Thomas Bartlett is the force behind Doveman, the musical project he focuses on when not touring and recording with groups such as Antony and the Johnsons and the National. Doveman’s LP The Conformist was released in 2009 on Brassland.
For this issue’s CD, Esopus invited 12 musical acts to create a song inspired by an artist of their choice. Inspiration could be drawn from any part of the given artist’s oeuvre, life, and/or legacy; the only rule was that the song be named after the artist in question. Despite spanning different musical genres and subjects ranging from the 16th-century sculptor Gian Lorenzo Bernini to young Brooklyn painter Esao Andrews, all of the songs on Esopus 14: Artists cohere beautifully, providing dynamic new interpretations of the selected artists, their lives, and their work.