VALES (2015-2017)
1 hour performance for 5 musicians & video, website of songs & film, audio recording released on digital and cassette tape.
"…. not so much a familiar sound… but an original one that helps your memory stir and bring you back to the years before… That calm serene vocal echo … Atmospheric structures like buildings encapsulating imagination from the past… Or distant singing of a familiar melody that you can’t put your finger on, but it’s the window of time that it brings you to that’s most important. Listen. Witness… " – Tiny Mix Tapes
".... expertly played with a small ensemble combining the emotional heft and instrumental lyricism of Nico Muhly's vanguard-leading neo-classical and the knotty avant-pop of Nat Baldwin or Liam Singer, Horvitz turns tragedy into an engrossing treatise on loss that feels universal and acutely personal..." – TOME TO THE WEATHER MACHINE (Best of 2015)
Songs and films in Memory of Dominic Ziegler (1988-2012)
Released as a cassette tape and digital recording by Shatter Your Leaves Records (2015) & Hope For The Tape Deck (2019 re-issue)
Released as an interactive website by Shatter Your Leaves in 2015
Premiere New Amsterdam Records/Van Dyke Park, Brooklyn, NY, March 14, 2015.
Tour 2015-2016, additional performances 2017-18.
Credits:
Concept, direction, words, and music by Asa Horvitz
Film shot and edited by Jessica Sledge and Richard Hunter-Rivera
Words and music by Asa Horvitz, except for "Spell" by Asa Horvitz and Bryan West
Asa Horvitz – singing, guitars, keyboards, electronics
Eliza McKelway – singing, electronics
Ben Seretan – guitars, electronics, singing, keyboards
Bryan West – cello, singing, keyboards
Trevor Wilson – singing, keyboards
with:
JJ Beck – drums, piano
Sam Clement – bass
Additional salmon footage by Jon Warmerdam and Asa Horvitz
Recorded by JJ Beck at Akin Studios, Hoosick Falls, NY
Additional recording at Crazy Cat House in Bedstuy by Stu Watson
Mixed by Asa Horvitz and Neil Strauch
Mastered by Roger Seibel at SAE, Phoenix, AZ
Cassette design by Alex Tatusian
Website design/developer: Joey Lappin
Sound recording produced by Asa Horvitz, JJ Beck, and Bryan West
Funded in part by a grant from Rudolf Steiner Social Finance
Thank you: Bill Horvitz, Robin Eschner, Mary Ann Ciavonne, Jack Ziegler, and Liz Peters for their love and grace in the face of loss. Bryan, Ben, Eliza, and Trevor for holding this music with me. JJ for January, driving, and everything else. John Tarrant and Susan Goyton for their insight and generosity. Roger for conversations and support. Patti Trimble and Douglas Kenning for their love and enthusiasm. Adam for reminding me to write in Descanso. Stu at Shatter Your Leaves for April and years of Brooklyn music and for helping this project get out in the world. Matt at Hope for the Tape Deck for always listening and for the cassette. Nat for Maine and for getting it. Michael and Curt at NewAm for hosting our shows. Joey for dedicating himself and making the site happen. Neil for ears and endless patience. Jes and Richard for their beautiful films. Lukasz, Gedney, Trevor, Nini, Kyle, Bob, and everyone else in the Koans and Performance Project for their initial work on these songs. John Warmerdam for the lead on the salmon trapped in the Navarro. The salmon in Austin Creek.
For Dominic.