To those located in the New York City area, we are happy to announce a rare opportunity to experience a performance of musician and producer Chris Schlarb’s debut solo record, Twilight & Ghost Stories in its entirety.  Chris will be performing this modern composition on Saturday, February 7th, at The Stone with many of the artists who assisted in the creation of this work of personal identity and catharsis. Twilight is a dense 40-minute work featuring a disparate cross-section of musicians from the avant-garde, independent folk, jazz, and electronic communities. When performed with a live ensemble the piece is conducted using a custom built lightbox to simulate the layers of sound found on the album.

On an overcast Wednesday in the middle of February 2003, Chris Schlarb, struggling with child custody issues, unemployment, and a declining passion for music, set up two microphones to capture the sound of the rain outside his near-empty apartment in Long Beach. That spontaneous idea gradually snowballed into a project that would cross four years, correspondence with dozens of musicians, and more than two hundred hours of work. Calling upon a diverse number of collaborators, Chris began to solicit musical phrases, incidental conversations, stories and textures. Few artists were offered more than a vague description of the project and none of the artists involved heard the final mix until the album’s release. Schlarb says of Twilight: "Four years and fifty collaborators later, Twilight & Ghost Stories seems an odd choice for my first “solo” album. There are hundreds of moments taken from their chronology in time and set alongside each other anew and I have acted only as the conductor of a giant, magnificent orchestra. To that orchestra, in some small way, I owe my life." 

 

You can listen to/download Section 1 of Twilight & Ghost Stories here.

You can view a "timeline" of artist contributions and thematic material here.

You can view a hi-res jpeg of Chris Schlarb here.