“Mere Survival is Not Enough.” Professor Drew Daniel, you had us on the title on this one. The artist, known for being half of Matmos, and being all of Dr. Drew Daniel, and the solo project The Soft Pink Truth, talks about string arrangements and the meaning behind the track title in an interview.
I hate being on camera myself, so I realize — I need to invest not in ring lights or makeup but sweaters. That one is lush.
I’m ahead of the release, but this one I’m moved by immediately. It’s everything a lot of hyped music is not, beginning with the release date of January 26. “Whatever you do, don’t release in January” is the advice from every PR agency. Yet that’s dead-center in the time of winter when I want to curl up and get lost in uninterrupted listening to new music, minus distractions, maybe with — a sweater, again. Listen and watch to “Time Inside the Violet.”
It’s so wonderfully unadorned, unassuming, without being overly shy. Each note seems considered and unhurried. It flirts with standing still entirely. You could almost mark any one note with a fermata and have the work still work, which reminds me of a joke about Beethoven — that you could add an extra repetition. Maybe it’s musical tensegrity.
But that’s not to say it’s emotionally frozen. In that suspension, there’s a deep feeling that can hit your gut, like the moment free-fall hits on a roller coaster. (Thrill Jockey is putting out great stuff for fans of melancholy; that one auto-played onto this Brueder Selke & Midori Hirano joint.)
Still above from the video — by Matthew Murray Sullivan in collaboration with Vicki Bennett.
What a nice lineup of guests, too:
String arrangements by Istanbul-based artist and player Ulas Kurugullu reimagine Daniels’ MIDI layouts as strong melodic lines that intertwine and disintegrate into a digital haze. Harpists Neleta Ortiz and Cecilia Cuccolini range from gentle plucks to huge cascades of glissando sweeps. Piano runs from Koye Berry and M.C. Schmidt square off against the muscular strings played by Kurugullu, as well as the Ebu String Quartet from the Peabody Institute. Zach Rowden of celebrated noise duo Tongue Depressor provides grinding double bass drones and woodwinds played by Brandon Wilkins and Evelyn Frances speckle pieces like “Underneath (II)”. Esteemed guitarist Bill Orcutt offers one of his most delicate performances committed to record on the pastoral penultimate track “Orchard” as clouds of oboes, piano and strings twinkle overhead. Combining dynamic performances with agile formal construction, Can Such Delightful Times Go On Forever? showcases the depth of Daniel’s acumen as a composer and arranger.
There’s also a personal note for me, one that makes me smile when I read Drew’s bio, because as a nerdy Louisville, Kentucky native, there is a place in my heart that will always be reserved for The Vogue Theater, beloved arthouse cinema. I seriously did not know Drew’s stepdad ran the place. So, anyway, thre’s my cultural bias coming through — times spent absorbing culture and feeling free to be weird.
More on the release and the act (and Matmos is also going strong; it was great to see Drew and husband M.C. in Berlin):
The Soft Pink Truth | Thrill Jockey
And I hope in those moments of reflection, we can look, however fleetingly or desperately, for something beyond survival. The struggle is real.