June 21st, 2024
Toronto, ON
It’s been three weeks since the release of Trilogies, Part 3. Thanks so much to everyone who has streamed, downloaded and taken the time to order a copy.
The inspiration behind my Trilogies EP series was pretty simple… to make an album that I would enjoy putting on and listening to myself. Not unlike the Captain Dirt and the Skirt album that I made with Lyndell Montgomery many years ago, the EPs are a series of instrumental vignettes that take you on a journey through a cinematic landscape.
I had only a couple artistic parameters to which I endeavored to adhere: I wanted to play all the instruments myself (with the exception of the violin and cello, which are just a bit beyond me lol.) Also, on each EP I wanted one track I could perform solo live no problem.
As I’ve primarily been a fingerstyle guitarist over the last decade, the solo tracks on the first two EPs were unsurprisingly fingerstyle guitar compositions. However, everything changed a few years back when someone broke into my Corktown apartment and stole my beautiful Lowden O-10 from its stand right beside my bed. This was during the height of lockdown so I couldn’t even go out to the pawn shops to try and find my guitar, not to mention flying to Northern Ireland to pick out a new one from the Lowden factory….
This incident broke my heart even more than I could have imagined and it actually took me a long time to start playing any guitar again at all. The one silver lining in this unfortunate situation was that the circumstances pushed me beyond my boundaries and forced me to start making music in new ways. I got myself a super cute little Yamaha Reface CP keyboard and started teaching myself how to play it. Aside from the very cool 70s synth sounds it provides, I learned that if you turn the knob carefully and get it to stick *between* the sounds you’ll find the secret acoustic piano setting. It was with this instrument set to “secret piano” that I composed all the tracks on Trilogies, Part 3. Thus, the one designated track on the album that I could perform solo ended up being a piano composition this time.
I’ve been told that La Vie (Après La Guerre) invokes shades of the trobar and trobairitz, the zajal and the viralais of medieval Andalusia… but you can make up your own mind. Check out the beautiful music video I made for this piece with director Andrea Ramolo and cinematographer Dale Sood here:
In other news, now that it is properly summer, it’s time for me to get with my prime directive for the season – reclaiming the lost arts of leisure and pleasure. The last year has been so busy with work and personal responsibilities that I’ve neglected some of my most pleasurable pastimes. I look forward to returning to my photographic projects and promise a new Adventures In Sweetland series will be coming soon. In the meantime, if anyone wants to go the beach or play a nice game of croquet let me know. I have some fun creative plans brewing for the fall and look forward to presenting more glamorous events and parties, like I used to in the good old days. Stay tuned.
xo
Kristin
Secret piano. More from my Instagram here.
