“In Sympathy,” my new album with Tim McAllister, Civitas, and ~Nois, releases November 13th on Cedille Records! This album embodies shared musical journeys spanning as much as a quarter century. Listen, stream, or order the album through Cedille Records.
Tim and I met over 25 years ago and entered into a musical partnership that produced one of my most enduring pieces to date, “In Transit.” We have always been close friends, and while our individual musical journeys since that time have taken us in quite different directions, our paths have intersected many times over the years, fueled in part by the energy of that first collaboration. “In Sympathy” brings us together with a quarter century of experience and insight, lending new depth to our performance of “In Transit” as well as the newer works we have shaped together.
Civitas, with whom I’ve crafted multiple works, including our title track, and ~Nois, whose early co-commissions included “Quantum Shift,” have been vital voices in my creative aspirations. The adventurous sound worlds of the works they perform on this recording were inspired by their extraordinary musicianship and daring spirits. The title track, “In Sympathy,” written for Tim and Civitas, takes the idea of musical resonance into an entirely new realm. Created during my time as Guest Composer at Fermilab, the work features a musical invention of my own making: an array of nine glass vessels that resonate sympathetically with the performers through an innovative electronic system developed in collaboration with scientists and colleagues at Fermilab.
And on a deeply personal note, the music that set this journey in motion 25 years ago was the music of my grandfather, Ed “Papa” Sarché. Papa was a brilliant songwriter whose music never quite reached the audiences it deserved. Hearing him play and sing when I was young, I told him that one day I would find a place for his musical voice within my own. I couldn’t have known what I meant back then, but his song, “So Alone Am I,” eventually became the focal point of “In Transit.” The piece has been recorded many times, but never with Tim and me performing together. And now, in this full-circle moment, we complete that circle with a bonus track featuring Papa himself, singing the song that started it all.
In many ways, the title “In Sympathy” speaks to the spirit of the entire album. Just as the glasses in the title track respond to the sounds around them, the music on this recording has grown out of relationships in which creative energy, inspiration, and friendship have resonated across years and generations.
Two short films offer a closer look at the stories behind the music. The first traces Tim’s and my intertwined musical journeys, from our earliest collaboration to this recording. The second takes us inside Fermilab, where the unlikely meeting of music and science gave rise to the extraordinary sound world of “In Sympathy.”