Single Premiere: Natural Sympathies - "Four Accordions (2020)"
The accordion's bellows expand and contract
with imperfect rhythm, filling and emptying
in perfect time with my soul.
- Amber Goodwyn
All of Canada is currently fighting one enemy together. We fight collectively by taking on the immeasurable task of secluding ourselves from socially gathering with our friends and family. This task is not easy, humans are social beings but we have been called into action and we are answering that call.
It was only a matter of time before music created while in isolation started to emerge. Canada’s music scene is rich, the talents within this country are immense. Put artists in a position where they’re not allowed to work their day jobs or leave the house, then add a tsunami of emotions laced with uncertainty and it’s a given that art will be created.
Case in point, Natural Sympathies.
The recording project of Regina’s Amber Goodwyn, Natural Sympathies, has bestowed upon the Cups N Cakes Network the honour of premiering a fourteen minute drone track created with an accordion. The song is a cover of Tony Conrad's “Four Violins” (1964), which Goodwyn explains is one of her favourite pieces of music and just the thing she needed in these uncertain times. She performed and recorded the track this past Tuesday then quickly had it mastered by Orion Paradis of SoulSound Studio. The cover art was done by Mike Dawson.
Anthony Schmalz "Tony" Conrad (March 7, 1940 – April 9, 2016) was an American avant-garde video artist, experimental filmmaker, musician, composer, sound artist, teacher, and writer. Active in a variety of media since the early 1960s, he was a pioneer of both structural film and drone music. He performed and collaborated with a wide range of artists over the course of his career, most prominently the 1960s New York experimental music group Theatre of Eternal Music.
When CnC asked Goodwyn about about the process of making this piece, she explained:
“Late on Monday night I picked up the accordion and breathed in time to its drone. On Tuesday morning I recorded four fourteen minute passes of continuous improvised accordion drone, in homage to Tony Conrad’s ‘Four Violins’ (1964). I sent it to Orion to be mastered later that day and asked Mike to make the cover art based on Conrad’s. I reached out to my pal Jeff to see if he wanted to share it on his website. The music is a blank canvas onto which you can project any feeling or need during this strange moment in time.”
It is with great pleasure that we get to premiere “Four Accordions (2020)” from Natural Sympathies.
