983\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\"]<a href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/DALLAS_SESSIONS-5.jpg\"><img class=\"wp-image-14983 size-medium\" src=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/DALLAS_SESSIONS-5-300x195.jpg\" alt=\"Memorybell in the Studio\" width=\"300\" height=\"195\" /></a> The Obsolete Recording Sessions[/caption]\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>WH: In terms of your creative processes, are you driven by your technique, or do you let your emotions drive your composing and arranging? Or is it a combination of both?</strong></p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>GHO: </strong>Emotion is the driving force behind my music.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">To my ears, technique is only as useful as one’s ability to use it to express emotion. Technique for its own sake does little for me.  It’s not that I don’t admire accomplished musicians, I do; I fully understand the time and dedication it takes to become an accomplished musician. But when technique becomes the focal point music becomes hollow. There is a whole spectrum of emotional experiences to be had while listening to music and feeling awe at someone’s ability is only one.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">When I compose a new song, I try to keep my mind blank. Turn off my brain. Focus on what I’m feeling and sensing. What do I hear? What do I smell? Taste? I often begin with my eyes closed and open them once something interesting has presented itself. From there, repetition and manipulation of time and silence. How best to amplify what I’m feeling in the moment? What is the simplest way to say what needs to be said?</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"></p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>WH: Is there is a special place or time that you write music?</strong></p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>GHO: </strong>There used to be, but now I’m restricted to when my toddler son is either asleep or out of the house. Otherwise, he’ll come bounding from wherever he is and start mashing the keys. Adorable and amazing, but not conducive to thoughtful creation. I’m lucky if I get an uninterrupted chunk of 20 minutes per day.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Place is an interesting problem with the piano. You’re stuck wherever the piano is. My work around for this used to be scribbling ideas in a notebook, studying them when I couldn’t be at a piano, etc. Now, unless I’m particularly inspired and one of my 20-minute mini-sessions produces something more-or-less fully formed, I’ll hold a strong phrase in my mind for as long as I have to until I have time to explore it at the piano.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">This results in a kind of fermentation. The most emotive part of an idea tends to become stronger, while the less necessary, more ancillary bits float off. This won’t always be my song writing process but, considering my 2 year old just had a baby brother, I don’t see it changing in the near future.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"></p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>WH: How do you work on individual songs? Do they keep evolving as you experiment with them over time, or do you find it quick and easy to finish each piece?</strong></p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>GHO: </strong>It depends on the song. Many songs are vague and gauzy at the start and I have to sit with them for a while before they reveal themselves to me. I try not to force anything onto them, just wait for whatever emotion it was that drove me to sit down at the piano to come out. Sometimes this process is quick, other times it is glacial. It took 14 years for ‘Somnolent’ to become what it is.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">That’s an aberrant example, though. Most songs take on average 2-3 years before I finally leave them be. So, at any given time, the batch of songs I’m working on tend to have been initially conceived several years previous.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Occasionally, a song will emerge and I can’t figure out how to improve it. Those are always happy moments, though infrequent. I quite enjoy the long, slow evolution of a song. When one is finished, it may sound quite unlike it did in its infancy.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"></p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>WH: In regards to your artistic process, are you a perfectionist, or more of a relaxed creator?</strong></p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>GHO: </strong>A complete and utter perfectionist, though I’m trying to let that go. My compromise is to direct my perfectionist tendencies toward my process rather than toward my music, to stay dedicated to giving the songs room to breathe, to grow, to change. Rather than try to force the songs to be something I want them to be, I allow them to be what they are. Even if I don’t like the end result, being true to the process feels like being true to my nature.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The most important part of my process is letting go. Ego can be a useful tool, in crafting personae, in pushing yourself, but I find it a barrier to making meaningful music. My best songwriting comes after I’ve processed whatever drove me to write a song in the first place. What remains after the dust settles.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"></p>\r\n\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_14986\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\"]<a href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/DALLAS_SESSIONS-3-1.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-14986\" src=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/DALLAS_SESSIONS-3-1-300x195.jpg\" alt=\"Grant Hazard Outerbridge\" width=\"300\" height=\"195\" /></a> Grant Hazard Outerbridge[/caption]\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>WH: Silence, and the ambiguity it evokes, plays an important role in your music. Is this aspect of your music planned, or do you improvise?</strong></p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>GHO: </strong>Very much planned, as much as one can plan silence.  I can never predict the affect any given length of silence will have, so I conduct tests. Do I add a single beat here? A measure of seven? Thirteen? It’s a little like introducing oneself to a strange animal.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">As consumers of popular music our ears have been trained to expect predictability in regards to rhythm. 4/4 and 3/4 dominate the sonic landscape. The ghost of the Western classical music tradition is persistent. The purposeful shirking of predictable time signatures is a good thing but if not approached carefully it can estrange the casual listener.