Lori Goldston | Interview | New Album, ‘High and Low’

The acclaimed composer-cellist’s wide-ranging career has already had many high points, recently she’s back with an exciting new album, ‘High and Low’, out via SofaBurn Records.

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‘High and Low’ wonderful documents different sides of her artistic expression. The “High” section is a series of solo improvised memorials for Goldston’s friend and Canadian artist-musician Geneviève Elverum. The “Low” section collects more cantankerous improvised duo performances with like-minded drummer Dan Sasaki, who has worked with Jackie O Motherfucker and Gun Club. Lori recalls that they both envisioned “dirt, mud, rocks, fossils, artifacts, saltwater, giant machines, all grinding around together.”

The fact that the ‘High and Low’ pieces, which often rub against each other in startling ways, cohere into a rewarding listening experience is a testament to Goldston’s delicate interplay of composition and performance. From the fragile, intimate moments that read as realtime emotional processing to the cacophony of cello and drums repurposed as industrial brawn, these resonant songs document Lori Goldston’s singular musical levitation.

“The release of this album is extremely satisfying”

How’s this last year under lockdown been for you? Have you found the isolation creatively challenging or freeing?

Lori Goldston: I was grateful to be safe and healthy and comfortable. I appreciated some aspects of the downtime, and kept pretty busy with music projects. But in general I could not be happier about the return of live music and in-person collaboration. I missed it terribly.

Your latest album, ‘High and Low’ will be released on October 7th via SofaBurn Records. Are you excited about it?

Although this kind of amplified improvisatory approach has been a pretty big part of my performing life for a long time it felt underrepresented in the recordings I’d released. So in that way (and many others) the release of this album is extremely satisfying, like scratching an itch I’ve been trying to get to for a long while.

Would you say your latest album is the culmination of all the experimentation within different genres you did in the past?

Yes, absolutely. I think it’s true of all my work.

I love how the album is based around musical chapters. The “High” section is a series of solo improvised memorials for your friend and Canadian artist-musician Geneviève Elverum. Would you like to discuss the idea behind it?

Those songs were recorded live at a memorial concert that I put together for her. The idea for it came to me very suddenly and clearly, and had to do with a vision of what’s left in the world after we’re gone, and what the living can do to amplify whatever resonance remains of the dead in this realm.

The concert was presented as two sets; part of the solo cello section is on this record. During COVID lockdown I self released an LP from part of the second set, which was a duo with electric guitarist Dylan Carlson, a dear friend of Geneviève’s and mine.

The other half of ‘High and Low’ collects improvised duo performances with drummer Dan Sasaki, who has worked with Jackie O Motherfucker and Gun Club. How did you originally get in touch with Dan?

Danny lived in Seattle for a few years and we played together a lot during that time. We’d met years earlier through mutual friends he knew from his time in Olympia. Sometime years ago he sat in on a set I played with Mirah— I’m guessing that’s the first time I met him.

We didn’t cross paths for some years but then he said hello at a Behead the Prophet No Lord Shall Live reunion show in Seattle, and he told me he was living here. We started playing as a duo and kept pretty busy with it until he moved back to Portland a couple of years later.

Also featured on other tracks are two more close collaborators, drummer Dave Abramson and trumpet player Greg Kelley. I am lucky to have such excellent collaborators and friends.

What was the energy between you and do you sometimes have any difficulties getting material done?

No difficulties at all, it was remarkably effortless.

After Dan and I finished that session we found out we’d both been thinking of the same images for some or maybe even all the songs, it was pretty uncanny. I think we are both very intuitive in a way that matches up well.

“This album reflects my time in Seattle, I don’t think I would have developed that same heavy, distorted sound if I’d been living anywhere else all these years”

Can you share some further words about the recording and producing process of ‘High and Low’?

The songs were recorded in different times and places but they all reflect a sound and approach that’s very dear to me.

