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about

This story is from DFW’s book, “Oblivion” and is the first piece that Tyson and Aaron worked on together. The amount of panic and horrifying emotion DFW evokes from this 3-page piece is astounding. Rather than paraphrasing this one, Tyson simply bought another copy of “Oblivion,” tore out the 3 pages, and mailed them to Aaron along with his proposal for the whole musical project. Here is a paraphrasing of those 3 pages:

A young boy, a toddler’s age, stands screaming in the kitchen in a pool of hot steaming water. He had reached up by the stove and pulled a boiling pot of water onto himself, his hair and chest now steaming and his skin turning scarlet. The Mommy and Daddy rush in, not knowing what happened, but figure it out very quickly. The Daddy moves fast and swoops the boy up and brings him to the sink to run cold water over his feet and splash the rest of his body as well to cool him down. The screaming continues without relief, and the boy’s hands reach into the air, clenching in pain. The Mommy speaks and coos to the child to help calm him down as his skin becomes less red and they don’t see any blistering. Yet the boy screams on as they gently wrap him in a wet towel. It is then that they notice a slight vapor of steam arise from the boy’s diaper and realize that they haven’t addressed the cause of the boy’s true pain—boiling water had collected inside his diaper and had been burning his legs/groin area while the diaper slightly melded with his skin. They get the diaper off and what they see almost knocks them over. They swaddle the boy in gauze and hand towels and rush him to the emergency room. But on the way, the child learns how to leave himself and the pain; his soul floating over his body to watch the whole thing unfold, and indeed to watch from above as the rest of his life unfolds. He grows older, bigger, gets a job, but his body is a thing among things in a life untenanted.

Aaron Kerr:
“If you’ve never wept and wanted to, have a child” - this is about the god damn truth. I had the exact same experience as this story when mytoddler son tipped over a freshly poured large cup of hot coffee on himself and we went to the hospital. He is fine - 19 actually and fully functioning.
This story is also pure poetic genius. I wanted to catch the really frantic pace at the beginning - cello one plays this really fast syncopated rhythm that is slightly not in tempo. But on top of all of that there is a sustained part - this is the child learning to “leave himself” to avoid the pain.

credits

from To Combat Loneliness: Compositions Based on the Works of David Foster Wallace, released June 21, 2019
Aaron Kerr--acoustic and electric cello
Tyson Allison--guitar, percussion, synth, piano, bass, drums, chimes

Produced by Tyson Allison and Justin Deleon
Recorded at IPR studios in Minneapolis, MN
Engineered and mixed by Justin Deleon
Mastered by Tom Garneau at AUDIOACTIVE in Minneapolis, MN
Copyright 2019 Humble Mumblings ASCAP

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Emperor Penguin Records Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Emperor Penguin Records began in 2003 in St. Paul, MN and later moved to Milwaukee, WI in 2015. The label is run by musician/producer Tyson Allison. EPR enlists and caters to singer/songwriters, introverts, experimental weirdos, bookish people, and crafters that paint pictures with words and toy with your emotions on a well-placed chord. Thank you for your interest! ... more

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