People!

I am very very excited to share a new release that is really special to me. Let me explain:

At the beginning of 2015 I sent out an email to pretty much everyone I knew in Portland, Oregon, and in that email I explained to everyone how I had always dreamt of singing in a choir. I asked the big group of musicians and non-musicians if any of them would be interested in starting a choir together. The response I received was amazing. Just a week or two later The Beacon Sound Choir was born.

We would get together at Beacon Sound (record shop and label in Portland) on Sunday mornings at 10 am (some people nicknamed it the “hangover choir”!), and we’d always start by just drinking some tea and coffee, eating some baked goods, and chatting. And then at some point we’d all gather in a circle and start singing.

After going through some vocal warmups (usually led by the incredible Holland Andrews of Like A Villain), the first thing we sang at each gathering was a drone of some kind. Usually I would begin by singing a note, and then everyone else would jump in. We’d all stay on that same note for a little while before branching off into a free-form, nebulous drone, eventually all returning to the same note and ending the piece.

We sang other things together too . . . A few traditional old rounds, and some original song ideas brought in by different people in the group . . . But for me, and I think for most of the group in fact, these drones were the most rewarding part. To say that they were a therapeutic exercise feels like an understatement. For me, these drones were nothing short of a magical teleportation to another realm.

Sadly the choir has gone on hiatus for now as my traveling schedule has picked up. But I am thrilled to announce that these drones have been memorialized on a limited edition one-sided 10″ from the amazing Infinite Greyscale label in Berlin.

One of the drones is available for listening below, and copies can be ordered from ANOST or directly from the label.