AWE002 - OPENING NIGHT
The first time I went to New Theater Hollywood my friend Colin Self was doing a play with the artist Diamond Stingily entitled Where The Souls Go. It was a tender work half performed by puppets (and their human mediums) handmade by Colin. Later in the year, I saw Klein do a potent show, Psalm’s Trust (Vol. 2), anguished music mixed with overwhelming collages of British TV on various screens. Finally, I saw Casey Jane Ellison’s one-woman play It’s My Sister, in which Casey convincingly played two sisters on either side of an estranged phone call in the wake of grief. The play managed to be hilarious and heartbreaking at the same time.
I’m not really a play person per se, but the work I’ve seen at New Theater Hollywood somehow eschews the traditional format. The founders, artist duo Calla Henkel and Max Pitegoff, have created an incubator of wild ideas that feels fresh and alive, distinct from the aesthetic confines of theater, music or performance art.
My friend Sidney Gerard who co-runs the label Latency (which released my 2018 record Raw Silk Uncut Wood) mentioned to me that MK Velsorf, one-third of the group TLF Trio (whose Latency LP Sweet Harmony I absolutely loved when it came out a few years back), would be attending CalArts where I work. He and I became acquaintances, and he shared that he had an album idea — a live recording of the music that he and another Danish musician, Aase Nielsen, had performed on the opening night of New Theater Hollywood a few months prior. He gave me a burned CD of the material, which ended up being played on repeat on the mountainous-suburban drives back and forth between LA and Santa Clarita.
Conceived as music to be performed during the ‘in-between’ spaces of the evening - during the arrival and exit of guests, and in between various speeches throughout the night - the material possesses a captivating softness. Inspired by the ‘furniture music’ of Erik Satie (a historical predecessor to both the minimalism of John Cage and the ambient of Brian Eno), the music stretches out patiently, with a gentle groove and sense of wandering determination. The palette is simple: some guitar vamps alongside synth, drum loops and backing tracks.
At the same time, I heard hints of the banality of LA: this is music for driving in traffic, for dissociating in the sun, or for daydreaming. I also heard Mike Post’s procedural score, and the timeless sleaziness of Michael Mann’s Heat.
Opening Night is finally out today (Valentine’s Day ❣️). Available for purchase on Bandcamp digitally, and on beautiful gatefold CD with silver Pantone details and full color photography (edition of 300 - ships in 1-2 weeks).
MK Velsorf & Aase Nielsen - Opening Night (AWE002)
CD / Digital | February 14th, 2025
01 Prelude
02 House In The Hills
03 Santa Monica
04 Vine
05 Opening Night
06 Sunset (Digital Bonus)
Music composed and performed by MK Velsorf and Aase Nielsen.
Guitar by MK Velsorf.
Keyboard by Aase Nielsen.
Backing tracks by MK Velsorf and Aase Nielsen.
Grand piano on track 02 by Laurel Halo.
Produced by MK Velsorf, Aase Nielsen and Laurel Halo.
Mixed and mastered by James Ginzburg.
Design by Studio Hugo Blanzat.
Cover and inner photograph by Calla Henkel and Max Pitegoff.
Back photograph by Aase Nielsen.
Recorded live at New Theater Hollywood, January 20, 2024.
©℗ Awe 2025
If you are in LA, we will be celebrating the release as part of New Theater’s 2nd anniversary gala: Night of Speeches 2. Tickets are sold out, but the space will open in the evening for the last hour as a bar-slash-party. I’ll be DJing and MK Velsorf & fellow CalArts alum Kevin Madison will be performing live. Limited edition handmade CD-Rs and t-shirts will be available on the night!
I hope the music reaches you as much as it did me. Thanks for your time and consideration, as always.
LH