For the Sake of Stillness is a slow swoon, all those small moments that make up the real, ongoing process of falling in love: with your life, with sound, with yourself, with the people that surround you. From bassist and vocalist Melanie Radford (Built to Spill, Blood Lemon) Stillness is a solo offering of music that asks you to pay attention.
For the Sake of Stillness was recorded during and in-between tours, coming together over a stretch of 2 years as a centering practice and statement of self. Constantly in motion from touring with Built to Spill, Melanie felt a deep need to make music that felt quiet, warm, grounded. She began collecting field recordings during her travels, going for long walks alone through cities, natural spaces, and neighborhoods. With these audio recordings as the foundation, Melanie built out melodies and rhythms, always keeping her bass and vocals at the heart of the music.
Most of the songs are at a walking pace, mimicking those long walks through foreign places interpreted through a soft, sensitive, observant headspace. The ambient score of natural sounds flows under the music, records of time and place: a rhythm of footsteps on crisp ground; birdsong; rain falling outside; an impatient car shouldering into distant traffic; the pulse of the ocean; the warm texture of unintelligible and overlapping conversations. These pocket recordings mixed with the music give an added impression of proximity and intimacy. Like an invitation into a daydream, a view into someone’s private world.
The music is quiet, dreamy, steady and self-assured. There’s a rhythmic heartbeat and little flares of exuberance throughout the album: small moments of magic and awe everywhere. In it you can hear the influences of Melanie’s Northwestern home (early years in Boise, ID, current home in Seattle, WA)— desert rock, drone, art folk and touches of classical training. It’s propelled by melodic bass lines, musical minimalism, poetic lyricism, and Melanie’s powerful, haunting voice, which is the twin and complement to her bass. It channels the disparate moments and impressions collected in her tours through the U.S., Europe, Australia, Brazil, and unifies them through the strength of Melanie’s artistic personality and perspective.
The tracks on For the Sake of Stillness are filled with contributions from friends: Lê Almeida (Oruã, Built to Spill) on drums and guitar, Jim Roth (Built to Spill) on synth, pedal steel and added vocals, Lori Goldston (Earth, Nirvana) with cello arrangements, and Cacá Amaral (QMAR, Firefriend) with additional drums. Songs like ‘Sink & Swallow’ (recorded between Rio and Seattle), ‘Home’, and ‘A Walk Away’ offer a bit more external, upbeat reflection of life in motion, integrating rhythms and flourishes from a collaborative recording process.
Melanie Radford to release debut solo album ‘For The Sake of Stillness’ on 26th June on Jealous Butcher Records
