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Pax Texiana

by Ringo

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TheSlowMusicMovement
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TheSlowMusicMovement The ambient folk & minimal Americana of Ringo's ode to his old ways & self built Texan ranch that he's about to leave behind, are a joy. It's a remarkably philosophical, understandably bittersweet, affair. Happy memories, future dreams, uncertainty, excitement & thoughts on self & place collide; the musings expressed in succinct country hill dwelling fashion with subtly electronic augmentation, minimal, deeply emotive finger picking & rather like life, the odd surprising moment.
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  • Full Digital Discography

    32
    releases

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    Includes unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app, plus high-quality downloads of Pax Texiana, Undergrowth, Young Attendant, Astronomical Winter, Moving Backwards, Simple Air, Layers Volume Two, Layers Volume One, and 24 more. , and , .

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1.
Signal Wrath 04:09
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2.
Sick Sick Sick 04:53
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3.
Elk River Blues 03:43
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4.
Earthwide 05:13
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5.
Rara Aves 03:00
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6.
Green River March 02:26
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7.
Reverse Kill 06:40
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8.
Outer Native 03:02
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9.
Cumberland Gap 03:34
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about

STRATA30

-

I'm really pleased to welcome Ringo back to the fold. I like to think that I don't buy into numerical nonsense, but I guess maybe I do because his last album, Monocarpic, was Geology's 15th release, and this one is the label's 30th. That's nice.

I have a lot of thoughts on this album, but Ringo's own notes that he was kind enough to share are much more interesting. Enjoy.

ARTIST'S NOTES:

I feel like this record existed before I played a single note of it, before a single song was recorded. Each of these songs materialized with what feels to me like a native identity and purpose, which in turn suggests that maybe they had a previous, though unknown, uncoupled, and remote tenure.

While It is almost automatic now I suppose to evoke “mystery" when discussing the song writing process, there's really no other sufficient way to describe it. I think it is fair to shrug the shoulders in response to any origin questions (this holds true for most things i believe), it is not to be smug or deflective, its just when you are being honest about ‘where the song came from’ one has to simply acknowledge that our materialist vocabulary is simply incapable of identifying the mechanisms at play. But this isn't a manifesto. This is a story of the record, but one without a beginning.

It had been several years since the last record, Monocarpic, and from the very day that that record was finished, I had my heart set on another piece. A follow-up record was recorded, with all the pain and obsessive work incumbent of that undertaking. However, the final product was restive and ultimately failed to capture my heart. But like all failures, it was a good teacher. I would set about to rebuild the sunken ship. Preparing myself to re-record the record, a studio was arranged in an empty house I built on the property, and my wife relieved me of all my ranch responsibilities. I had time, inspiration, and a plan. From the jump it was obvious however that the plan was short sighted. I knew immediately, from the moment I hit record, but not a moment sooner, that I was starting over.

This is one aspect of recording solo that is so dynamic. Imagine going into a studio with a band and saying, ‘forget everything we thought we were going to do’. It is liberating to throw it all away, to be able to follow every little shred of inspiration, every experimental hunch, to drop everything, follow every little whim without having to worry about a collaborators patience, ego, money, or time. There is not a single concession on this record, everything you hear is honest.. It's not perfect, but it is sincere.

While I have historically worked from a central theme and created songs around that, I suddenly had nothing. Having an underlying concept to work off of helps me focus on a cohesive arch of both sound and textures. Having initially entered the sessions thinking I was going to write a totally different record, I was suddenly without a narrative. I panicked, briefly, took a deep breath and moved on. In a very real way I felt as much as a witness as I did a creator. These songs came unannounced and with purpose and I felt I just needed to be patient, open, and focused and that the reason for the record would eventually emerge.

It wasn't until the record was near completion that I felt I had an interpretation, loose as it might be. It seemed to me that these were love songs to my home and meditations on what it meant to be leaving it. My wife and I had been talking of moving for some time,and had recently committed to a timeline. So forefront in my mind were the colliding complexities of loss and change, fear and excitement, anxiety and purpose. Pax Texiana reflects a tight timeline where I've lived out in the hill country of texas, built the house I was recording in, and been blessed with years of relative peace, functional stability, and genuine happiness. These songs mark this time.

While the original songs are themes of reflection, the songs of the Elk River and Cumberland Gap refer to the direction in which a new life is dreamed. A quick word on the Green River March; I learned this off of Joseph Decosimo's beautiful record, The Aluminum Wonder. His version, based on what he had learned from a source that traces it back to The Trail of Tears, is much quicker. I wanted a slower version to bring out the inherent sorrow of both that time and the melody that I believe captures it.

Significantly this record is tuned to the non-standard 432hz. Personally, I feel like this frequency, which is used often in meditative music, feels very different. It is something in my bones.

credits

released January 12, 2024

Written, performed, recorded and mixed
By Ringo near Wimberley, TX in Fall of 2022

All songs by Ringo except:
Green River March (traditional)
Cumberland Gap (traditional)
Elk River Blues (Ernie Carpenter)

Mastered by Patrick Klem
Design and layout by Jon Augustine

Ringo's Bandcamp page: ringo-x-music.bandcamp.com

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Geology Records Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Wisconsin label with a wandering focus releasing cassettes in small runs.

Est. 2013

Currently not accepting demos.

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