The Ringtone Album
2013
Potluck Foundation
Felix Obelix: writing, arrangement, scoring, performance (bass, vocals, marimba, xylophone, glockenspiel, piano, organ, electric harpsichord, Rhodes, celeste)
Collaborators: Terry Lonergan (drums), Josh Starmer (cello)
The Ringtone Album features 30 mostly instrumental microcompositions, each approximately one minute in length. It works both as a series of downloadable tunes for your phone, and an album to be listened to in its entirety. I recorded my parts at the Fidelitorium in Kernersville, NC, with Nick Peterson engineering the session and mixing. Drums were recorded by Greg Klaiber and cello by Josh Starmer.
The album recording was premiered in conjunction with a solo exhibit of my artwork entitled The Sound That Means Someone Wants You, at The Carrack Modern Art in Durham, NC in November 2013. The album was performed live in its entirety in three performances featuring myself on bass/piano/vocals; Josh Starmer on cello; Missy Thangs on organ/piano; and Ardyn Flynt on mallet percussion.
The Tick of the Clock, the Beat in the Chest
2010
Pox World Empire
Felix Obelix: songwriting, arrangement, scoring, performance (organ, bass, oboe, vocals)
Collaborators: too many to name, but special thanks to Jay Cartwright (recording/production/accordion) and Dylan Thurston (percussion).
The Tick of the Clock, the Beat in the Chest explores the relationship of time and death to memory. All tracks on the album were written and arranged by me, and in addition to my own organ/bass/oboe/vocal performance, I corralled a small army of instrumentalists to perform on the record. It was recorded, engineered, and produced by multiple people, but mostly by Jay Cartwright.
This project was supported in part by an Ella Fountain Pratt Emerging Artists Grant from the Durham Arts Council, a division of the Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.