This is my movement of "In Memoriam", the collaborative requiem created by Inversion Ensemble in 2020-2021. This was such a meaningful project to be part of. Huge thanks to all involved for this incredible recording!

Performed by Inversion Ensemble under the direction of Trevor F. Shaw
Soprano Soloist: Carol Brown
Pianist: Michelle Schumann

Text:

...as the fowl can keep
Absolute stillness, poised aloft in air,
And fishes front, unmoved, the torrent's sweep,
So may the Soul, through powers that Faith bestows,
Win rest, and ease, and peace, with bliss that Angels share.

- William Wordsworth, excerpt from “Rest and Be Thankful! – At The Head Of Glencroe”

Until the morning of Eternity
Her rest shall not begin nor end, but be.
- Christina Georgina Rossetti, excerpt from “Rest”

The direct perceptions which I now have are those which now fall within my "specious present".
Of those which are beyond it, I can only have memory or anticipation. Now the "specious
present" varies in length according to circumstances, and may be different for two people at the
same period. ...The [objective] present through which events really pass, therefore, cannot be
determined as simultaneous with the specious present. And thus an event may be past when I am
experiencing it as present, or present when I am experiencing it as past. The duration of the
objective present may be the thousandth part of a second. Or it may be a century... What reason
can we have to believe in the existence of such a present, which we certainly do not observe to
be a present, and which has no relation to what we do observe to be a present? Whenever we
perceive anything as existing in time -- which is the only way in which we ever do perceive
things -- we are perceiving it more or less as it really is not.
- J.M.E. McTaggart, excerpt from “The Unreality of Time” (1908)

Pie Jesu: Her Rest Shall Not Begin Nor End But Be

Glide

Glide (feat. Skye Edwards)

Perry Mills – electric and acoustic guitars, vocals
Mark McCartney – drums, percussion, backing vocals
Bob Villwock – keyboards, backing vocals
Michael Manring – bass
Grant Reeves – alto, tenor, and baritone saxophones, bass clarinet
Mark Maxwell – tenor saxophone
Maurice Montgomery – trumpet, flugelhorn
Tanya Scarlett – backing vocals

Producers: Bob Villwock, Michael Logue, Perry Mills, Mark McCartney
Executive producer: Perry Mills
Recorded and mixed at SunSound Studios, Grass Valley, CA • Recording and mixing engineer: Michael Logue
Mastered at Capitol Studios, Hollywood, CA • Mastering engineer: Evren Göknar
Horn arrangements by Grant Reeves
Vocal arrangements by Tanya Scarlett, Perry Mills, and Bob Villwock
Voice-over by Jane Barbe, courtesy of the Barbe Family ("Pick Up The Call")
Some vocalizations by Michael Logue ("What Elephant?")
Photos by Tony Finnerty and Jim Beckett
Special thanks to Pat Jacobsen, Kit Bailey, and Alan Kuehne.
© 2008 VerySomething Records

Existential Blues

Katrina Saporsantos, soprano
Benjie Dia, piano

Text: "Goodnight Soliloquy" from The Nightgown & Other Poems by Taisia Kitaiskaia

Oven off.
TV stilled.
Spine blind.
Roots told.
Fly drowned.
Fields molten.

Tired of feeling everything, the lake takes no more prisoners.

May ancient wars travel your brow,
May the skulls of jaguars, call you 
    with their emperors,
Green nerves, liquid tesseracts, goodness spooling--

May you wake
Bellied, deserted.
Years gathered.
Feet mended.
Being stilled.
Guardian howled.

Emerge from the milky eye.
Held as you are by no one in particular, loose in the hands.

Premiered April 9th, 2022 at the KMFA Draylen Mason Music Studio in Austin, TX

Huge thanks to Taisia for the stellar text and to Katrina and Benjie for the stellar performance!!

Goodnight, Soliloquy

ZERO GRAVITY

“The band calls their music cosmic rock, there are also elements of film-noire, psychedelic folk, and acid jazz (namely in the rhythms). As the synths, keys, bass, and drums collide, the sultry vocals emerge from the titillating atmosphere. Now this is how a band makes an introduction.” – Ben Yung, The Revue

05 - Native Vista

04 - Heartbeats

foreverrr

First mixdown; things might be out of balance.

Retainer

Inversion Ensemble
Aether: Fire - passion/psyche
March 1, 2020
Redeemer Presbyterian Church, Austin, Texas
Trevor F. Shaw, Artistic Director / Clinton Bray, Guest Conductor
Austin Haller, piano

The Heart Asks by Trevor Villwock
Text: Emily Dickinson (1830-1886)
The Heart asks Pleasure – first – 
And then – Excuse from Pain – 
And then – those little Anodynes 
That deaden suffering – 
And then – to go to sleep –
And then – if it should be
The will of its Inquisitor
The liberty to die –

Upon reading this Emily Dickinson text for the first time, my mind was immediately drawn to the current opioid epidemic in the U.S., and then to the broader theme of addiction in all its manifestations. At many times our conscious thoughts, motivations, and actions are driven only by our base animal desires even if we tell ourselves another story. In my piece I tried to capture our fraught relationship with our reptilian brain and the way this relationship intersects with a modern world where quick satisfaction is a very easy thing to find.

Existential Blues

star_stuff