Sunday Stories: “Transcription”

Pencil

Transcription
by Regan Mies

My mother told me over the phone that my brother had become “selectively deaf.” He could still hear. He enjoyed instrumental music. He often took nature walks in the arboretum along the shore. When we were kids, he could identify birds by their calls. 

“He doesn’t want to listen to you?”

My mother scoffed. Her shopping cart clattered. The sound muffled as she swapped her phone from one ear to the other. “You know your brother. It’s his new thing.”

Continue Reading

Metro Riders’ Henrik Stelzer on the Horror Movie Posters That Inspired His Music

Metro Riders

Today sees the release of Lost in Reality, the new album from Stockholm’s Metro Riders — an enticing and atmospheric collection of music that draws both musical and aesthetic inspiration from the suspense and horror films of the 1970s. Metro Riders’ Henrik Stelzer provided an in-depth look at some of his favorite horror film posters — and explained how they shaped the new album.

Continue Reading

Composer Olivia Belli on the Location That Inspired “Valadier”

Olivia Belli

Next year will see the release of Intermundia, the new album from pianist and composer Olivia Belli, on XXIM Records. For the song “Valadier,” Belli drew inspiration from the Temple of Valdier,  a building that’s stood for almost 200 years in the Italian town of Marche. In her own words, here’s Belli on the physical spaces that have shaped her immersive, haunting music…

Continue Reading

Puce

Puce

Puce
by Marin Kosut

At four, I wore a fringed black dress formerly owned by a go-go dancer who worked at my grandmother’s bar. There’s a photo of me in the dress smirking in the driveway of my family’s ranch-burger house, eyes behind bangs, sweeping the fringe forward like liquid through my hands. I liked how the strands split apart and landed back into place. 

Continue Reading