Whisper Poems

by Olma

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1.	Minutes for the Moon 02:28	buy track
2.	Serenading the Silence 03:22	buy track
3.	Minds and Matters 04:10	buy track
4.	Night Owls 02:09	buy track
5.	Promise Past 01:37	buy track
6.	And So, Another Day 03:42	buy track
7.	Dawn Poetic 02:30	buy track
8.	Harmony Bird 02:50	buy track
9.	Soundscape for Balance 02:10	buy track
10.	Worth the Stillness 01:56	buy track

about

Do you ever have a sudden, compelling urge to live outside of yourself? As if, to hit pause on “normal” life, to step into the unknown for a moment, giving up your illusory control. And allowing this space, in the cursory forsaking of familiarity, to become a co-creator in something?

“Creative inspiration doesn’t always just show up. When it does, however, drop everything else and embrace it.”

Minneapolis composer Chris Bartels recently listed this as a creative principle he adheres to when asked during a recent interview about his new Elskavon album, Origins. This was in full form when, while his family was sleeping in late one January morning, he was hit with deep inspiration to grab his acoustic guitar and field recorder, and quickly catalog several musical ideas in various spaces around the house.

Olma, a minimalist, experimental guitar-centric project, would be the beneficiary project of these improvisations - songs recorded in the living room, bedroom, and even bathroom, with varying microphone placements and odd techniques - plucking, softly tapping the strings and guitar body, sliding fingers along the strings, melodic and chordal blends - all founded with a unique (and to Bartels, a completely new) alternate guitar tuning of CGCEGC.

The idea - the inspiration that struck - was that of creating a film-esque soundtrack-feel to this simple, yet divine moment of stepping outside of oneself.

Maybe sometimes control is a bit overrated? Maybe there’s something special to be birthed in the forsaking of familiarity from time to time. Bartels, like all creators, knows all too well that inspiration does not always simply show up. But, on this bright, cold Minnesota winter morning, when it did, he obliged to his principle of dropping all else and diving in.

Whisper Poems is the result, where the first five tracks are the foundation of those recordings, and the last five are slightly more experimental, soundscape renditions created on a later date - a “side A” and “side B” of sorts. Two separate, yet intertwined, personalities for Bartels’ winter morning inspirations.

credits

released June 2, 2023

Written and produced by Chris Bartels.

Labels: Anthem Falls Music, Sonder House

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Olma Minneapolis, Minnesota

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