20220419

The first time I heard Emily Sprague’s music was on lines. Somebody posted a video of hers, 'Three Sisters + Harmonic Oscillator', that had captured their attention as a high watermark...and it’s easy to understand how. The straightforward and earnest exploration of a beautiful module, through a looped melody you could listen to for hours, seemed the work of a seasoned pro. Somebody else commented, revealing that the synthesist was Emily Sprague from the band Florist. While they brought up that Emily had just started working with modular synths in the last year, digging deeper revealed that the video was actually made in her second week.

Beyond the quality of her music, which has only swelled over the last year, what’s fascinating about Emily’s work is how public her process has been. While most whittle away for months, releasing new work only after long incubation, Emily seems to revel in sharing each step of her growth in realtime — a direct response to the trajectory of her own self-education.

If you’re new to modular synthesis, this is the episode for you. If you’re deeply settled, this is the episode for you. Emily has retained a beginner’s mind while leveraging her rich decade-long background as a musician, producer and engineer to create music that is playful and emotional, while remaining technically impressive.

As you’ll notice, there are more music breaks in this episode than previous ones — due to my own fandom and Emily’s generosity, you’re the first to hear the demos that will make up her much-anticipated modular album.

Beyond her talents, Emily is an insightful and passionate addition to the lines community and personally, I hope that her reflections help anyone who feels that their voice is un or under-represented in this field to join the conversation at llllllll.co

Emily Sprague: SOUND + PROCESS #8

Hank Yates reached out to me in early 2020 after navigating the loss of his daughter, Ida, whose stillbirth occurred only ten months after his mother Kathy's passing.

To focus his grief, he wrote each a requiem -- dual tributes which span the extreme edges of loss. 'Life of a Leaf' for Kathy memorializes a life well-lived, while 'The Mockingbird' for Ida mourns unrealized potential of a life not given its full chance.

What strikes me most about Hank is that he found not only reason but strength to create in the wake of such personal tragedy. These albums demonstrate a spiritual resilience that I admire *so much*.

A big part of the support network for Hank and Ali, his wife, is Saul's Light -- a non-profit which provides community and resources to families with babies in the neonatal intensive care unit. Shining a light on this organization was a big motivator for Hank to share Ida's story with us, so if you're able please consider supporting them: https://www.saulslight.org

Thank you to Matt Lowery for his remarkable and empathetic edit of this episode. And thank you to Hank, for his generosity and perseverance.

Life of a Leaf: https://mousymagazine.bandcamp.com/album/life-of-a-leaf
The Mockingbird: https://mousymagazine.bandcamp.com/album/the-mockingbird

20220419

tomw

Related tracks