Denison Witmer Announces Physical Release of American Foursquare, New Video

November 10th, 2020 , by

Today, Denison Witmer returns with word of a first physical release for his twelfth album – and first in seven years – American Foursquare landing on Jan 8th. Released digitally during lockdown earlier this year, the album sees an expanded edition in January accompanied by brand new tracks, outtakes, stripped back versions and more.

Stream or share the song by clicking here.

To celebrate the announcement, Witmer is today sharing the new cut ‘Lancaster County‘, a soaring, country rock-tinged homage to Denison’s home county, directed by Reverie.

Of the track, he offers:

“The recording of ‘Lancaster County’ started out as something of an afterthought. When we were making American Foursquare, we ended up finishing drum tracking ahead of schedule on the final day of recording. Since I still had another 4 hours of studio time, I called my friend Jessica Dobson (Deep Sea Diver) and asked if she wanted to come to the studio. Jessica is the best guitarist I know – she can play anything really well – and I thought it would be fun to experiment with a live recording of this song. I usually write and record in isolation, so the opportunity to play in a band setting is always exciting. I love feeling/hearing the songs become something new in other people’s talents and headspace. This song unfolded exactly as it needed to: It’s a folk inspired country rock anthem. It’s the only song from the American Foursquare sessions that feels this way, and it’s the only one that was recorded live. In the end, it didn’t quite fit the overall vibe of American Foursquare, so I decided to release it as a stand-alone track.”

You can pre-order the CD and LP at our store here.

“San Francisco,” a New Song From Denison Witmer

April 17th, 2020 , by

Denison Witmer’s new album, American Foursquare, is out on May 8th. Today though, Denison has released another song from that project, “San Francisco.”

“San Francisco” finds Denison dreaming about an escape to the Redwood Forest in Northern California. Says Denison: “The Redwoods are my water level. The scale and timelessness of them helps me better understand my own life’s scale and timeline. I feel simultaneously young and old, naive and full of understanding.”

You can hear the song above, or on your favorite platform here. And if you pre-order at Bandcamp here, you’ll receive an exclusive version of “River of Music.”

Here are the lyrics:

Maybe I should book a flight to San Francisco
Rent a car and drive up through the redwood trees
Where they stand in silence high above my sorrow
There’s a message there for you and one for me

I see the child in myself as I get older
Still feeling every age that I have ever been
And I have joy when the light breaks through the shoulders
Of the Pacific giants swaying in the wind
I have a lifetime swaying in my mind again

I think I’m grieving the death of part of me
I think I’m leaving, won’t you come with me
I think I’m grieving the death of part of me
I think I’m leaving, won’t you come with me

It’s everything I’ve got
It’s not everything I need
It’s ok
I made my bed here, baby
This is where I stay

It’s everything I know
It’s not all that I believe
It’s ok
I made my bed here, baby
This is where I lay

New Music from Denison Witmer: “Catalina Love”

April 2nd, 2020 , by

Denison Witmer has released “Catalina Love” which you can hear on digital streaming platforms anywhere, or watch the video above. The album, American Foursquare, is out digitally on May 8th.

We all lose someone or something sometime, and this is why this new song is so important right now. In singing to very specific people about a very specific loss—close friends about the death of their 4-month-old baby—Denison is really singing to and for us all.

“Catalina Love is about coming to terms with things that turn out differently than we had planned,” says Denison. “When I am at a loss for words, I usually retreat into a mental space where I have more questions than answers. It’s a type of grief that leaves me wondering things like, ‘Am I the only one who feels this way? Where do I go from here?’”

This tender, careful, yet resilient song reminds us that we all have a love that is lost to us, we are all trying to let go but we just can’t. Every deep loss both compresses and lengthens the passage of time, God’s hand swings low far too often, and at some point, all of us will have walk up to the cliff of our own Catalina Island to give up our tears and let the ashes fall into the waves below.

Here are the lyrics for the song:

I don’t have another choice
I’m living in the void
When I think about you lately
My head fills up with noise

You left here two months ago
I saw the hand of God swing low
And the garden I had planted
Was covered in the snow

How am I going to let you know that I need your love?
How am I going to let you go Catalina Love?

Everything around went black
I sat up in the flash
Was it just me who heard it?
Is it just me who knows?

There are things I’ll never say
It will always be that way
Forever in your memory
Forever on your face

How am I going to let you know that I need your love?
How am I going to let you go Catalina Love?

I have a special place
A place that’s just my own
My namesake’s ash and bones
Are buried in the waves

Decalogue Score Available for Purchase

December 11th, 2019 , by

Last month we released The Decalogue, composed by Sufjan Stevens and performed and recorded by Timo Andres. 

The deluxe limited edition, which you can purchase here, includes a 40-page piano score. 

But if you don’t have a record player but want to play the etudes at home, you’re still in luck; the score is available for purchase separately, as a 40-page physical book, or as a digital, downloadable PDF. You can purchase it here for $15 for the physical and $5 for the PDF. 

“Save Me From Myself,” a New Song from Denison

December 6th, 2019 , by

We’ve released one song from Denison Witmer’s American Foursquare project, “River of Music,” and more recently a beautiful rendition of “For The Beauty of the Earth.”

Today we’re happy to release another new song from the American Foursquare project, entitled “Save Me From Myself.”

Here’s Denison on the themes of “Save Me From Myself:”

Family life is busy. I don’t have the same amount of time for self reflection that I once had. While I do miss that alone time, being part of a family has given me a different kind of clarity. My children teach me that my own needs are very simple. They just want to be loved. They just want to be heard. They just want to feel safe. I am reminded of the lyrics in one of my favorite songs, The Prayer Of Saint Francis—“It is In giving of ourselves that we receive.” I think family life is much the same way.

