eyes cast down

“Though he has watched a decent age pass by,
A man will sometimes still desire the world.
I swear I see no wisdom in that man.”
Oedipus at Colonus, Scene 5 Chorus
Sophocles, tr. Robert Fitzgerald

I first met Chuck van Zyl at a Steve Roach performance at The Gatherings in 2015. It was a long-anticipated pleasure, given Chuck’s stature in the community and his support for my music: he has kindly reviewed, and conferred his annual Significant Album status on, my releases The Separate Ones; Souls Adrift, in Disrepair; and The White Island.

Chuck’s first words, after greeting me, were to ask if I played live, and if I would like to play there.

Would I like to play there? At the venue which Better Men Than Me have described as the world’s most important platform for ambient and electronic music? Sign me up…

Two years later, the planets aligned and there I was, opening for Gentleman Jeff Pearce. That concert, and another on Star’s End Radio a few hours later, remain the performance highlights of my career so far.

The full story is in my blog.

“Counsel of Perfection” – for me, one of my strongest pieces – was composed for the concert and intended for a concept album, which now is more likely to take a classical form. A second piece, “One Pitcher of Water,” also intended for both concert and album, was written but there wasn’t enough time to ready it for the performance. If that recording is ever finished, it will find its place on another “lost pieces” album.

“Transcending Memory” originally appears on my album Souls Adrift, in Disrepair.

When the time finally felt right to release this performance, the need for more music was met by inspiration from an ancient wise Greek. Robert Fitzgerald’s luminous translations of Sophocles’ Oedipus cycle (working with his teacher Dudley Fitts on two of the three plays) were hailed by Sam Shepard, which naturally caught my eye. I read the cycle with delight, and “That Uttermost Twilight” is the result.

Cover photo © by Daci Jett. Layout by Daci and GM.