May has always been an exciting month for me. As Spring comes into its fullest expression we are given hints of the Summer to come. Encouraged by the long hours of sunshine, life is finding routine and moving faster and faster, the dormant months of winter becoming a distant memory. It is into this season I was born. Perhaps this is why I feel a bit more wind at my back during this time.
The pandemic has put a temporary hold on performing and has offered me an opportunity to spend lots of time creating music in the studio. This time has been a gift. As live performance begins to open up, I am searching for ways to preserve the routines I have created in the studio while also finding joy in performing again.
In June of 2020 I moved from my congested East Hollywood apartment to the open rolling hills of Sonoma County. Surrounded by vineyards and large oak groves, I created an album of music that had been bubbling just under the surface, waiting for the right conditions to burst through the cracks. And burst through it did! I spent six weeks recording in my friend Mitchel Slade’s studio, layering melodies and sounds of the violin and viola over and around each other, creating textures and sounds that had been growing and evolving within the confines my mind’s ear.
Today, it is with great pleasure that I present to you Portal:
Portal is a sonic exploration of the seven centers of awakening. With violin- and viola-based compositions that move from intimate melodies to wide orchestral soundscapes, each track on the album represents an energy center in the body, a Chakra in Yogic philosophy, in which is held certain energies that we're either aware of or are in the dark about. The music represents the transmutation of those energies from the lower forms of the material plane, through the portal of the heart, and into the astral realm. The creation of this album was a journey of self discovery and opening up to the world around me. It represents a spiritual awakening that I experienced in the year leading up to recording it.
Portal is available to pre-order through my Bandcamp page. Today is Bandcamp Friday, which means that all fees and revenue shares on purchases from the site today are waived. 100% of what you pay goes to the artist (thanks Bandcamp!). With the purchase today, you get the first piece, Arise, and when the album is released on June 11, you will be notified and will be able to download the whole digital album.
The album is being released by my newly founded record label Holy Volcano. The label has new music from Tristan de Liège and RAQIA coming this summer and I am thrilled to be orchestrating those releases. If you are interested in stickers of the logo drawn by Ramin Nazer, click on the logo below! They are available in four color schemes.
Thank you all for your continued support. It is not possible to create the music I do without the community that surrounds me. May we all continue to grow, create, and BE in this ever changing world.
Until next time,
Greg
Yorumlar