This song is the first track Denison recorded with Thomas Bartlett (aka Doveman) back in February 2017 (!!!). The result, this song, is what led Denison and Thomas to keep tinkering and recording together. “I remember being really nervous,” says Denison, “because I wasn’t sure if I was actually making a new album or if we were just experimenting. When he added the piano part the song came to life and I somehow knew innately that, after my long hiatus from music, I was ready to start a new record.”

You can listen to the song here, or via your favorite streaming platform here.

New Holiday Music from Denison Witmer

November 22nd, 2019 , by

A couple of weeks ago we released “River of Music,” a brand new song by Denison Witmer from his American Foursquare project (which you can hear here).

Today, Denison has released some more new music. This time it’s “For the Beauty of the Earth,” a holiday hymn written by 19th century Tractarian, scholar, and writer Folliott Pierpoint.

Here’s Denison on the song:

“‘For the Beauty Of The Earth’ is my favorite song of thankfulness. It is a reminder that peace and beauty can be simple, located in the world around us and the people we love. I recorded this song live with my friend Thomas Bartlett. He played piano while I sang. We performed it twice and picked our favorite take. I wanted it to sound the way I sing it to my children at night.”

We hope you enjoy the song over the holidays.

(And there’s more new music coming so be sure to follow Denison Spotify or Instagram.)

Three More Songs from Half-Handed Cloud

November 8th, 2019 , by

There are now three more new songs we can hear from Half-handed Cloud’s forthcoming 2xLP compilation, Gathered Out of Thin Air.

In this third release of three songs each, there’s “Naaman,” which is a cover of an unreleased song sent by Sufjan Stevens to John Ringhofer (Half-handed Cloud) early in  2001, back when they were first pen pals. There’s a newly-mastered version of “Running Off With Balderdash” from Half-h’s scrappy Foiled EP N°2. And finally there’s “Nativity Costume (2000 Year’s Eve),” a holiday song John wrote that found its way into a cover song for the end of credits of the video game Hypnospace Outlaw. 

Next Friday, November 15th, we’ll be able to hear a decade’s worth of work, all 60 tracks, in one place! The 2xLP is still available for preorder here.

Pre-orders through Asthmatic Kitty Records include a limited set of four bookmarks, designed by Ringhofer.

Hear The New “River Of Music” From Denison Witmer

October 25th, 2019 , by

A few weeks ago, we announced American Foursquare, a new project from Denison Witmer. Today, you can hear the first single, “River of Music.”

American Foursquare was started with Thomas Bartlett (Sufjan Stevens, The National, Norah Jones) in New York City, and finished and mixed in Seattle, WA, with Andy Park (Death Cab For Cutie, Pedro The Lion, Noah Gundersen). Abby Gundersen and Aaron Campbell contributed instruments and vocals.

Here’s what Denison had to say about “River of Music”:

While writing this song, I often thought about how music is basically a magic spell. Something is created from nothing—arranging notes and rhythm and instruments—and it has the possibility of shifting our emotions, thoughts, and even our actions.  I take so much from music, so I’m grateful to give back in whatever way I can.  

“River of Music” feels like a fitting first song to release after my hiatus from recording and touring. It’s a love song. It’s a call to action to give back, pay it forward, live intentionally, and love unconditionally. 

Listen on your favorite steaming platform here, or below.

Out Now: The Decalogue

October 18th, 2019 , by

Sufjan’s score score for Justin Peck’s ballet The Decalogue —ten etudes for solo piano— is on out now on digital platforms and in record stores via a vinyl deluxe edition. CD and standard edition vinyl are following on December 6, 2019.

Performed by the pianist Timo Andres, this recording of The Decalogue is the first time the score, originally premiered during the New York City Ballet’s 2017 season, is available to the public.

The deluxe, limited edition of The Decalogue includes a Stoughton tip-on gatefold jacket, 180-gram vinyl, a 40-page song chart book, a monotype print from visual artist Charlotte de Mezamat, and a download card. If purchased directly from AKR, the deluxe edition also includes a 20-page 12×12 photo booklet.

You can buy the album from AKR here, or check with your favorite local record store.

To hear The Decalogue on your preferred streaming platform, click here.

Sufjan’s Songs for Christmas Out on Vinyl on November 9th

September 14th, 2018 , by

From 2001 through 2010, Sufjan Stevens recorded an annual Christmas album that he gifted to friends and family. The recording process took place every December for one week, usually at home, provoking collaborations with friends, roommates, and musical peers.

In 2006, Stevens’ label, Asthmatic Kitty Records, released Songs for Christmas, a CD boxset compiling the first five of these albums, Volumes I-V. Later in 2012, the label released Silver & Gold, a CD and vinyl boxset compiling of Volumes VI-X.

But the first five volumes have never been released to vinyl.

This holiday season, Asthmatic Kitty Records is proud to finally release Songs for Christmas: Volumes I-V as a 5-piece vinyl boxset. The boxset arrives November 9th, 2018 with all 42 songs from the original CD boxset, including fan favorites like “Sister Winter,” “That Was The Worst Christmas Ever,” “Only At Christmas Time,” and “Put The Lights on the Tree.”

You can preorder the vinyl boxset at our store, here, or at your favorite local or online record store.

The 5-vinyl boxset includes all original package design with illustrations by Sufjan Stevens, Stephen Halker, and a family portrait painting by Jacques Bredy, as well as lyrics, chord charts, and full recording credits for all the songs. Stickers, essays, and the Sister Winter comic strip from the original CD boxset are not included (but you can still buy CD boxsets with everything in it here.)

 

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