David Garland

recordings

Long Song

CDR released 2007 (limited edition)

3-D blue and red anaglyph glasses included
cover art by David Garland
booklet photo circa 1981 by Nigel Rollings.

songs | musicians | distribution | liner notes

songs

Long Song (mp3 available on the downloads page)

total time: 14:17

musicians

David Garland: voice, bowed psaltery, soprano and tenor recorders
Sally Swisher: voice
Larry Lewis: banjo
Paul Henle: marimba
Paul Galasso: cello

Recorded June 7, 1981, at The Kitchen, 484 Broome Street, NYC
Produced by David Garland. © 2007 by David Garland

distribution

Long Song is available for free download, or as a hand-packaged CDR which comes complete with blue and red anaglyph glasses for viewing the 3-D graphics on the front, back, and booklet of the package. Long Song is $6, including domestic postage, and can be purchased via PayPal (you don’t need a PayPal account). International orders can also use PayPal, but should add three dollars (total $9) to cover postage. BUY Long Song limited edition CD:

“Long Song” is also available for free download.

liner notes

“Long Song” is a buoyant bit of folk-minimalism. It lives up to its title not by having a lot of lyrics, but by putting its few lyrics through a lot of permutations. I wrote it in 1979. I wanted to stretch my ability to create a long, integrated composition, and to explore a blend of simplicity and complexity. A little, one minute-long sketch for the piece was released on the memorably named “Just Another Asshole” compilation album of 1981, curated by Barbara Ess and Glenn Branca. This is the whole 14 minute-long piece, as it was performed at The Kitchen in 1981.

I remember someone at the concert commented that I must have been influenced by the Penguin Cafe Orchestra, but I'd never heard that English band then. Now I can see that the comparison makes sense, since both share a kind of hand-made, tonal, minimalist quality. I was probably influenced by recordings of Carl Orff's “Schulwerk” pieces, the textures of the burgeoning early music “period instruments” movement, my experience playing in the Brown University Balanese Gamelan a few years earlier, and of course the vital minimalism scene which was going on around me.

“Long Song” was first performed in 1979 in a Soho loft a few floors above the old Broome Street location of The Kitchen Center in New York City. In 1981 I rearranged it for a performance at The Kitchen itself, featuring the ensemble recorded here. The Kitchen was a crucible for adventurous music, dance, video, and performance at that time. I don’t recall the details of the concert, but I think it was a Sunday afternoon performance, and this recording was made before or after the public presentation. It shows the ambience of the place, with occasional passing trucks rumbling and honking. I remember being surprised by the somewhat lo-fi quality of the recording, but it’s a pretty zesty piece which seems to come across anyway, thanks to the talented musicians who joined me.