Working only with a cowbell from a charity shop in NYC, percussionist Sean Meehan, whose performances often take place in locations of unique resonant properties, discovered the Fort Jay powder magazine at Governor's Island--a compartment once used to store ammunition and explosives--using its sonic properties to capture these two recordings reflecting the original purpose of that space.
Format: CD Condition: New Released: 2022 Country: Germany Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold Recorded in the powder magazine of Fort Jay, Governors Island, New York, on October 23rd, 2019. Mastered by Giuseppe Ielasi.
"Magazine is a new work for solo cowbell by Sean Meehan. It began with the serendipitous purchase of a small cowbell from the bric-a-brac section of a charity shop, and was composed initially on walks in the city and country, as the bell was an easy companion.
As the piece was beginning to take form Meehan was visiting Governors Island, off of the southern tip of Manhattan. There he happened upon the powder magazine of Fort Jay and began finishing the piece over returned visits. The powder magazine is an underground vault and therefore very quiet (rare in New York City). It is also entirely made of stone, has an arched ceiling and no parallel surfaces, so it is live and responsive but with a quick decay. Ideal conditions for recording an entirely staccato work.
Just as the acoustics of the space began to inform the piece, so did thoughts of the room's history and purpose, its modern day equivalents, and their mutual futility. Though not originally intended (or desired), these ideas became inseparable from the work for Meehan."-Sacred Realism