this piece is dedicated to the tiny warrior, breen richard armstrong. keep doin' this thing, breen.... show us how it's done!! we need you, little brother.

origin stories of the musics on this album: as I was composing the opening piece for this little album, I would often bounce it down & listen to it in the car, or on headphones, or whatever... & I found myself identifying three fairly obvious influences for the music that was coming through me... david bowie: low, the blade runner score by vangelis, & the musical collaborations between david lynch & angelo badalamenti for twin peaks. hence half of the title "low runner peaks." I just love how those three words have a whole kind of trajectory of their own. & the way the potential narrative ideas in them work with the title that I already had for the companion piece that I'd put together a number of months prior, "ocean eats world"... the way those ideas work together in my mind is just triumphant & magickal &... just really interesting to me. so, yeah... there's that.

"dead man waltzing" is actually the very first piece of music that I began working on when this pandemic thing really struck here in the united states. for some reason, I really wanted to make a deathly slow waltz. so that's what I did. the outdoor sounds are from a single take field recording that I made while walking from my apartment to the subway station in downtown los angeles. it wasn't until I was already in the middle of working on the piece that I caught a passerby's comment, "what is wrong with you, are you dead?" (naturally, I had to jack up the volume for that amazing little nugget!! haha!!) while that's a funny little snarky moment, his friend's response, "I don't know," is laced with some genuine uncertainty & despair. this gets my mind reeling on all kinds of gnostic-like thoughtstreams...

so, yeah... real good times working on this stuff. it feels like I'm collaborating with the universe. a bit grandiose? maybe so. or maybe that's just the really real reality of what's going on when any one of us does anything at all. let's celebrate that in whatever way we may see fit.... shall we?

a thousand boatloads of thanks to you for being here, listening to this shizz & reading this drivel on top of all that. man... it just wouldn't be the same without you. for real. striking the balance of making the art that's most authentic to oneself, while knowing that it's intended for a listener who has their wants for expansion, & their urges for familiarity, & their limitations on both ends of that spectrum... being completely unable to unentangle those awarenesses & needs as an artist... (can I say that...? awarenesses... haha!! parallax view... THAT's what we're talking about here.) anyway... having to reckon with all that is a wonderfully difficult challenge at times. I'm really grateful to have the time & strength & presence of mind to get all up in that bizz.

thanks, y'all. loads & loads of love......

-rocco

aka dr. auxiliary

aka fall precauxions

aka just don't call me "late for supper"