In some sense this album reflects my time in Seattle, I don’t think I would have developed that same heavy, distorted sound if I’d been living anywhere else all these years.

Who’s behind the cover artwork?

I commissioned my brilliant friend in London Simon Fowler to make the print that’s on the cover. I am stunned by its beauty, and by how perfectly it suits the music.

What are some of the most important players that influenced your own style and what in particular did they employ in their playing that you liked?

My influences and interests have always been all over the place, I have never had much of a sense of genre. I started studying guitar when I was seven, and took up cello a few years later in school. Music studies have always been a big influence on my listening, and I listen to a lot of different things for fun and out of curiosity.

There wasn’t all that much recorded music in my house so as a young kid I got deep into listening to the radio, which at the time in New York was full of a lot of gorgeous soul music. A little later I started studying and listening to classical, jazz and folk, and I got very interested in music from other parts of the world.

Cello-wise my favorite’s always been Pablo Casals, something about his combination of refinement and rawness has marked me deeply forever.

In high school I listened to a lot of Jimi Hendrix, something about the looseness of his hand was a huge mystery to me but I think over the years I managed to let a little bit of it seep into my playing.

In high school I discovered that my local library had a huge collection of old records from the Folkways label and I listened to a lot of them. I particularly loved the ones that were field recordings from other parts of the world, to me they feel like transmissions from others and are thrilling like nothing else.

In college and beyond I got more and more into improvisation and listened to a lot of John Coltrane, Albert Ayler, Abdul Waddud, Pharoah Sanders, et cetera.

Since then it’s been a million zigs and zags: early European music, metal, punk, contemporary composed music, as well as psychedelic, traditional, and new and old pop music from many parts of the world. It’s a long, wild list.

Very recently I’ve been on a tear with vintage African music, and I’ve been listening to a lot of great hip hop thanks to my 18 year old son who has great taste and knows more than I do about what’s going on in that realm.

Do you have any other active projects going on at this point?

In October I’ll do an East Coast tour with Greg Kelley, a new score for the old weird silent film Häxan. We’re working on a duo album that will be released by Broken Clover in a few months. I’m also working on an album with my UK violinist friend Laura Cannell. Also I am starting work on a big recording project with my friend J.R. Rhodes.

For the last few years I’ve been playing in Mexico and have recorded as-yet unreleased albums with Gibrana Cervantes and Concepcion Huerta, the Polar Dream and Mortemart.

There are lots of other ongoing collaborations with friends, including a duo with Dave Abramson, a trio that does a lot of Edith Piaf covers, a somewhat experimental album of old Yiddish songs, a rock band and when the stars align I sit in with my friends’ band some surprises.

Especially exciting is the imminent release of my friend Clyde Petersen’s documentary about the band Earth (of which I’ve been a member), ‘Even Hell Has Its Heroes.’ It is stunning and I’m happy and proud to be one of its many contributors.

I just got word that a project that I’ll work on with composer/inventor Trimpin got funding, I’ll play in an ensemble with some robotic cellos that he’ll build, and there will be some dancers and projections. I think it will premiere in San Francisco in 2024, and hopefully tour around after that.

Let’s end this interview with some of your favourite albums. Have you found something new lately you would like to recommend to our readers?

As I mentioned I’ve been on a vintage African kick and one from that realm I’m smitten with at the moment is Celstine Ukwu’s album Ilo Abu Chi from 1974.

Local Seattle folks whose work I love include Specs Wizard, Helms Alee and Diminished Men.

I am also really enjoying an album by my violinist friend Austin Larkin, Violin Liquid Phases, and work by Natalia Beylis.

Looking forward to digging into a Messiaen organ box set I got in the mail today, for several months I’ve listened to his piano music a lot and am excited to branch out.

Klemen Breznikar

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SofaBurn Records Official Website / Facebook / Instagram / Twitter / Bandcamp / YouTube

Lori Goldston interview