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O AWE MORNING RECORD

"In September last year, during a one-week holiday on the shores of Long Beach, Lake Erie, I checked myself in at the lodge. It was not a studio, but it had the kind of bright corners and tight quarters that made setting up my musical equipment and simple recording gear a rather pleasing experience; 'let me move this lamp up here on the mantelpiece, and now I can use this coffee table as a keyboard stand, and in case I need a break I have a view of the lake through the window to my left, oh, and how convenient, a power outlet right at my feet'.

At the time, I wasn't truly aware of its significance, but throughout the summer that this trip happened to bookend, my life heavily revolved around the duality of swimming and not swimming (both literally and figuratively); 'swimming optional' was a sort of self-granted motto I was living by. I've previously released various songs inspired by water and swimming in it, so this subject being pretty much engrained in my life may come to no surprise for the longtime listener. Indeed, this album takes place by the water.

I also found myself knee-deep in a couple of rather enlightening pieces of literature. One was John Cage's 'A Year From Monday', certainly not my first Cagean excursion; like other books of his, it's made up of multiple essays, lectures, and other ramblings, and therefore an easy book to enjoy at a relatively leisurely pace. Personally, I like my Cage best when I can sense that contagious smile at the end of a passage...and even when I think to myself 'huh, I don't know about that, John'. Anyway, the other book was a practitioner's guide to Zen master Dogen's 'Uji' (or Being-Time', as it's translated in English). How did these two books end up in my backpack at the same time? Just good timing, I guess, but juggling passages between these two heavy zones of literature that, not unexpectedly, often intertwined, complimented one another, and even contradicted one another, made it feel like I was brewing a great big magical stew that would seep (and spill!) into various aspects of my life and especially my creative actions.

And it did.

And now we have this album.

Regarding the music, nearly all of it was recorded over just a few sittings throughout the week. The percussion usually came first and was a way to begin to empty my mind. From the simple comforts of the lodge, my uncovering of certain melodies, rhythms, and chord progressions was, at times, not only effortless, but blissful! And fun! I found a certain space within each song where I could be looking in and out at the mountain. A torrential storm brought heavy rainfall and incredibly strong winds midweek; some songs were recorded before and some after. The long beach became a canvas for misplaced algae, creating hundreds of miniature abstract compositions for those who stopped to admire them. Time was and time wasn't. The soft sand beneath my feet showed me a way of careful listening that makes me wonder to this day whether I was walking along the shore or just standing still. Maybe both.

I believe that even the most casual of listeners should observe some symmetry between the two sides of this cassette. The decision to end each side of the cassette with prominent field recordings of (eventually unaccompanied) natural sounds along the shoreline was an intentional one. I hope you will find the beauty hidden in plain sight within these recordings and perhaps even some pleasure in the juxtoposition between the specific place in which they were recorded and the place where you are listening from.

Like your typical record, playing the whole album through, beginning to end, will undoubtedly offer the complete musical experience. With that said, from the mouth of the artist to the ears of the listener, it is also imagined that the particular track sequencing of 'O Awe Morning Record' can offer the listener an equally promising experience by listening to just a single side and then returning to the subsequent side at a later session. Likewise, beginning with the second side of the cassette at a later date and immediately following it with the first side is meant to work just as well. You choose.

This is O AWE MORNING RECORD, a record of movement and non-movement, a meditation on time, and a reminder that swimming is optional.

- Del Stephen"
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