The beautiful 12" vinyl version of our album is pressed on translucent clear 180gram vinyl and comes with a digital download card.
Includes unlimited streaming of To Combat Loneliness: Compositions Based on the Works of David Foster Wallace
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
ships out within 3 days
$20USDor more
Compact Disc (CD) + Digital Album
Item comes in a standard plastic CD jewel case with full color printing. Liner notes on the inside booklet.
Includes unlimited streaming of To Combat Loneliness: Compositions Based on the Works of David Foster Wallace
via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
This story is also from DFW’s book, “Oblivion” and is also the same story that contains the character in Track #4, “Ruth Simmons”. A lot of ground is covered in these separate aspects of the same story, and it’s hard to believe that these two plot lines exist together in the same piece.
A boy grew up in the late ‘50s. American dreams and nuclear families. His childhood was fine. He remembered his Father coming home; always in brown pants with a white shirt and tie. The suit coat went on the rack, the hat on top. Tie loosened, his wife had a scotch ready. Easy chair, read the paper. Dinner. Play around with the son for awhile. Family vacations every summer. The son was happy and oblivious to anything wrong. The Father, while seemingly content, is going through the motions and close to losing his soul. Fast forward about 30 years. The Father has long been dead from a heart attack. The son works for the same company his Father did. Through stories from his Mom and coworkers that are still around from when his Father was there, a picture is painted of a man he never got to know. His Dad was a solid worker, respected and liked, though he never rose above his position in middle management. Quiet, reserved, he put in his time without complaint. One of the things everyone mentioned was his lunch break. He always went outside. He carried a brown bag with food his wife made for him. He had a special bench he always sat at. Everyday, lunch outside at the same bench. You couldn’t call it a park bench, for this was in the middle of downtown in the city. No one bothered to sit with him or disturb him. And now the son finds himself sitting at this very same bench on his lunch breaks. It took him awhile, but he did finally notice that this particular bench was placed in such a way that it was the only one facing a small square patch of green grass with flowers that bloomed in the spring. One natural (albeit man-made) garden of color and life; wild and unique among the stifling gray/white/chrome of the concrete city. What did his father think about while looking at that garden? Chewing his sandwich, knowing exactly what to expect when he came home…why did he do it? He did it for his family. To sustain them. So they could be happy. After the son figures this out, he feels the puzzle of his father grow larger and more dense. He begins to dream of his work at night and it’s always the same dream. There are rows and rows of desks in a room. Each desk has a typewriter on it, and a man at a chair in brown pants with white shirt and tie. Click clacking away. The men are faceless and amorphous. They could be anybody. But he KNOWS his father is in there somewhere. He KNOWS that he himself is in there, too. Only he can’t tell which is which.
Aaron Kerr:
So this is about the saddest story anyone has ever written and I have to compose music for it. This is kind of difficult - when you are transferring the written word into a musical image you are encapsulating many ideas together into a musical theme, taking into consideration the scope of the story, the characters, the beginning, the ending, the tone, and tons of other things. But I felt some kind of success here in that I made this really simple theme and got some serious mileage out of it. There are three musical lines, each with only a few notes, plus one held note at the end. There are some simple entrances and endings with each line, just enough to create a short arrangement out of it. Also, the imitation between the first two lines creates some great tonal tension and release as it cycles through.
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
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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