A Trick of Light

End of Winter

This song came at the end of the writing process for this album and it fit naturally at the beginning. I played it for Lily and she told me it sounded like ice melting, like winter coming to an end.

Threaded Pearls

The title comes from a lyric in a Cat Stevens song, referring to the wisdom of the divine. For me it’s about beauty, like a lot of things. A weaving of information and love.

The Ferryman’s Daughter (Danni’s Song)

Behind the thousand watts of sunshine lies wit and intelligence and as we became friends our support for each other’s projects bloomed. She closed a concert with me, a fun and beautiful encore. After I got home and stowed the gear I sat down with a guitar and this piece just kind of came through.

Christopher’s Promise

I wrote this piece in 2005 as part of a demo I sent to Will Ackerman for the work we did on Forgiving Dreams. I didn’t make it onto that collection but it’s remained a favorite of mine and its tempo and energy fit well here.

A Trick of Light

This was the first of the classical guitar pieces in the new style. The title operates on a couple of levels. Our experience, our reality, is so much perception. The light is in opening ourselves to see. The late guitarist Paco de Lucia, whose music inspired this set, chose a stage name based on his mother’s - Lucia. It means Light.

Wailua River Morning

I wrote this song at sunrise sitting on a log at Lydgate Park, at the mouth of Wailua river, on the island of Kauai. The property, protected as a state park, is holy and royal land, a site of worship, refuge, and birth.

The Angels’ Share (for Ash)

In the winemaking process the part that evaporates from the oak barrel is considered to have been gifted to the guardian angels watching over the aging process. We share a love of wine and conversation and, after nine years, I can no longer imagine a time without the comfort of her calm voice and company.

Trajectory

I was just fooling around with this one. It’s a confident space, a little different for me, and I liked the energy.

Chase

I wrote this piece on Vicoden. It’s supposed to be a depressant but the dose lasts for four hours and in the middle of it there’s a burst of energy. When it left my bloodstream I came over sad and blue. I got completely off it as quickly as possible. I’m ok now, and I have three plates and eleven screws holding my ankle together.

Calliope

My father loved organs and accordions, Leslie speakers, anything musical that made a loud and glorious noise. WIth this one I was trying to convey the strange flow and mechanical sound of a steam powered organ.

A Long Farewell

Caring for someone with Alzheimers is long periods of boredom punctuated by stressful episodes of excitement. Cruel disease.

Amadeo’s Lullaby

This one is for me. My middle name is Amadeo, a contraction of two Latin words meaning “To love,” and “God.” I was just trying to create something beautiful, and it comforts me.

Thanks

To Corin Nelsen for being my engineer, mentor, sounding board, and musical guardian angel through five albums. To Will Ackerman for believing in me in the first place. To my beloved Ash for inspiring so much music, thought, and for being the voice of reason, laughter, and love, so many times. To Tea Mars for remaining the Unbroken center. To Danni for the sunshine. To Bill Binkelman, RJ Lannan, Ben Dugas and Daryl Portier for furthering the cause of our weird little genre. To Adam Werner, Chris Yeaton, Heidi Breyer, Mike Wall, Rocky Fretz, and the rest of the family at Many Miles Music for letting me be part of something bigger. To David Haxton, Mark Stanley, and Raymond Rapozzo, and the team at Kiwaya Japan, for making my beautiful instruments. And, finally, to my beloved Lily, the artist and author L.A. Smith, for helping me build the creative home that all of this work springs from.

Praise Corin.

Damon Buxton
June 27th, 2015
Seattle Washington

Recorded at The Yellow House, Seattle Washington. Engineered, mixed and mastered by Grammy® Award-winning engineer Corin Nelsen at SynchroSonic Productions

All songs written, arranged, and performed by Damon Buxton

All songs ©(p) 2015 Damon Buxton and published by Many Miles Music (BMI)

Model Ash. Cover photo by Will Buxton.

Photos of Damon by L.A. Smith. Photos of Ash by Damon Buxton.

Guitars by David Haxton and Mark Stanley.

Damon Buxton plays exclusively Hannabach strings.

PRAISE CORIN