2017 is off to a roaring good start!

In mid-January, I completed recording for my fifth album, The White Island. It’s all improvised guitar pieces, though I pushed the concept a little for the last piece to be recorded, The Eons Are Closing. (Coolness points if you recognize the phrase!) For this I recorded two spontaneous parts on each of 6- and 12-string guitars, the fretless with EBow, and electric mandolin with octave pedal, then arranged the parts jigsaw-puzzle style. A similar approach was used on Like a Riven Cloud and Mister God, This is Taylor.

The final mixing and artwork are all that remain to be done. I hope to release in the spring. Look for the album’s creation story soon.

Next in the recording queue is one of two classical cover pieces that I’m dying to record.

On the live performance front, I’ve been honored with an invitation to play two of North America’s most important venues in the electronic/atmospheric music world: The Gatherings Concert Series and Star’s End Radio, both located in Philadelphia.

The Gatherings celebrates its 25th year, and has hosted many of the world’s most important musicians in the field, including Steve Roach, Robert Rich, Erik Wøllo, Ian Boddy, Saul Stokes, and guitarist Jeff Pearce – one of my most important influences, for whom I will be opening. My set will be 30-40 minutes.

The concert takes place Sat. Oct. 7, 8:00 p.m., at St. Mary’s Hamilton Village, 3916 Locust Walk, Philadelphia PA 19104.

After the concert, I’ll relocate to WXPN Radio at the University of Pennsylvania, to play an hour live to air on Star’s End, currently in its 40th year, which airs from 1:00 – 6:00 a.m. Star’s End cited my albums The Separate Ones and Souls Adrift, in Disrepair as Significant Releases for 2013 and 2016 respectively.

I hope to see you there! More news to come very soon, as the ripple effects from this invitation are considerable…