The vinyl release of Sketches of Crosstown is limited to 200 hand-numbered 180g copies inside a beautiful full color Gatefold sleeve. Order yours today! I have long been fascinated with the way Space and Sound can influence one another. In particular, the way a location (be it a cave, a forest, or a building) quite literally shapes the sounds that are created in their vicinity. I have spent years exploring sounds within natural environments as is documented on my 2011 album Wisp. But what I was really looking for now was a way to explore sounds within the context of architecture. Many artists have explored this territory, and there are some great albums available that truly express architecture through music. In my opinion, three of the finest examples of this expression are Paul Horn’s Inside (Taj Mahal), Eugene Friesen’s Sono Miho, and Michel Godard’s Castel del Monte. In each of these albums the artist had the opportunity to experiment and collaborate with a particular building through the medium of music. These thoughts were in the back of my mind when I first entered the Sears Crosstown building in 2011. At the time I was mostly excited to finally enter this mythical building of my hometown. Having grown up in Memphis, TN, the Crosstown building was an icon that I watched (albeit not consciously) slowly deteriorate from a vibrant distribution hub of the region into a forgotten and overlooked ghostly shell. Within minutes of entering the building, I realized that I had found not only a haunting, stark space, but also one that was crying out for musical expression. While inside the building, I put a shakuhachi (Japanese bamboo flute) to my lips and gently blew the first note of many that I would play within this wonderful building. As I stopped playing, I listened to the building play the note back to me for a full seven seconds. In those seven seconds, I knew that I had found a building that I would experiment and collaborate with through the medium of music... --Sean Murphy, September 2013 When Sean asked me to help him record this album in the long-abandoned Sears Crosstown building in Memphis, I was deeply honored and jumped at the chance. I have admired his work not only as a talented player and maker of traditional and indigenous instruments, but also for his dedication to exploring the hidden layers of sound just under the edges of what our ears can hear. Like Sean, I have been fascinated with mining the rich territory of what is often missed in the recording and mixing process. The huge open spaces within its million-plus square feet of volume made Sears Crosstown the ultimate echo chamber. This presented challenges that we welcomed for the rareness of having such an opportunity. Where on earth is there a recording studio of this scale? We found that stories five through seven provided optimal resonance for the sound quality Sean was seeking. Often, we were lucky to time our sessions just after a rain to include the cadence of dripping water. Car horns and Doppler traffic sounds found their way into takes with synchronistic precision. Collaborators Jim Spake and Jason Northcutt brought even more depth to the improvisational evolution of these recordings. Jim’s sax filled every corner of those giant floors. And it was worth every step to the top of the tower to capture a danceable duet of Jason’s frame drum and Sean’s tuba resonating off the giant tank that once fed the water sprinklers. Fortunately, projects such as this breathed life back into the decades-empty building. The building has been spared demolition, and soon, Sears Crosstown will be embraced by a new generation as its full renovation gets underway. I am grateful that we seized a window in time to discover what is audibly possible in the temporary spaces that might be forgotten or abandoned. There is always potential for healing in such sound and silence. --Mary Jane Adams, August 2013 Performers and Instrumentation: Sean Murphy | alto kalimba, shakuhachi, gong, Mississippi bass harp, Native American flute, agave didjeridu, tuba, 8-hole bansuri, ocean drum, frame drums, metal singing bowls Jim Spake | tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone Jason Northcutt | mizhar, frame drums, ghaval Mary Jane Adams | crystal singing bowls Matteo Servente | ocean drum