The origins of “Unlit Trail” lie, partially, in my last record, “Cold Spring”. Recorded essentially in isolation on the high coastal mountains of Big Sur, California, “Cold Spring” is composed of over two hundred multi-tracked layers of tape, and utilizes dozens of instruments, processes and sounds. The album was the culmination of four years of recording and place-based practice – hunting for songs, cultivating intimacy with a patch of local earth, and sensing into the liminal aspects of that primordial landscape.
In preparation for a series of performances to support the release of “Cold Spring”, I set out to compose a solo multi- instrumental piece, which refers back to sonic elements from the album, and includes reworked songs. Through much deep listening and experimentation, “Unlit Trail” began to emerge with its own agency and numinous qualities.
The composition contains leafy bits of the spirit of Big Sur, but unlike “Cold Spring”, it is not rooted in any one place. To come into its own fullness, "Unlit Trail” must unfurl in ritual dialogue with the land upon which it is performed. At the best of times, I feel as though I slip slightly between worlds when performing “Unlit Trail”, and those oft-neglected, subtle beings of place join in to help shape song and ceremony.
At least one human being (myself) is always present when "Unlit Trail" is performed, but this is not just music for the strictly human. I welcome the swaying trees outside your window, the sleeping mice in the attic, the subterranean river surging deep below the city street, as well as your ancestors and mine, to gather close and listen in.