Shara Lunon voice and vocal processing
Anna Webber flute
Oscar Noriega clarinets
James Brandon Lewis tenor saxophone
Nate Wooley trumpet
Jennifer Choi violin
Kyle Armbrust viola
Michael Nicolas cello
Shahzad Ismaily bass and keyboards
Ches Smith electronics, programming, vibes, drums, tubular bells, glockenspiel, timpani, tam tam, metal percussion

Minimalism
Take it all Pour it up Let it build Till it blows Push it down Get it right To what ends? End for what Right you get Down you push Blow it till It will build Up it pours All it takes All it takes Up it pours It will build Blow it till Down you push Right you get End for what? End for what? End for what? It’s so artificial Art official Artificial

Sweatered Webs (Hey Mom)
I’ve grieved on my own old fashioned Grieved on my own old fashioned Grieved The interior of grief leaves its marks in strands Swells and swings strings pull end to end Raw the marrow maps your face and hands Lines of myths palmed in ochred sands Rake and comb and search for light of Zen Sticky strands are sweatered like webs Laced across unseen the spinner’s hand Cut the cords Cut Expand Expand Matter is a notch on Orion’s belt Cinched to stream perception of this realm Disbelieving what I’ve been dealt Grief is just a beast that must be felt If I am to ash myself of blame Then for me the spinner’s hands can’t claim Every thread is just another frame Cut the cords Cut Expand Expand Grieved on my own old fashioned Grieved on my old fashioned Grieved on my own old fashioned Fashioned Fashioned Fashioned Fashioned

Shaken, Stirred Silence
Silenced in me My only border is my body My only border is my belief Say it with all of my chest All Say it with all of my chest All of it [repeats] Say it with no fear Saying it with no fear [repeats] Silenced in me My only border is my body [repeats]

Winter Sprung
Frost If it blooms in the winter will it freeze by the spring? Dogwood Magnolia Cherry What are tulips worth dead by March’s northern breeze? Fragile and dry grounded dead petals?
Doomed to move with no will to ease? Snagged or ripped as happenstance? The dirt howls Its oil caked memories in lines slick In lines slick In lines slick Blood bonded in root Dusty bleached bone State and soil Imagined lines Meaningless colorless as bland snow swallowed If it blooms in the winter will it freeze by the spring? [repeats] Melt Melt If it’s dead at the seed will it ever breed? Grow fruit or recede? If it froze in the spring will we ever eat? What’s left to feed when the soils reek? Contaminated Devastated Wasted The blood is in the roots You can taste it We did not care That much is clear

Unyielding Daydream Welding
What is a daydream when it feels like living? What you call it when it feels unyielding Don’t wake me up Don’t make me up [repeats]

Music composed and arranged by Ches Smith

All lyrics and vocal melodies on “Minimalism” and “Unyielding Daydream Welding” by Shara Lunon

Produced by David Breskin

Recorded and mixed by Randall Dunn

Tracked in April 2023 at The Bunker Studio, Brooklyn NY
Assistant Engineer Todd Carder

Mixed in June 2023 at Circular Ruin, Brooklyn NY

Mastered by Scott Hull at Masterdisk, Peekskill NY

Album photography © 2023 by Billie Miro Breskin

Design and layout by Spottswood Erving and July Creek for Janky Defense

Thanks to Shara, Anna, Nate, Oscar, JBL, Jennifer, Kyle, Michael and Shahzad for their unwavering dedication, emphatic encouragement and staunch support. Thanks to Miya and Zane Osaki, David Breskin, Randall Dunn, Todd Carder, Isabel Breskin, Kris Davis, Chelsea Hadley, Mary Halvorson, Frank Heath, Swoopo, Kool Keith, Motion Man, and E-40.

This album would not have been possible without generous support from The Shifting Foundation.

Ches Smith (Preposterous Bee Music, BMI) and Shara Lunon (BMI)

Pyroclastic has purchased carbon offsets to neutralize the carbon emissions associated with the production and distribution of this album.

chessmith.com
pyroclasticrecords.com

Ches Smith and Pyroclastic Records © ℗ 2024
PYROCLASTIC RECORDS