A Place to Begin
Release date: May 20, 2022 on Whatever’s Clever
Stream/Buy: Link to Bandcamp
After the near death of a loved one, I came to a frozen island in the far north on Lake Superior at the end of winter. I had been feeling stuck, but this encounter with death opened up a deep awareness of the present moment in me.
I worked in the morning each day when the light was best in my studio, recording daily musical sketches. In the afternoons, I walked the frozen landscape of the island, listening to the sparse sounds of late winter. I watched as the frozen lake began to thaw - slowly at first, then all at once. A mass of water full of motion emerged and stretched out to meet the sky. As things melted, small pieces of color and sound filled the emptiness. Time deepened, and I settled into a place of lightness.
Inviting an awareness of death into my daily life was not all darkness, as I expected, but rather filled with dualities: light and dark, peace and chaos, presence and distance. And in periods of clarity, I could see that life is beginning in every moment.
Produced, written, and recorded by Peter Coccoma
Mixed by Zubin Hensler
Mastered by Taylor Duepree (12k)
Cello: Clarice Jensen
Violin: Oliver Hill
Album Photo by Sky Hopinka, Around the Edge of Encircling Lake (2018)
Cover Design: Alex Geller
Packaging and Design Layout: Michael Ryan Brennan
Selected Press:
NPR’s Best Albums of 2022
NPR’s 11 Best Experimental Albums of 2022
15 Questions Interview
Tone Madison Interview