“A Matter of Scale”
By Mark David Ashworth & Muralismo
Recorded at home July/Aug 2011; vocals, guitar, piano, electronics: Mark David Ashworth; drums: Shaun Lowecki; violin: Nadia Shihab; electric guitar: Taylor Jacobs; upright bass: Tristan Arnold. Copyright ©2011 Rascacielos Music
Mark David Ashworth started writing songs at the age of 13 in Dallas, Texas. He completed his first album, Viceroy, in Mexico City in 2007, and in 2010, he recorded Bright Is the Ring of Words in San Francisco with bassist, arranger, and composer Tristan Arnold. Both albums were released on Autobus, a label cofounded by Ashworth in 2007.
Esopus 17 (Fall 2011)
Esopus CD #17: Fear Itself
After our readers submitted their most intense irrational fears for our fifth subscriber invitational, we invited 13 musicians to select one fear to use as inspiration for a new song for this issue’s CD. Some of the tracks convey these phobias with absolute gravity: For instance, Edinburgh-based band Meursault delivers a haunting and heartbreaking take on Wendy Cohen’s anxiety about dropping dead on the street and leaving loved ones behind (“No Knock at the Door”). But there are lighter approaches, too, like Terror Pigeon Dance Revolt’s “Spew,” a raucous number inspired by Dave Miranda’s fear of vomiting in public. Whether serious or comic, sad or buoyant, all of these wonderful songs prove that fear is as rich and potent a source of musical inspiration as any other human emotion.