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">When I shape the silence in my songs, I pay close attention to what my ears want. Then I give them something else. Unusual time signatures often do the trick, but I try not to employ them for their own sake. Sometimes a standard time signature alternated with an irregular or changing amount of silence has a magical effect. The ultimate test is if someone can’t tell that a song is in 17/8 or 13/4.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The ideal is to make the unnatural feel natural.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"></p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>WH: Can you tell us about your experience of transient global amnesia and how it influenced the creation of this album.</strong></p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>GHO: </strong>In late February of 2014 my first son was two weeks old. He was curled up with my wife on the couch and I left to meet up with some friends. We had a couple of beers and I made my way home. It was lightly snowing.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">I walked in the house and my wife and son were still curled up on the couch. I took my son upstairs, swaddled him and put him in his crib, and put on my headphones.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">I woke up in a hospital roughly ten hours later on a gurney, obscenely bright fluorescent lights flashing over my face. I saw my wife and asked, “What am I doing here?” She patiently recounted the story of how I had come into our bedroom saying I couldn’t remember where I had been, what I had done, the people I had been with; how she had called the police, to whom I had apparently been quite charming and funny, who in turn summoned an ambulance that brought me to the hospital.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">My poor wife told me this story over forty times before it stuck. Tests were run; EKGs, MRIs, CAT scans, toxicology screens. At one point, a group of medical students with clipboards surrounded my bed.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Throughout it all, my wife sat holding our absurdly small son wondering if I’d had some sort of stroke.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">I was diagnosed with Transient Global Amnesia, which is, maddeningly, a diagnosis by exclusion. Once everything else has been ruled out, that’s what you get, a rare condition about which little is known. Extreme stress, sleep deprivation, and excessive physical exertion are thought to be the triggers.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The effect was as if a bomb had gone off in my brain. All memories months into the past and future were turned to glass.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The tests showed an increased sensitivity to light and sound. This proved problematic with a small baby at the house. I was given to carrying earplugs and noise-cancelling headphones with me for diaper changes. Going outside without sunglasses triggered a migraine. A screaming police siren triggered a migraine. A teakettle triggered a migraine. A loud sneeze triggered a migraine.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">I quit my job. The thought of trudging through that soulless routine coupled with my new condition caused me so much anxiety I couldn’t function.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">I was home all the time. When my son was sleeping, I had to do something. When my son was at day care, I had to do something. When I couldn’t sleep, I had to do something. I turned to the piano.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The songs I had been working on for the previous few years sounded like boxes of broken glass. Some of them literally gave me headaches. To heal, I picked them apart, focused on the parts that were soothing, that felt right, and threw out what remained. I reshaped them, let them ring out into silence, and created something new.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"></p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>WH: Did you know beforehand that you were writing songs specifically for this album, or did you choose from songs that had already been written?</strong></p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>GHO: </strong>I chose from songs I had previously written, but completely altered them, post-amnesia. I had a concept for an album I had been pursuing before I awoke in the hospital. That’s the raw material to which I returned</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">At the time, it was important to me to force the issue, to make the collection of songs work even if they felt wrong. That’s when I really started focusing on silence. I threw out the superfluous, ornamental bits and chiseled the songs to their core. Then I wrapped them in silence.</p>\r\n\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_14571\" align=\"alignleft\" width=\"300\"]<a href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Obsolete-Cover-Art.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-14571\" src=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Obsolete-Cover-Art-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"Obsolete Cover Art\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" /></a> Obsolete[/caption]\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>WH: The title of the album, <em>Obsolete</em>, is very evocative. How did you settle on this title, and what does it mean to you?</strong></p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>GHO: </strong>I really don’t like titling my own songs. When I do, they’re almost always non-sequiturs. I reached out to an old friend, gave him the raw, un-mastered tracks and asked him to title the songs. He suggested the title track be named “Requiem for Obsolete Technology.” A great song name, to be sure, but I felt single word song titles were more apropos, given my editing method and interest in silence.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">In general, I often feel like I was born a couple hundred years too late. The world is the loudest it has ever been, and for someone who craves quiet it is a struggle to remain focused amongst the head-splitting sounds of squealing brakes, screaming people, crackling electric lines, and wailing sirens. I like to imagine what the world must have sounded like before the industrial revolution.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Actually finding a quiet place is becoming more difficult. I live in Denver, Colorado and the legalization of marijuana, along with our city’s policy of being as inviting as possible for new businesses, has created an immense influx of people. City streets are jammed beyond capacity, and what used to be an easy drive into the mountains has become an arduous chore. Hiking trails are as clogged as motorways. Landmarks are being vandalized.