These songs were made to cut myself some slack. I was feeling the pressures of my life in this moment, thinking those pressures were shrinking all the space I had to create, maybe getting a little guarded, even resentful, about my time. So I made time. Some might say I stole it. I slacked off, making music when I should’ve been doing everything else. I stayed up late. I skipped lunch. I missed that day at the beach, that movie, that moment.
Of course, the project began imposing its own pressures. Things came to be a little less loose. But in the beginning, I played. I got myself a new toy, a loop pedal, and I documented the process of learning to make loops. Some of those musical artifacts would become the spores that eventually found a ground to grow songs, sometimes subsumed by the outgrowth, sometimes integral to the organism. I tried to let it all take shape organically – every song, but also the way the songs turned into something together.
No matter the results, I’ve been hoping all along that I’ve been making music that’s slack, a hope inspired by Martin Arnold’s idea, which I stumbled upon last year, that “When music is slack it does not thoroughly enforce completion. It stays open to be explored, co-created by the listener.” And so now I’m inviting you to ignore your responsibilities, shirk your duties, and explore these things, this thing, for a little while.
Credits
Music and lyrics by Chris Dunsmore
Additional vocals by Francis Sage Dunsmore and Angie Ouellette
Additional music by Nathan Hauke
Produced and mixed by Chris Dunsmore
Cover image by Angie Ouellette and Andrew Rease Shaw
Cover design by Andrew Rease Shaw
Recorded at home in Santa Barbara, California