From "Threnody for a Forgotten Plague", work-in-progress dealing with the early days of the AIDS pandemic, specifically the fracturing of voices which literally and emotionally occurs during any such outbreak throughout time: the medical, political bureaucracy vs. the voices of humans fighting for their health and well being.
lyrics
Missing People
Picture on the mantel,
everyone apparently there
in this posing nuclear unit,
& its additions accepted:
boyfriend, girl,
the expected enlargements ex-
cept , next
to one son,
the space is cropped in such a way
another person fit,
& there stands the invisible lover,
the secret sharer, at home, uninvited
because who else knows, would guess
that the man is family,
that the man has spent years
looking in on, being private support.
Here's a different un-photographed image:
Son in the hospital cities away,
delirious speech, the bed sheets,
an imagined rack, control growing desperate—
That guy is a doctor. I know by the coat,
the stethoscope pocketed
& they're shaking hands over me
as if making a deal...my parents...as if ...
where is...Look, I can write checks, sign my name &... time I've been biding, I will buy, bring back...Jim…help… Don't tell
I said, wrong stupid, denying,
hiding
our life is out there in the distant open & yet
...the mantel picture, the family portrait...wrong wrong because ...no skeleton...no closet...you're the person I confess to them now as the door, their handshake, words agree to seal over, against:
this Jim person, listen,
don't you dare give admittance.
credits
from Threnody for a Forgotten Plague,
released December 24, 2014
In addition to instruments and sounds recorded around the house, and samples from MusicCreator5, the following sites also provided royalty free sounds and music:
SoundDogs.com, SoundBible.com, MP3Skull.com, InternetArchive.org (Various Unidentified Choral Chants before "tweaking"*), and FreeSound.org
*Ofert.Deprofundis, Sanctus Mass Viii, Kyrie-MassXviii
A resident of NY, Stephen Mead is a published outsider artist, writer, maker of short-collage films and sound-collage
downloads. If you are at all interested please place his name in any search engine in conjunction with any of the above-mentioned genres for links to his multimedia work and merchandise. To order CDs via VISA or PayPal please visit stephenmeadmusic.weebly.com...more
This collaboration between guitarist Lucas Brode and drummer G. Calvin Weston is a freewheeling hybrid of experimentalism, jazz, and more. Bandcamp New & Notable Mar 28, 2023
Visionist showcases vocals for the first time on his Mute debut, featuring collabs with members of Circuit des Yeux, Black Midi and more. Bandcamp New & Notable Mar 5, 2021
This stunning, beautiful project from Fujian duo Southeast of Rain 东南有雨 blends field recordings with rippling notes from the pipa. Bandcamp New & Notable Feb 8, 2021