Recorded 3/12/2017, this is the keepsake of a rare session between my now departed friend Kevin, his father Rich and myself. Rich has trusted me with the publishing of this part of the session, there being a remainder which he has further use for. We did not have anything planned specifically for the recording and just trusted each other and our instincts. It was a time of transition as I would move to New Orleans that winter, Kevin was beginning to plan to move outside of the societal grid indefinitely, and Rich and his wife were discussing the eventual move from this, the house where we made the recording, it also being their original family home. Rich recently dug up the recording after Kevin's passing and shared it with me. Thinking back, I remember being nervous during the recording as I was still a beginner with my equipment setup, using the sample library I already had loaded, with no prep for this spontaneous endeavor. I also was nervous because I was still not adept at partitioning my emotion and my craft, worried I would be overbearing. Once we hit record, everything was fluid. Our identities merged and synergized and we acted reflexively to and with one another. Kevin's skittering beats, sprawling out like fungal networks and Rich's discerning hand providing warm and curious melodic lead on marimba and assisting with additional percussion, provided a unique stage set as I traveled somewhere between them, sometimes underneath, and sometimes sharply atop with my voice and brash sonic elements. After 3 years apart from this project, it is somehow both more cohesive and also more mysterious than I remember. The sound is an accurate picture of the three of us becoming one organism and constructing a world within our music in which that organism could find suspension and resolution. The title came about as some joint effort of mine and Kevin's, joking about the existential predicaments in which we find ourselves in the 21st century. The track titles are a reflection on Kevin's interests, aspects of his personality and a description of being near him. There is a somber pun and a sort of silly one included. He had an immense love of puns and the number 7.
There are seven tracks, the date we recorded adds to seven and the last of seven tracks finished uploading at 10:51 pm, which equals 7. This collaborative effort inspired my current projects, and it is here I find myself in childhood, suspended outside of time with my two friends, forever. I miss and love you Kevin.