On the phone, Norman’s grief was overpowering. I wanted to console him but anything I could offer would trivialize what he is going through.
On the 112th take, I completed the playing for this recording. I went through a lot from the time I first encountered this song to the time it was what I wanted it to be. I played it so many times that I wondered if there was something wrong with me. Maybe I was stimming rather than creating. I would struggle to pull off some hopelessly minute detail, then invent a new nanoscale problem to struggle against. In my mind, there was always some fresh idea or goal, but my family must have felt the slow pace of change defeated any sense of progression.
Talking to Norman was the turning point in going from notes to living music. Needing to connect with him in a way that wasn’t trivial was the key to finishing.
3 responses to “For Norman, 112”
[…] For Norman, 112 bathysphere I’m Under a Lot of Stress Lately Disappearance The Numerologist Do Not Look at Me I don’t suppose I’ll be back here, daddy One Street, Three Stores and a Baseball Diamond September 3, 2023 […]
Enjoyed meeting & talking w you last night. The music here has an appealing sense of quiet reassuring intimacy. Somehow I was also reminded of The Books, who work live strings into cleverly edited collages.
-Cheers!
Thanks for stopping by the blog, Ian. Glad to hang at Quinn’s yesterday.
Vaporwave is fun to talk about. The way they fetishize 80s badness is gross and hilarious.
On this blog, this recording is the best example of “experimental” mandolin:
https://playingintongues.com/2023/08/25/bathysphere/
I’m exploring https://soundcloud.com/fastus now. (The Books next). If you’re playing around, let me know.
lucas@gonze.com