End of day comes, a shifting of light in the charcoal bowl of the sky. The world feels watery today, filled with secret caverns, hidden treasures and forgotten longings, all beneath this seamless fabric of air, undulating as surely as though it were liquid. Perhaps it is the rain hovering on the angel tipped clouds or perhaps it is that I have been working on, what I affectionately call, my water suite. It is part of an art installation called Naiad, opening at ArtPoint in Calgary, in October. It is a collaboration between myself,Liba Labek (painter) and Pam Dalsin(sculptor). The focus...of course...is water ~smile~.
My contribution is to be a fluid piece of music, about 15 minutes long that will play in the background of the exhibit, which has been unusual to write for me. I had a few structured thoughts and rather than write them all out rigidly, I loosely threw some chords in my journal as well as some lyric seeds and then have written as I record, very fluidly, letting each little section wash over me to become what it wants to be. Normally I agonize over lyrics, sometimes taking DAYS to find the perfect word to encapsulate the feelings and images that are pouring out of me. In this case I put my journal on my music stand and have just written as I go, which seems perfect to express the flexing nature of water, but also has really given my brain a workout ~laugh~. I have been pulling from ever watery narrative I have ever read from myths to grail lore to the history of sacred springs. My mind traces over the water rune, Laguz and delves into the reedy beginnings of the Lady of the Lake. My body remembers the feeling of dappled light as it filters in tiny ribbons through the sinuous surface of the water, and my ears hear the rushing of silence that only barely masks this steady pulse within. I write as though I am remembering what already was, and as such, each moments spent within this suite is as meditation.
The suite isn't finished...yet. The fabulously talented Erin Dingle is adding some spoken word next week, and I have other musical threads to weave into it all. And though what I have recorded thus far, has been done in my living room there is something fitting about the organic nature of my process this time. It feels...well...watery ~laugh~. And though it's not done, I thought I would share a tiny snippet...
The lyrics...thus far...
From the depth I rose
Silted eyes shut
Hands spread from trouting lines
Your words a murmur
Calling me
My heart sung into beating
A chalice formed
From your breath
From your worship
I awaken
Shards of light
Blooming in my eyes
I am waken
I am open
I am
Ancient seas feed your tears
All that was ever is
I am the drops
The endless ocean within you
And I’m calling to you
It’s the sound of silence
Of desire
Don’t you want to drown with time?
Don’t you want to rise from the deep?
Seasons turn
Even kings return
To the yielding sea
In the stillness between ebb and flow
In the shadow of the moon’s tears
On the shoreline of your solitude
In the swells beyond this world
(Ancient seas feed yours tears, all that was ever is)
(I am the drops of your ocean)
(Rivers run endlessly, life to life blood singing)
(Of every heart it's passed through)
I wove your spilled dreams
Threaded them through
The folds of these years
I foretold all of the futures
In your soul
Held the cloth of your song
Taut through your restless cries
Healed the scars beneath
Your scarab eyes
In the falling of your mystery
In the breath before the morn
In the darkness of your hidden fears
In the pulse that carries on
My voice woven of longing reeds
My eyes tumbling truths endlessly
My heart, the pounding surf of time
My breath, umbilical to the mirrored
Caverns of rebirth
And I'm calling to you
It's the sound of silence
Of desire
Don't you want to drown with time
Don't you want to rise from the deep
Seasons turn
Even kings return to the yearning sea
