TARA JANE O'NEIL- Dispatches from the Drift ORD-63
Release date: July 23, 2021
On July 23, Orindal Records will release Dispatches from the Drift, a new album of home-recorded, solo synthesizer improvisations by Tara Jane O’Neil (aka TJO). Bookended by the collection’s only appearances of guitar (the opening vocal track “A Sunday 2020” & closing instrumental “Sunday Preamble”), Dispatches from the Drift plays like a series of private meditations; music made for the pure & joyous purpose of personal exploration. Lovingly mastered by Matt Bachmann, Dispatches from the Drift is a psychedelic sound diary that moves gently & melodically through sixty-three minutes of shifting texture & mood.
TJO explains:
“Typically I use voice memos or computer programs to catch ideas and work out the really sticky ones. These pieces were recorded on iPhone or the computer program I use to monitor when I had the presence to press record. They were promptly forgotten. These are not sketches of ideas that may be revisited, these sounds were not looking for a form or seeking to be known. These are complete, traveling pieces that resolve or simply end. At the end of the dismal and seismic year called 2020, I found these improvisations on my phone or my hard drive while looking for those typical fragments of inspiration I could use to make into something else through the ordinary alchemical process of making songs.
“What a trick I played on myself! Thinking I hadn’t made much music during the lockdown. Tricked into thinking that I had to be inspired or productive during the pandemic. Thinking that any previous metric or vocation would be valid during such a time. These recordings are things that got caught in the drift. These are some of what I did in the drift, without thinking.
“Not playing shows or making a record for the first time since I was 19 has been truly confusing but again the trick is on me during the moments of fret about this. Music is eternal. Music doesn’t need a venue or a contract. What a gift to be able to play with music and what a gift to have it in the year 2020.
“What a gift that music exists and on these recorded occasions I was simply playing with it, for play. Without lyricism or intention these are recordings of sonic meander and repetition rendered by keyboard. The exception is “A Sunday 2020” and its preamble. It meets certain criteria for inclusion here as the keyboard and wordless vocals were improvised just like the others. However on this one I did use my old familiar hammer, the guitar for melodic shape.
“These found ambient pieces were not edited to feel narrative, and weren’t made with sharing in mind. Use them however you like.”
Dispatches from the Drift is the fourth release in Orindal’s Unguided Meditation series of limited edition cassettes, focusing on ambient, new age & improvisational instrumental works. The Unguided Meditation series offers new realms of expression to composers & listeners alike.
Tracks
- A Sunday 2020 (4:20)
- Heavy Tremolo (5:15)
- Pump Sounding (7:12)
- Phaser Secret (5:34)
- Long Key (8:51)
- Wind with Dog (3:14)
- Ventura Tuesday (7:49)
- Preparing for Brigit (9:09)
- Hurdy Short (1:17)
- It’s Been a Long Time (8:36)
- Sunday Preamble (1:43)
Pressing Information
Tape edition
200 pro dub Super Ferric tapes in clear, imprinted shells with three color, Risograph-printed photo j-cards packaged in black & white Norelco cases. Cover art by Tara Jane O'Neil. Design & printing by Issue Press. 11 tracks, 63 minutes.
All purchases include an lossless digital download of Dispatches from the Drift is. Downloads will be delivered on the July 23, 2021 release date.
Dispatches from the Drift is distributed by The Business.