released July 11, 2023

Kris Chatterson: guitar, synthesizer, percussion
Zachary Keeting: bass, Moog, electronics, percussion, voice

Christopher Mir: tambourine on #5 / synthesizer on #7 / bass on #8 / guitar on #9

Songwriting:
#1 #2 #3 #5 #6 Keeting
#4 #10 Chatterson / Keeting
#7 #8 #9 Keeting / Mir

Lyrics:
#1 Murasaki Shikibu (973?-1014?) trans. Annie Shepley Omori and Kōchi Doi
Kan'ami Kiyotsugu (1333-1384) trans. Sam Houston Brock

#3 Chikamatsu Monzaemon (1653-1725) trans. Donald Keene

#4 Anonymous (16th century) from "The Bird-Catcher in Hades" trans. Shio Sakanishi

#5 Seami Motokiyo (1363-1443) trans. Meredith Weatherby and Bruce Rogers

#6 Murasaki Shikibu (973?-1014?) trans. Annie Shepley Omori and Kōchi Doi

#7 Seami Motokiyo (1363-1443) trans. Meredith Weatherby and Bruce Rogers

#8 Sei Shōnagon (966-1017?) trans. Arthur Waley

#9 Kamo no Chōmei (1153-1216) trans. Donald Keene

#10 Shōhaku (1443-1527) trans. Donald Keene
Sōchō (1448-1532) trans. Donald Keene
Tachibana Akemi (1812-1868) trans. Donald Keene

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The Grove Press paperback Anthology of Japanese Literature (1955) is a gem. I know of no other ancient poetry that is as fresh, or as haunting, or as startlingly intimate. This, of course, is an English translation. I can only assume the original poems, novels and plays are breathtaking.

The music on this album is built-up around small passages of text I find beautiful and true. Filtered through the blender of my heart, words float free: some compositions contain snippets from multiple texts written hundreds of years apart. Other songs pay tribute to a single author.

I would also like to thank the many translators (from the early 20th century) whose lyrical phrasing triggered this project.

It is my hope that somehow, through some cosmic power (or multi-dimensional collapse) this sonic transformation, this dark dream, rockets back across time and space, and reaches the authors: perhaps as a slight ringing in their ears, that strangely enough, brings a sense of well being, or better yet encouragement, from afar.

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Some vocals and instruments were recorded in 2009 (Keeting / Mir)
Everything was rearranged and made crazier in 2022-2023 (Chatterson / Keeting)

Recorded and mixed at homes in New Jersey and Connecticut
Mastering: Greg DiCrosta at Firehouse 12 in New Haven

Album art: Zachary Keeting