origins and the album

about 8 years ago (!) i started making sounds to accompany productions of my plays. when companies were too cheap to hire a real sound designer, i tried my hand, mainly because sound was so important to the plays. but from that developed a whole another project. i started thinking a lot about these pieces as existing on their own outside of the plays and so began occurrence. the first thing i began was something called the stairs project. when i was a kid -- age 8 -- i was alone with my grandmother when she had a massive stroke. i was alone with her and i had to call 911 and all of that. it pretty much screwed me up for a long time. i wanted to create a sound piece about that experience. but i didn't want to do anything that would be too "literal." so i put out a request to friends asking them to send me sounds: musical, otherwise, anything. and from those sounds i would create something. i worked on that for awhile and then put it on hold as i started writing and recording more traditional songs, still using samples and keyboards. eventually those projects merged.....

What Returns Always Turns

Here is a song that didn't make it on the record. It was recorded on 9/11/01. I needed something to do besides watch the news and feel super depressed. It was made using a Mini-Disc Recorder (remember those?), a microcassette recorder that was kind of broken and some free Mac software for OS 9.

What Returns Always Turns mp3

The Dim

here is the unmastered version of the opening song on the new record. it was recorded and mixed at macdowell this past september and was the 2nd to the last song made for the record.
the dim mp3

Lonesome Animals

The first album of occurrence material is finished. I have been working on this material since early 2005. I finished mixing and recording at the MacDowell Colony last month. I am getting ready to send the album for mastering. alan douches of west west side music is doing the mastering, which i am very excited about.