Fifteen years into his musical career, Denison Witmer has recorded a self-titled album, his most direct statement to date.

In a world obsessed with “branding” and constructed media personas, he chose to call his ninth album Denison Witmer because “I started thinking about the implications of what it’s like to work in an industry where I operate under my own name,” Denison explains.  “And my ultimate goal as a musician is to be honest with people, first and foremost.”

Inspiration for Denison Witmer came from an unlikely source.  Listening to the radio, Denison found himself moved by an interview with R.A. Dickey, the major league pitcher whose so-so start convinced him to switch to the difficult knuckleball.

“The knuckleball is a kind of pitch that has absolutely no spin on it whatsoever,” Denison explains, “and you aim at a target, but you really have no idea where it’s going to go.”  The learning curve first sent Dickey down to the minor leagues, then to the top of the majors, as he perfected his peculiar art.

Denison’s own peculiar art—like throwing the erratic knuckleball—also means going against the grain, and trusting in forces beyond his control.  A composer of subtle, deeply sincere albums in the era of instant mp3s, he wrote this album partly about learning to accept the person, and the artist, he finds himself becoming.

“This is the turning point for me,” he says.  “Even though it’s late in my career, I can feel something moving.”

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This Saturday, February 23, a handful of non-musicians will have the opportunity to collaborate with Fol Chen on a new conceptual project, “You Will Be My Music.”

Starting at 4pm, the band will give four guests of L.A.’s Machine Project art and education space one hour each to create a new recording in a mobile studio. Layer by layer, the band will guide each volunteer through a ProTools session, overdubbing new vocals and other sounds onto his or her favorite pop song. At the end of the hour, the tracks containing the original song will be deleted, leaving only these new elements.

“You Will Be My Music” plays on the meaning of the word “cover,” first covering up a song with extraneous musical elements, then turning those elements into an uncanny cover version of the original.

This is only the most recent of Fol Chen’s workshops at the Machine Project. At one previous appearance, the band introduced the Tetrafol, a tetrahedron-shaped electronic instrument they helped create with the Monome interface design company. At another, the opening act for their performance was a lecture on the mating habits of sea slugs.

Information on how to participate in this session will soon become available on the Machine Project website, machineproject.com.