The greatest gift that my best friend/life partner gave me over the past year was the gift of meditation. I can’t say how much that freeing my mind of the stresses of everyday life has helped me on so many levels. MARK SOLOTROFF’s new song “Return To Pleasure (Body Into Voice)” from his most recent album Not Everybody Makes (out on 7/30 — pre-order HERE) is a meditation anthem. This composition gives your mind the space it needs to wander to unknown realms where the silence of the mind is power. Open your 3rd eye and gaze at the new MARK SOLOTROFF visual for “Return To Pleasure (Body Into Voice)” here.
Mark Solotroff quote: “Return To Pleasure (Body Into Voice)”
It’s been difficult to view the devastating wildfires on the West Coast, over the last several years, and to not be moved by the widespread damage that they cause. During my last trip to Los Angeles, a friend who lives there pointed out vast stretches of scorched landscape as we drove along the expressway in his car, not all that far from Downtown, where I was staying. I’ve also lived through a fire in a former home in Chicago. There’s nothing like being woken up very early on a Sunday morning by neighbors pounding on your door, only to realize that half of your building is in flames. The distinct smell remained with me for a long time. Fire is a frightening but fascinating thing to see and to hear and I appreciate how it becomes very abstract, as you focus deeper on the dancing flames. “Dancing,” what a poetic word we use! Inspired by the legacy of experimental filmmakers who have been based in Chicago, from László Moholy-Nagy to Stan Brakhage, and Owen Land (who was actually my cousin; a progressively distant one, as far as my family history goes) to Lisa Slodki (AKA Noise Crush, whose work was exhibited by the Museum of Contemporary Art and who collaborates with my bandmate Isidro Reyes and me, when we perform as The Fortieth Day), I created this abstract meditation on the destructive power of fire.
