orchestramaxfieldparrish: Four Thousand Trees
Faith Strange

Need an example showing how much more effective a physical format can be than a download? Look no further than Mike Fazio's latest orchestramaxfieldparrish release Four Thousand Trees. Sure, its two tracks sound great in their digital-only form and certainly make a lasting impression too. But in pressing the tracks on a handmade lathe-cut of clear ten-inch vinyl and housing it and a text insert inside a personally assembled sleeve, the release registers much more powerfully; as important, the care with which Four Thousand Trees has been crafted is consistent with the indefatigable spirit embodied by the man who inspired the project, Ziya Abay. One's appreciation for what Fazio has done goes up when the time and energy involved in producing the fifty physical copies is factored in.

At this stage, orchestramaxfieldparrish functions as an umbrella term for whatever artistic direction Fazio's currently interested in exploring. Years ago, the moniker might have been associated with guitar-based ambient soundscaping (see The Silent Breath of Emptiness, for example), but now, with live guitar-generated compositions and and synth-based explorations respectively collected under the Guitar Improvisations and ÆRA names, orchestramaxfieldparrish-related productions are amenable to any number of possible instrumental combinations and stylistic expressions. Consistent with that, the two long-form settings on the twenty-six-minute Four Thousand Trees were created using piano, synthesizer, antique mellophone, prepared lute, bowed pedal steel, and ‘guitarsonics.'

It's easy to understand the appeal Abay's story had for Fazio when both have dedicated years of their lives to the realization of personal projects. Years after his wife died in a traffic accident in 1995, Abay discovered a small island while boating in Turkey's Keban Dam Lake and decided he would start planting trees there in her memory. Now in his eighties, he travels every day to the island from Pertek, Turkey to water and tend to the 4,000 fruit trees he's planted. The material Fazio created in response isn't programmatic; instead, it represents his attempt to distill the essence of Abay's story into sonic form and honour his spirit and the toil of his undertaking. Familiarization with the project's background naturally deepens one's appreciation for what Fazio has produced.

The A-side's “Island of Memories” unfurls in a series of flourishes, washes, and rumbles, the sounds collectively evoking an expansive landscape with sky stretching limitlessly above. Against a backdrop of arcing synth tones, accenting chords appear alongside distant noises to evoke a verdant nature setting ablaze with portent and mystery. A brief injection of woozy pitch-shifting near the end destabilizes the track before the general sound design reasserts itself. A sense of real-time, spontaneous creation informs the piece, but there's nothing random about it. Both it and the B-side's “Four Thousand Trees” develop in accordance with an organic logic that's clear even from a single listen. Fluttering textures immediately differentiate the title track from the other, as do the cello-like timbres that emerge alongside them in a tone painting that gradually grows ever more quiet and peaceful. Of the two, it's “Four Thousand Trees” that's perhaps most reminiscent of earlier orchestramaxfieldparrish material, though even here the production carves out its own indelible space.

As is often the case with Fazio, Four Thousand Trees is but one of many projects the NYC-based artist has on the go. Two other new orchestramaxfieldparrish releases, the full-length Ancient Exiles, Tell Me About Your Seas and a remix EP of it called Passio - The Exiles Companion, were issued concurrently with the EP, and another, The Earthly Line, has been in production for years and will soon see the light of day as a vinyl release. That his creative fire still burns so strong is inspiring to witness, much as Abay's project was for him.

June 2022