[Musicophilia Co.] Ian Manire – ‘Improvisations’ (2CD set, 2022)

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I’m deeply honored to present to you the Musicophilia Co.’s first ever phyiscal-media release of original music: a two-CD set collecting three albums and an EP I created during 2022, called ‘Improvisations‘.

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The mixes of Musicophilia were built from the library of thousands of CDs I’ve built over the decades; and while to most, CDs will never have the romance of vinyl, they hold a deep and abiding place in my heart.  They were my bridge into a bigger, wider world in my youth, and I’m thrilled to share with the world my own music in physical form.  I would be honored by anyone who wanted to take a listen!

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A little over a year ago, in the midst of some hard days, I remembered that when I was eight or nine years old, I used to sit at the piano and instead of practicing, I would just play–just let my fingers move as they wanted to, and I would enter a meditative state, entranced by the long ringing notes as they coalesced, bounced off of one another, slowly dissolved.  In that state, my little worrying mind would slow down, and I would find a place of peace.  Three decades on from then, and two decades since I’d last recorded any music of my own, I was very much in need of that peace.

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So I bought myself a nice midi controller, learned just enough about VSTs and Ableton to press “record,” and in the depth of winter I sat down, took a deep breath, and let my fingers move of their own free will, again.  And… I was transported right back to being that eight year old kid, in that same place of total stillness.  I felt that same peace, that same awe at the sounds I could call forth simply through instinct and feeling.

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The result of those brief time-traveling meditations was that, over the course of 2022, I found I’d created three albums and a collaborative EP of improvised music that, to my surprise, I found musical, and that expressed the feelings of hope and sorrow that I couldn’t have verbalized, and maybe even in a way approaching beauty.  The sounds were spare and simple, melancholic, full of yearning.  I am not a real musician, and would never compare myself to those who are-to my heroes who live-and-breath sound, who hone their craft and put in the work, the people Musicophilia was created to celebrate.  But I also think there’s room in the world for music made in the absence of skill, if it is made with sincerity and passion.

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This music might be called “ambient,” some of it perhaps “chamber music,” an in a moment or two, maybe “neo-kosmische”.  In most cases the only concept I had in mind before playing, though, was emotional openness, and letting what might come, come.  To get there, I used the sounds of my fantasy array of instruments: grand and upright pianos, harp, Rhodes, Hammond, cellos, harmonium, woodwinds, Buchla synthesizers, cimbalom, hammer dulcimer, Wurlitzer, even the glass armonica.  The result, I hope, works as functional “wallpaper music,” but that it also rewards more concentrated listening.

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The “market” for this kind of music is very small, I know.  But I hope that at least some of the people who’ve trusted me with their ears to explore post-post-punk, thick ambient, and super-minimal song form over the years might find something that moves them here.  I’m selling the 2-CD sets for $6 plus shipping costs, which is the cost to me (covering professional manufacturing, plus Bandcamp cut, Paypal’s fees, and taxes), plus one dollar to assist those doing work on the ground for racial and social justice.  Anything anyone might choose to pay over that $6 will also support those just causes.  If you are short on cash at the moment but find you connect with the music, just reach out and I’ll make sure you get a copy.

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All to say, this is perhaps a mid-life folly, or call it “a labor of love,” an offering to anyone who might find a bit of meaning in it.    Thank you for listening, and for entrusting me with your time and your ears in this new way!

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