Fly The Ocean In A Silver Plane

Description

"The music on this album is a reflection on journeys, both literal and figurative. Having experienced the birth of my children, the decline and passing of my parents, and my own years of exploration and return home, the journey appears to me as the ideal trope for exploring the mysteries within us. The journey—its impressions, its rituals, its superstitions—its possibilities and its risks—opens onto the landscape of our greatest questions, our fears, and our wonder.Two songs form the backbone of this music. Songs I've always loved, even before I heard them. The first, which gives the album its title, is "You Belong to Me" by Jo Stafford. Beyond its undeniable colonial overtones to our modern ears, it is also a magnificent mid-20th-century romance—and an ode to the threat of a shrinking world. The song represents the loneliness and mystery of being alone and being left behind. The singer doesn't ask the beloved to close off their horizons but simply reminds them to return once the journey is over. To set aside the Silver Plane of transition, change, and in-betweenness for the intimacy of solid ground.The second song is Chuck Berry's "Promised Land." It also speaks of a journey, and it effortlessly oscillates between allegory and narrative. The singer travels across segregated America to reach California, the promised land. The song is both an extraordinary story reminiscent of Mark Twain and an American epic worthy of Herman Melville. When the hero finally arrives in California, his first instinct is to call home to reassure the Old World and confirm his safe arrival in the New World.The songs on "Fly the Ocean in a Silver Plane" were recorded at my home over the past two years. I played electric guitar, rubber-bridge acoustic guitar, Ableton Live, and an Elektron Digitone synthesizer. My friend Mallory Linnehan, aka Chelsea Bridge, contributed beautiful violin and vocals on a few tracks. We recorded these performances on a summer afternoon in Chicago at Not Not Studio, with the windows open.The album cover is a photo of my mother—a photo I never saw during her lifetime. With her scarf and her expression, both excited and nervous, she seems about to embark on a journey. Finally ready to cross the tarmac and board the Silver Plane."