The flow in the kitchen just feels musical to me. I, selfishly, wanted to try everything at the smorgasbord, you know? I started this idea before the pandemic, and I do have a pretty bad-ass cooking playlist that I was putting together. I’m curious about too many types of music I never wanted to be just a rock musician, or Americana, or a jazz guy. I always considered myself to be genre-fluid in music. No one can tell you it isn’t.ĭuke Ellington said, if it sounds good, it is good. I’ve often felt the palates are similar, in that, if you like the way something tastes, or sounds, then it’s good. I’m intrigued with your interest in pairing music with food. It’s like that Tom Waits line: Never saw the morning/ ‘Til I stayed up all night. After a while really did make you appreciate the other. Uninterrupted creative time? Wow! Great! But everything needs boundaries and limits and balance. I’ll be honest with you: I was secretly excited during the first part of the pandemic. Something I observed in the optimism of artists having isolated time imposed on them- of how much creative output they thought they could harness in that time- is that as the pandemic went on, the isolation from interaction with others became a hindrance, not just financially but to the spirit of music as a collective experience. After that, after being completely overwhelmed, I love sinking into the downtime.
We do a roving caroling thing with people like Bela Fleck all these ragamuffins- like 30 people- walking down the street with accordions and banjoes and guitars. We have a huge Christmas jam, and Christmas dinner at our house. We really blow out Christmas around here. It gives us a chance to celebrate that isolation. I had to look it up: Is there a name for the time between winter solstice and the vernal equinox? Is there something that shows where the middle is? It turns out, yes, and the Celtics had a name for it: Imbolc. My instrumental record, even the title, is pointing to a specific part of the cycle of the seasons. Man, you’re hitting the nail on the head. It’s a theme that has developed while artists were making their most ardent efforts to feel grateful about having time-off and being apart. With your single, “On the Other Side,” there is a theme of celebrating a future time when we can return to gathering again. I couldn’t wait to record with it, hearing things in a new way. Also, I just bought a great microphone that I always wanted- a Neumann U67 I got a reissue and fell in love with it. It’s a slow, dreary time of year that I secretly love. Because of that I get to delve into a creative thing and have nothing interrupt me. Sometimes I get this blend of joy and fear it’s like, I have nothing on the books! Oh, shit, I have nothing on the books. Every year there’s nothing on the books and I get really afraid. First off, I notice February is such a slow time for me. There’s always a conspiracy of things that happen- at least, I notice- that make the conditions just right. Is Imbolc an album that you could have made only at this time and during these circumstances? Lang, Ryan Miller, Zac Clark, and Jillette Johnson, among others, Pisapia has recorded a standalone single due for release in late January, 2021, “On The Other Side,” anticipating the joy of musicians and fans gathering once again in a post-COVID world. Additionally, along with friends such as k.d. Inspired by seasonal changes and Pisapia’s ongoing interest for pairing music with his affinity for cooking–Pisapia’s been filming kitchen recipes to function as the music videos for several of the record’s pieces–the dozen-song set showcases his exceptional compositional instincts while utilizing classical guitar as the centerpiece instrument.
Pisapia was already in the midst of writing and recording his new instrumental album, Imbolc, when the shutdown took hold. For Joe Pisapia, the February middle ground between solstice and equinox perennially afforded him angst and opportunity the rise of the pandemic merely heightened the former Guster songwriter’s daily awareness of both as the dark of winter slowly marched into an uncertain spring.
Joe all the things instrumental free#
In March of 2020, as the COVID-19 pandemic signaled a period of mandated isolation throughout the world, musicians everywhere pondered what they could do at home with the imposed free time.