Carl Weingarten | The Simian River Video

Panomorphia in Super 8

Two years ago, while going through some boxes I had in storage, I came across an unfinished film I had made in the late 70s called The Fair. It was a project I had started during my summer break from film school, and ended up being some of the last footage I ever shot in Super 8. It was filmed at The Fair in The Square, a community summer event in University City, where I grew up. I transferred the film to video and uploaded it to Youtube in 2010. As I wrote in my original blog post, I was in full experimental film student mode when I made the movie, shooting all the footage in extreme closeup. What comes across, at best, is a mood piece for a dreamy summer day. In 2010 the music I chose for The Fair was a track I was working on called, “Panomorphia”, which has since become the title cut of my new CD. I’ve remastered and reposted the film here, with the updated CD soundtrack, which now includes Michael Manring on bass and Celso Alberti on drums. Enjoy the dream, --CW

Panomorphia | CD Cover Photo

People have been asking me about the cover image on my new CD, Panomorphia.  It’s not one of my photos, but it’s an amazing image that I chose because it absolutely conveys the spirit of the album.  The photo was taken by award winning photo journalist, Christopher Furlong, who licensed the image to me through an agent.  The photo shows Lloyd Scott, a retired Fireman and professional U.K. Footballer and “Extreme Fundraiser”, as he waded into Loch Ness. In support of a charity for Children with Leukemia, Mr. Scott wore a 180lb vintage diving suit, and walked the 26 mile rim of the famous Scottish lake, 30 feet below the surface in 37 degree water for 12 days straight.  He didn’t see the monster, but, “I only saw two fish - which means there wasn’t many in the loch in the first place or something has eaten them all.”

Panomorphia (New CD release)

A few years ago, one of my favorite musicians had a guitar solo on a major movie soundtrack.  The piece was just a few minutes long,  but it was absolutely brilliant.  I spoke to a friend of his, who joked to me that the guitarist had actually recorded the song in his home studio, and it had likely taken him less than a half hour.  “Yes”, I said, “but it took him 40 years to get there.” 

Panomorphia actually took several years to produce, but the music is rooted in the tape delay improvisations I explored three decades ago.  Looping, as it’s called now, is the music technology that allows the artist to generate multiple layers of sound on sound, stacking melody and rhythm on the fly, creating spontaneous compositions.  But the method can be unforgiving.  As the music builds and takes shape, each new layer is critical.  A note out of key, a strum out of time, a phrase out of context can send the music in a different direction, spoil the mix entirely.

For me, looping is just the starting point.  It’s the paved road, but not the journey.  In late 2008, I recorded a series of electric guitar improvisations.  The recordings were made, usually late in the evening, directly to a stereo recorder. During each session, I did my best to put the day behind me, and play without expectations.  Afterwards, the new tracks were set aside for several months, in order to come back with the freshest ears possible.  The best tracks were selected based on those moments when I didn’t recognize my own playing, where perhaps, I had forgotten the recorder was running, and found myself at the end of an hour long space walk. 

Next, in came drummer Celso Alberti, bassist Michael Manring and trumpet/fluegal horn player Jeff Oster, who recorded live to each loop performance.  Sometimes responding to the ebb and flow of the music, or finding a pulse and driving home their own orchestral groove.  I added new parts of my own, building structure and melody. With each layer, the song evolved into something new, but all in keeping with the spirit of the original performance. 

Panomorphia will be released on April 2, 2012

Multiphase Records  MP-CD117