Solitaire for Two

Chris Leyva’s band Falling Doves has a new EP called Isolation, the first of a planned three-volume set. “I was approached during the pandemic by my labels, both in the US and UK, and management to do virtual concerts or do covers, and I agreed to do the covers,” says Leyva of the EP. “Warm Audio’s Royce Richmond sent me some recording gear, to help me deal with a really bad depression I was going through, along with a lot of people, so I agreed to go into my vault and just start pulling tracks and finishing them. Each one of these songs was special, because every time, I had a breakup, [and] the song marks the time.” Some recordings date back 15 years, but Leyva says they remained unreleased “because it was too painful. And it got better, so I abandoned them.” Sporting sleeve art by Romanian illustrator Andrei Stan, Isolation features covers like Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” (“Basically, crying of the soul for loving the ghost of a memory”), Oasis’ “Wonderwall” (“A plea of hope and love and salvation”), and “Ships Out to Sea” by The Be Good Tanyas, which concerns a man who commits suicide and goes to Hell. “It’s a weird song where I just kept adding layers of sounds and sound effects, to cope with reality.”

“A Stray Catalyst is a Gesamtkunstwerk project that integrates poetry, music, choreography, videography, and mixed media arts,” says Linda Vista-based Saki. The contemporary classical-new music multimedia endeavor began in 2019 as a collection of poetry set to music, recorded at the Mesa College recording studio as an internship assignment. A Stray Catalyst just released the title single and video for an upcoming album, Solitaire for Two (due October 20). Saki will introduce some music from the album and perform piano arrangements of the songs in a livestream concert on September 10.

“This song is about cognitive dissonance, and how that manifests itself in intra-and-interpersonal relationships. The rest of the concept album is similarly themed, in that it presents the musings of someone who nonchalantly evaluates age-old psychological and societal conundrums from an all-too-intellectual standpoint, only to find themselves lost in a labyrinth of second guesses. The video is kind of a queer romance between two characters who presumably represent the heart and the mind. The lyrics go ‘The head beats the heart every time they play a game of checkers,’ and one of my friends, Scarlet Checkers, is a clowntortionist, and I thought she’d be perfect for this video… the hardest part was finding a venue to record at during lockdown, and what ended up happening was I built the set in my living room from stuff I bought at Home Depot. It’s crazy what can be done with a small budget.”

“Moving out of San Diego has been a long-term plan and, after considering a few options over the years, including other parts of California, Burlington, Vermont emerged as the clear frontrunner,” says Jaye MacAskill of married comedic rock duo Pony Death Ride. “Since leaving Brooklyn in 2003, I’ve been in San Diego for the past 17 years. I’ve always felt fortunate to have the opportunity to live in California…for someone who grew up in a small, isolated semi-rural community in Canada, since moving here, I have done so many things, seen so many places, and met so many great people, it just doesn’t even seem possible.” She says the move wasn’t initiated during the pandemic. “So, during the earlier, quieter, gentler, and more innocent pre-Coronavirus part of 2020, we made an offer on a small building just outside Burlington’s downtown core, a block from Battery Park and the lakefront. By the time we closed, the Covid lockdown had begun. Originally called Gronan’s Store, it’s a circa 1880s-1890s corner market with second floor living quarters. After trying to wait out the worst of the Covid epidemic for the past few months in San Diego, we’re looking forward to finally heading east and making this charming little building our home and future site of business.”

“I’m delighted to announce that a digital single — two new CLB songs, with an accompanying booklet — will be released on Omnivore Recordings in early September, 9/11 to be exact,” says Cindy Lee Berryhill. “With myself on guitar and uke, Renata Bratt on cello, violin, and mandolin, David Schwartz on upright bass. Danny Frankel on drums and percussion, and Deane Cote on pedal steel and mandolin.” Berryhill first came to prominence on the singer-songwriter scene in 1987 with her acclaimed first album and hit song “Damn, I Wish I Was a Man” (“I’d be sexy with a belly like Jack Nicholson”). Berryhill’s tune “When Did Jesus Become a Republican?” spent over a year as a featured track on Neil Young’s Living With War Today website, where songwriters are encouraged to submit political music. Her husband, noted rock critic and Crawdaddy magazine founder Paul Williams, died in 2013, having suffered declining health ever since a 1995 North County bicycle accident. Songs written during that period appeared on her 2016 album The Adventurist, which she dedicated to Williams’ memory. A reissue program of her earlier albums was launched last year by Omnivore, including new liner notes and bonus tracks, beginning with her Garage Orchestra LP.

SDSU English Department alumni Michael Buchmiller, aka Professor B. Miller, and his singing robot SPO-20, have a new Satanic Puppeteer Orchestra single for “Sea Anemones (aka Shark Wigs),” with a video featuring a series of flashing color layers from imaginative concert posters. It’s from a new 12-inch EP called Lost at Sea, which comes in a laser-etched vinyl edition limited to 42 copies with the cover artwork etched into the disc, featuring liner notes by John K. Peck (McSweeney’s). Around town, the duo is best known for performing original conceptual sci-fi- and horror movie-inspired works like “I Stole Your Daddy’s Time Machine,” “What Is the Most Expensive Way To Feed A Zebra,” “Wolfman Rides a Unicycle,” and “Haunted Rental Car.” They also occasionally cover unexpected material by acts ranging from Andy Kaufman and Talking Heads to Kraftwerk, They Might Be Giants, Blues Brothers, The Cure, Devo, and Spinal Tap.