Music for Films Edited by Moths

Kramer reactivated his influential Shimmy Disc label in 2020, as a partnership with Joyful Noise Recordings, who named him their Artist-in-Residence for the year. He worked on numerous projects, all of which were collected as a limited vinyl box set titled Make Art, Make Love, Die, which surfaced near the end of 2021. Aside from the 2020-issued LP by Let It Come Down (Kramers collaboration with British singer Xan Tyler) and two solo albums that also saw individual release (poetic adaptations Words & Music, Book One and a set of original songs titled And the Wind Blew It All Away), the set included two records of experimental pieces, inaugurating the artists "Cinema Series." Music for Films Edited by Moths was given a stand-alone release in 2022. Citing the surreal films of David Lynch and the Brothers Quay and the music of composers like Morton Feldman and Terry Riley as influences, Kramer created a series of brief audio scenes to match images in his head. Ghostly voices are sometimes present, but never at the center of the pieces, which often consist of ethereal waves that seem to blend several stringed and electronic instruments together. "Stars Will Die Tonight" has lightly flickering, pulsating melodies, pizzicato strings, and eerie reverberations of canned laughter and applause. "Requiem for Max" is more of a reflective, Harold Budd-esque piece, with Kramers signature reverb enhancing plaintive piano melodies. "Burial at Sea" is also piano-based, but much spacier and more hypnotic, gradually making a slow-motion descent into a dark, haunted mental chamber. "Ladder to the Moon" is a gently psychedelic indie rock instrumental, with sparse drum machine beats loosely framing the warm guitar melodies and reversed textures. "Dreams We Never Dreamed" accompanies glistening organ and almost dark-exotica vibes with softly trudging, clapping beats. "Or Perhaps You Imagined It All" is the most overtly synth-centric piece, with weightless arpeggios expressing a curious sense of hope. ~ Paul Simpson