Lost and Found
ALBUM ALERT
It’s such an honor and a privilege to be part of an album, especially when the work is collaborative. Here’s a new one:
I am so delighted to share a new CD release: Lost and Found, a collection of percussion works by longtime collaborator and dear friend Robert Honstein. This record features two recordings with which I’m involved: Down Down Baby, for two musicians playing one cello, recorded with Hannah Collins, and Lost and Found, a large scale work for prepared marimba.
I’ve been working with Robert since 2012, and I’m excited that these recordings capture his music’s virtuosity, whimsy, and expressivity.
This disc was truly a team effort: produced by Doug Perkins, recorded at Oktaven Audio and SHIRK Studios, mastered by Ryan Streber, and with stunning videos by Four/Ten Media, impeccably nostalgic cover art by Laura Grey, and an all-time great, liner note from Doyle Ambrust.
Alongside the immersive and powerful audio, we released a video of the titular Lost and Found, filmed in a swimming pool (empty) by Four/Ten Media.
Lost and Found emerged from experiments with marimba sounds in preparation for a cello/percussion duo which eventually became Down Down Baby. After years of workshopping, yards of foam, and multiple roto-toms sacrificed to the cause, we organized 33 of my amazing colleagues into a consortium and took the plunge (into an empty pool).
Real People, Alive on Stage
Robert’s Down Down Baby is an exemplar of New Morse Code’s philosophy of long-term collaboration. Leveraging musical friendships, we work to develop music which represents Hannah and Mike as musicians, not simply cello and percussion. Sometimes composers (in this case Caroline Shaw) even put our names in the the score.
In Down Down Baby, we sit opposite a single cello, neither string players nor percussionists, and explore with a childish glee. At the same time, DDB was developed over years of worshipping, trading ideas, and revisions, empowering our advocacy while embedding our own musical personalities into the music.
After years of practice on Simon, Hannah’s “you can touch this cello” instrument, a took to the parks of Philadelphia to play follow the leader: