“Feedback — the Zen-like infinite amplification of silence…feedback conveniently mapped the acoustical characteristics of any space (it’s resonant frequencies, reverberation time, frequency balance) into a site-specific raga…turn up the volume and let physics do the rest.”

Phil Elverum from the bands The Microphones and Mount Eerie lived here for a year in Anacortes, Washington. Phil’s description:

There were squirrels inside in the mornings yelling for us to get out because the cabin had been so deeply reclaimed by the forest. Still, there were some excellent times here. Watching Law & Order on a laptop, mid-winter, and the computer shutting down because the battery was too cold. Knife throwing into a tree trunk for hours. Firewood rambles. Did the artwork for “Live In Japan” in there. Fried a weird fish on the outdoor campstove kitchen. Played Monopoly by kerosene lantern. Weird semi-pioneer time.

https://pwelverumandsun.tumblr.com/post/27508160107/yep-cabinporn-phil-elverum-from-the-bands-the

(one of the best live albums ever)

HEADSTONE:

“HE WAS CRESTFALLEN UNTIL HE WAS ABLE TO RATIONALIZE IT AS A GREAT MISTAKE”

“The stars don’t shine upon us / We’re in the way of their light”

“Love Comes Back” is one of the last songs Arthur Russell was working on before he became too ill to do much of anything. The version of it that appeared on Love Is Overtaking Me is a simple, keyboard and drum machine home recording that likely would have been reimagined and tinkered with endlessly had Arthur lived long enough to do so. While he still could, he sang the song to his partner Tom Lee every day, the significance of the lyrics becoming more and more meaningful as Russell came closer to death: “Love comes back / Being sad is not a crime / Once you know that / Love is back.”

For Arthur Russell, music was a constant and integral part of being alive, and there was nothing more powerful and expressive than a song, a voice, an instrument. Music could touch, heal and transform, and transcend even death.

A lot of folks want me to say that my queer and transgender identity influences my work. It isn’t untrue but I also think it isn’t as important to me as other individuals who belong to the same or similar identities. I guess I primarily identify as a broken person, a struggling person, a fuck up, a let down. Sometimes I feel like the whole world is out to get me. Sometimes I feel like the whole world is bowing at my feet.

I guess being flawed, unsure, and deeply human are more in line with whatever definition of “identity” we are talking about. If those things are my identity – I guess I just want to keep my head down and keep working. I work all day, every day. The only way to squash or maybe one day overcome these parts of myself is through working. I want to make things that connect me to other people.