ex ni·hi·lo | \ (ˌ)eks-ˈnē-(h)ə-ˌlō : from or out of nothing
All sounds on this album derive from a short recording of a broken guitar being scratched with a broken violin bow. A guitar obtained for free off Craigslist, I played it to death when I was younger. The neck is held together by screws and glue, the strings rusted and untuned, the bow missing most of it's hair. I wanted to give them a second life.
The intent was to take these harsh and broken sounds and digitally bend them into something beautiful. Like a sonic alchemy that seeks to reveal the hidden beauty inside these otherwise unloved sounds.
It is an exercise in extreme sonic manipulation and extreme sentimentality. I wanted to make my old guitar sing again.
If we can't make something beautiful out of imperfect sounds, then what are we to make out of our imperfect lives?
Something from nothing. Ex Nihilo.
…And the clouds will weather away…
To the dawn stars
over dawn starlings
…The first-light
over the first-born
…And all is laid to rest beneath Antares….
What brought you here?
…to cross upon Mojave…
…passing northwards into tundra
…to lend your frozen breath
to the frozen air…
…there is an end. But it never comes…
…And there’ll be no more to do
and no more to be done …
1. one for ms. alvarez 04:26
2. waylayer 04:30
3. one for aiden 01:47
4. way without words 05:50
5. one for ms. marie 02:18
6. wayward 04:18
7. one for ms. maciel 03:37
8. a way that goes away 06:46
9. one for tom waiter 04:23
10. a way you'll never be 03:06
11. one for no one 03:52
12. all ways 05:20
