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Superterrestrial

by Slow Planes

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  • 54 page, 8.5" x 5.5", full color chapbook with with contributions from Scott Tuma, Matt Christensen, Jay Cunningham, Esther Shaw, Bill MacKay, Colin Mahoney, Haley Fohr, Nate Waters, Laura Weiler, Brian Sulpizio, Tim Kinsella, Chaz Prymek, Ben Chlapek, Jeremy Farmer, Jaime Fennelly, Marcy Dinius, and David Strand, as well as an introduction and lyric section. Limited run of 100. Comes with digital download of album and remix.

    All proceeds go to the Southeast Environmental Task Force. setaskforce.org

    Includes unlimited streaming of Superterrestrial via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more.
    ships out within 7 days
    edition of 100 
    Purchasable with gift card

      $25 USD

     

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about

Superterrestrial Chapbook Introduction:

There is a painting technique, commonly known as aerial perspective, in which the further an object moves from the viewer the more it takes on the frequencies of the atmosphere. Often depicted as blue-gray ranges growing pale in the distance, this was a rather simple but important early development for artists seeking to represent the natural world.

Another thing that is happening in these paintings is diffuse sky radiation filtering through our atmosphere as a fine shower. A scattering of short wavelength sun light hanging in our line of sight and merging the horizon with the sky. Once discovered these radiating particles hover like a spaceship in the background of every captured landscape.

The painting trick is of course a useful shorthand and was followed by several other tools and calculations. Compressing complex sensory experience into memorable pattern is a helpful way to evaluate, catalog, and return results.

Superterrestrial is in a sense an extension from a place of origin. An ongoing departure, moving from the obscurity of closeness into an unimaginable position of perspective.

It is possible that when Amelia Rosselli wrote “That firmament I sought announces me,” about a garden next to a hospital, she was speaking not just of the microcosm of garden and hospital, but of universe and perception. As if awareness itself could pull the curtain of the firmament down onto the earths stage until both are present and observing the other. One tamed by awe, the other by measurement.

In developing distance we create a corridor. An atmosphere filled with the biological data of a shared environment. Perceived and negotiated consciously, confronted unconsciously in dreams. Language emerges from our physical relationship with the world in breath and gesture, drawn and exhaled at the level of eyes and ears.

Within the corridor we have designed the experience of looking. A manufactured image may not replace ‘being there’, but it can illuminate the corners of our memory and describe something of empathetic understanding. Beauty motivates interpretation. What cannot be described in practical terms is given the reward of meaning. Nature becomes symbolic. The event is eclipsed by the image of the event.

Superterrestrial is in a sense a simulation designed by language. As Robert Romanyshan wrote on linear perspective, “It is the transformation of the eye into a technology and a redefinition of the world to suit that eye.”

We hung our hats on Superterrestrial early on and reverse engineered our way to making sense of it. We counted our paces back and forth until we had something resembling a common musical language. The elucidation of content, an action usually left for the listener to engage in, felt like an opportunity so we asked our friends to join in.

The contributions in the chapbook were given in reaction to these thoughts and that music. A few existing pieces were selected when it felt right.

In this insane moment somehow making this little book has been affirming, to both our initial artistic impulse as well as the desire to continue. Within our small group of friends we have managed to paint an 18 point perspective, one that finds positive and engaged intention in any direction. We are grateful for these thoughtful and kind folk and all too proud to share their collected discoveries.

credits

released March 20, 2021

Recorded at Decade Studio, Chicago, November 2019
With additional recordings at home, spring 2020
Recorded and Mixed by Brian Sulpizio
Mastered by Mikey Young

Nick Barnett, Electric Guitar
Timothy Breen, Guitar, Voice, Piano
Conor Harvey, Resonant and Acoustic Guitar, Harmonica
Ron Kurek, Drums, Sequences, Piano
David Strand, Yard Sale Percussion, Winds

Whitney Johnson, Viola on Historical Gradients,
Black Earth, Faded and New, Someone Else’s Voice

Brian Sulpizio, Vocals on Piece of Land, Bass on Gates Of Reason

All compositions by Slow Planes, lyrics by T. Breen
String Arrangements by W. Johnson and T. Breen

Historical Gradient Remix by Good F*ck (Tim Kinsella and Jenny Pulse)
Cover art D. Strand and T. Breen

Thanks to Meghan and Rob and Dan for sharing their space
and for keeping us in good spirits

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Slow Planes Chicago, Illinois

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