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Quiet places are vanishing. So I create them in music.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"></p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>WH: Did you work on the songs for <em>Obsolete</em> individually or collectively? The titles of the songs suggest a link between them.</strong></p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>GHO: </strong>The songs I ended up including on <em>Obsolete</em> were originally written at completely different times. The only thing they had in common was the fact they were the ones I had been drawn to in the years and months leading up to my amnesia. When I slowed them down and picked them apart after my return from the hospital, I noticed new patterns and arranged their order on the album accordingly. I rarely worked on one song at a time. I typically shaped the whole set of songs at once. If I made a severe edit on one, it often let to a complementary edit on another.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">I touched on this earlier, but I find naming my own songs difficult. My natural inclination is to be abstract and sarcastic with names, but I felt it would be a disservice to the honest and existential nature of these songs to name them so. The titles of the songs are representative of various themes that were woven through my life when I reworked them. Koan is inspired by the Richard Brautigan poem, “Karma Repair Kit, Parts 1-4.” Ambulator is in reference to the Max Frisch novel, <em>Man in the Holocene</em>.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Both of these speak to me on a level that is difficult to articulate. “Karma Repair Kit” is a reminder to be still and accepting. Not of anything in particular, but of everything in general. <em>Man in the Holocene</em> is a meditation on loneliness and struck a note within me during my recovery, despite the fact I read it a very long time ago; it just bubbled up out of my mind.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">The other song titles are fairly literal and loosely based on my friend’s suggestions. 2014 was unequivocally the worst year of my life. The amnesia wasn’t even the most difficult struggle, but I’m not going to elaborate. The songs are my way of processing what happened.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"></p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>WH: What’s the main intent behind your music? What are you trying to communicate to your listeners?</strong></p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>GHO: </strong>That sitting still, especially when it is uncomfortable, is important; that the act of listening, whether it’s active or passive, is important. It slows down your thoughts, so you can spend time with them. Depending on your type of mind or life situation, that may not be desirable, but then it is all the more impactful.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Modern city life is fast and loud. We run around from place to place, from work to home, from the gym to the grocery store, checking our watches or phones, making sure we don’t miss appointments; little of that matters to our internal lives. We focus so intently on what we have to do that we rarely stop to think what we would like to do. Or what we should do, not only for our own happiness but also for our own mental health.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Slow down and take a nap. Memorybell can help.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"></p>\r\n\r\n\r\n[caption id=\"attachment_14985\" align=\"alignright\" width=\"300\"]<a href=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/GHO-web-photo-2_2000x1000.jpg\"><img class=\"size-medium wp-image-14985\" src=\"http://www.hiddenshoal.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/GHO-web-photo-2_2000x1000-300x150.jpg\" alt=\"Grant Hazard Outerbridge\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\" /></a> Memorybell[/caption]\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>WH: Do you have a lot of unreleased songs?</strong></p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>GHO: </strong>I rarely make a proper recording until I’m satisfied that I have a cohesive collection of songs. I have a few songs that didn’t make the cut for <em>Obsolete</em>, but if I do anything with them, I’ll probably chop them up and use parts of them in another project. I’ve reworked one song that didn’t fit the way I wished it had for <em>Obsolete</em> and will most likely include it on the next record.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">I don’t have a lot of unreleased material but I do, however, have a lot of unrecorded material. I don’t write any musical ideas down, I just run the songs through my head over and over. I have several albums worth of songs in various stages of completion floating in my brain. Sometimes I’ll carry a song around for years before I return to it. One song I’ve been working on for 19 years and it still hasn’t fully revealed its mysteries to me. My approach is that if something is worth recording, I’ll remember it. Thankfully, the part of my brain that stores my musical ideas seems largely unaffected by my amnesia.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"></p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>WH: Are you currently working on something? What can we expect next from Memorybell?</strong></p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\"><strong>GHO: </strong>I’ve had my fill of reworking old material for the moment. I’m moving forward with my new approach and writing an album from scratch. It’s very freeing, and my process has quickened; I’ve let go of thinking of any given idea as precious, as worthy of meticulous appreciation. If something doesn’t feel right, it’s gone. If some essence of it sticks around, then it has merit and will find a place in some different form. It’s a looser and faster method than I’ve ever used before. I’m halfway done with the follow-up to <em>Obsolete</em>. The songs still breathe slowly and are still melodic, but it’s somehow…different.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">My main obstacle is lack of time. I have a 2½ year-old and a newborn at home (both boys) and, unlike when I wrote <em>Obsolete</em>, I am now gainfully employed. My time to write is limited to naptime, or those rare occasions when I’m home alone. I’m finding it helps, actually. I carry around the songs in my head, tweak them, try different arrangements, and then when I finally have the time to play them and test my ideas out, the good ideas tend to present themselves more or less immediately.</p>\r\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Whatever comes next will be looser and more organic.</p>','The Spaces Between: An Interview with Memorybell','','inherit','closed','closed','','14977-revision-v1','','','2016-10-04 14:17:44','2016-10-04 06:17:44','',14977,'http://www.hiddenshoal.com/14977-revision-v1/',0,'revision','',0);
