The Treehouse of Memory & Regret
Ann Arbor, MI, USA
Check Out the Album
Original Concept:
In the Portuguese language, an important and inscrutable word dominates part of the national psyche -- "saudade." While there is no exact counterpart in the English language, "saudade" refers to a deep sense of wistful longing, soaked in yearning and melancholy. "Several Songs of Longing" will explore various traditions and experiences of our collective urge to seek, while never quite finding, an emotional desire just beyond our reach.
Artist Post-Game:
This was a good opportunity for me to develop some ideas around memory and loss that I've been studying recently and finding to be interesting. I borrowed two melodies from songs that I wrote for FAWM the previous month, reworking them lyrically to fit the theme for the InCoAlMo album. One other song, "Solastalgia," was largely written during the winter, and I re-wrote it and set it to a different arrangement for this album. I also took a basic guitar riff that I used for a FAWM song two years ago and expanded it into the song "Samba Sung Blue" (the title of which is sort of a play on words regarding the old Neil Diamond song "Song Sung Blue"). If anyone listens to this album and as a result decides to check out Portuguese fado music on their own, the effort in making this collection will have been worth it.
"No Oceans Without Islands"
Ann Arbor, MI, USA
Original Concept:
All this traveling, over all this water...time to capture the vibes. This project will unify around the theme of nautical and island travel, with songs inspired (in part) by a 2024 songwriting workshop on a tall masted sailing ship in the Hebrides Islands, with ocean stops in Reunion, Madagascar, Iceland, New Zealand, Australia, and Singapore.