The Confessions are (left to right): Sanford Parker (Minsk, Buried at Sea), Jeremy Lemos (White/Light), Steve Shelley (Sonic Youth), and Chris Connelly.
As Chris reported back in February, this foursome spent some time in the studio (see photo). They now have a name, The Confessions, and their work will be mixed next month (no release date, yet). It’s possible that they may play some shows during the Sonic Youth tour, so stay tuned!
Chris’s new album, Pentland Firth Howl, will be released by Busted Flat Records on May 26, 2009. A very limited edition vinyl pressing will be released at the same time, on Adenda Records.
Chris says, “Pentland Firth Howl is a song cycle about my native Scotland and has 10 tracks. It was produced by my friend Zak Boerger, who also plays guitar on it along with me.”
Shipwreck was released to critical acclaim in 1994 and has long been a favorite of many a Connelly fan. Now, over a decade later, we can hear more of that album, thanks to the availability of the master tapes!
As part of this 6-disc set are some album mixes, alternate mixes and instrumentals (great for karaoke!). There’s also a cover of John Cale’s “Close Watch”, which is a different recording from other versions made available on this site previously.
All tracks are available in MP3 format as well as FLAC format (lossless audio, for you audiophiles out there).
Many thanks go to Mark Weddle for doing all of the work needed to make these tracks available and to Chris for allowing these to go public.
The Marjorie Kovler Center is a facility in Chicago, Illinois which provides counseling, therapy, aid, housing, and resources to help refugees and victims of torture who have come to the USA.
I first learned about the Marjorie Kovler Center about 10 years ago from a doctor I was seeing at that time. She was an amazing woman, whose name unfortunately escapes me. In addition to being a doctor and the mother of two children, she found time in an incredibly busy schedule to avail herself to the Kovler Center to give her services free of charge.
I was profoundly touched by her, and who wouldn’t be? She told me about the Center, about the refugees that came, who were traumatized in ways that I cannot begin to imagine, having, luckily, no frame of reference except the media for the kinds of inhuman atrocities these people have suffered. She spoke frankly about what had happened to people, and how they found themselves in a new country, often without any language skills and penniless, as well as suffering physically and mentally from their ordeals. Needless to say, it shook and chilled me to the core, and I wanted to help, but at that time did not feel that I had anything constructive to offer.
It was not until the spring of 2007 that I realized I might be able to do something. I had started writing for a new album, and what I was writing was heavily informed by what I had been listening to on the BBC world service, and also by things I had been reading. Slowly, over about eight months, I finished what was essentially a long poem, “Forgiveness & Exile”, which, without trying to explain too much is my own impressionistic view of countries and peoples torn to pieces by war, of prejudices and intolerances, of families destroyed, murder, imprisonment and torture. At the end of the writing process, and during the recording process, I realized that I had said what I set out to say, but was unable to justify my luxury of using language and music to talk about something I felt strongly about, but certainly knew very little of, and was lucky enough to never have experienced such brutal inhumanities. It was at that time that I remembered my conversations with the doctor, and of the Kovler Center, and realized that now at last was my opportunity to do something tangible, and in this respect I am donating all the money I make from sales and royalties of this album to the Kovler Center. Perhaps I can make someone’s transition a little easier and their quality of life a little better.
Chris Connelly
Chicago
June 2008
Chris is playing at Schuba’s Tavern on Friday, September 12th, opening for JOAN AS POLICE WOMAN. Chris says, “Her new record ‘to survive’ is one of the best records I’ve heard for years!”
Schuba’s is at 3159 North Southport in Chicago; doors at 10:30 PM.
