Tactility by David Garland

I went to art school, and after graduating supported myself as a graphic designer and occasional illustrator for about ten years. During that time I was also very active with music. I shifted my profession to radio in 1987, and continued creating my own music, but only occasionally did any visual work. I figured I’d return to that if and when I needed to. Recently, I needed to.

After moving from the city to the country about ten years ago, I was inspired to start using photography as a means of tuning in to nature. Since my wife Anne’s death in 2019 I’ve explored photography in an experimental way, and some months ago I also began making pottery. I’ve been doing these things intensively, and the activities sustain me. And often what sustains those activities is music.

As I make stuff, accompanied by music, I’ve felt very grateful to all the composers and musicians over the centuries who have created music that energizes, or soothes, or offers space for thought. So I wanted to create music that might do those three things at once. For my energizing/ambient/spirit-nourishing music, my goals were a sense of momentum, warm tonality, unhurried pace, curiosity, texture, and tactility.

Hand-played acoustic instruments are used throughout, and the synthesizer on “Materials and Proportions” was played into the acoustic 12-string guitar, interacting with it—vibrations in the body and strings of the guitar and in the air around them, recorded with microphones. Touch and breath unite in the sound of the clarinet. These days a *digital connection* usually refers to using computers and phones, not touching with our fingers. Physical touch is absent from the internet, and all too rare during the Covid pandemic. So tactility is the ethos of this music, and support of your spirit its purpose.

—David Garland, February, 2022

Tracklist

1.	Materials and Proportions	25:25

2.	Finding the Right Place for the Thing, and Putting It There	3:59

3.	The Tradition of Touch	15:31

Credits

released March 4, 2022

David Garland: piano, modified 12-string guitar, clarinets, bass clarinets, flute, harmonium, glockenspiels

Kenji Garland: modular synthesizer interacting with 12-string guitar on “Materials and Proportions”

Composed, arranged, produced, recorded, and mixed
by David Garland

Recorded autumn 2021
Music copyright (c) 2022 by David Garland, published by Garland Control Songs ASCAP

Images and design by David Garland

All sounds recorded with microphones — vibrations in the air!

Thanks to Helene Silverman for the use of her Yamaha upright piano. During the recording, David’s piano-playing cat Nina provided the little high cluster punctuation at 3:00 into “Materials and Proportions.”

Mastered by Scott Petito, NRS Recording Studio

Tall Owl Audio TOA13

License