Skip Distance

Skip Distance is a new film by local filmmakers Josh Comninellis and Mallory Edson. The film features my song, "Lullaby" performed by myself and Kristin Hamilton of Under the Big Oak Tree. It will premier at the Plaza 8 in St. Joe May 23rd and then make the festival rounds. 

The St. Joe News-Press is featuring a new live Still Lost Bird Music video every week of August. Check it out HERE.

The Things My Friends Did

Check out this thoughtful write-up by my friend Danny Mee: AUGUST.

Check out the new episode of Art Beat featuring me talking about AUGUST with my friend, the show's host, Stacey Park!

AUGUST featured on St. Joe Live and Podcast

Check out the excellent article and listen here: Listen local - St. Joe Live News Story - St. Joseph . 

"One of the best albums of 2011."

So sayeth Dave Archibald, he of DaveArchie's Music Blog. Read the full story HERE.

ART BEAT

Yesterday I taped a segment about AUGUST for Art Beat, the MWSU-produced show hosted by my friend Stacey Park. I showed her (and cinematographer Tara Stoll) my studio and we chatted about the process of making the album. It should air in a few weeks on a rotating basis. Watch for it in St. Joe and Kansas City on Channels 97 and 39, respectively, and on the website too!

SLBM recommended to Paul Krugman; interweb quakes with excitment

Nobel Prize-winning economist, NYTimes columnist, and Arcade Fire fan Paul Krugman recently solicited music recommendations from his readers. Apparently someone recommended yours truly and the recommendation was noted in this blog. Blogger Glenn Peoples of Billboard.biz writes:

The best recommendations - and there are many - offer some context to better explain why Krugman should listen to that band over the dozens of other bands suggested. Some contain a high degree of personalization. Describing The National's "Bloodbuzz Ohio" as a "good (loosely) economics themed song," or noting that Still Lost Bird Music is "a MacDowell fellow and a PhD in Composition from U Chicago" are probably good ways to get Krugman's attention. Other helpful suggestions included links to videos, which makes it easy to access the band's music.

Guest Appearance on Central Standard

I had a great time chatting with host Jabulani Leffall on this morning's Central Standard on KCUR 89.3 FM — Kansas City's NPR station. Hear it as a podcast HERE.

Monday on Central Standard

Monday morning (8/29) I'll be on Central Standard (KCUR 89.3 FM) playing a couple tunes from the new album (with my buddy Matt Corder) and chatting about love songs with host, Jabulani Leffall. Listen in!

Stream Still Lost Bird's August - album out today

AUGUST featured on Pitch.com, the Kansas City independent cultural paper/blog.

Stream Still Lost Bird's August - album out today

AND Keep St. Joe Weird!

AUGUST out Today!

As most of you know, the new album, August, by my rock music project, Still Lost Bird Music, hits the web today! It's available on iTunes and pretty much everywhere else on the internet. Check it out, let me know what you think, tell your fwends, and let me know if you know someone else whom I should let know about this. Here's some info on the album and the important links.


Still Lost Bird Music home page: www.stilllostbirdmusic.com
Preview the album here: http://stilllostbirdmusic.bandcamp.com/album/august?permalink
Buy the album here: iTunes link or Amazon link



About Still Lost Bird Music

Still Lost Bird Music is the pet project of Simon Fink. Its latest creation is August, a concept album of mostly acoustic songs based on poems by various authors, forthcoming on DashGo Records. Sargent Egyptian Girl, SLBM’s first album, was released in 2008 (also on DashGo). The single “Chocolate Heart” was featured on the app/game Tap Tap Revenge.


About AUGUST

August is a cycle of love songs that are based on poems by various authors from various eras including Dunbar, Pound, Teasdale, Wylie, and Yeats. In classical concert music composers do this kind of thing all the time—that is, take previously written poetry and set it to music for voice and accompaniment—and have for centuries. It felt natural to me to carry the practice into the context of the rock album and, in this case, into a sound world especially steeped in the traditions of American folk music. I chose these poems first because they really spoke to me, but also because they were in the public domain. Most of them are about love, the loss of it, and the memory of it. (Special thanks to Jeff Kerr for co-producing the album.)

—Simon Fink

Wild Peaches Vid

Check out the awesome new "Wild Peaches" video that Becky shot and edited for me! The country scenes were shot out at the Weston Red Barn Farm. The tart uses a David Lebovitz French dough recipe. Enjoy!

August, the new Still Lost Bird Music album, drops in two days, 8/23/11.

Has AUGUST leaked in Poland???

I got a Google Alert the other day directing me to a random Polish (at least I think it's Polish) video on youtube featuring a tune from the new Still Lost Bird Music album. Since the album's not due out until next week, I thought maybe it had leaked somewhere. Turns out my label has just got a jump-start on promotion by featuring the tunes on Youtube Editor. 

Here's the video in question. It sets the song "Intrigue" to a beautiful shot of the ocean.


I'm flattered to report that there are actually hundreds of SLBM fan vids using songs from the previous album. It's so fun to see people use my music in creative and funny ways. Here are a few of my current favs. (I'll have to post some more in the future too.)

This one uses "Wet Paint" to demo their trimmed brush invention.


This dance group choreographed "French Lessons"!


This girl "walks like an Egyptian" to "Sargent Egyptian Girl":


Finally, this video re-enacts "Nobody's There (Seed of Doubt)" with Bratz dolls:



The new Still Lost Bird Music album, August, comes out next week! Stay tuned.

AUGUST Preview — A Garden by the Sea

This track has a killer harmonica solo at the end by my friend Pedro "Chili" Squella. Pedro lives here in St. Joe and plays blues with a few groups. I first saw him play at Magoon's with Bugsy Maugh's band — Bugsy was actually the guitar player in Janis Joplin's band when she played at Woodstock! — and I was blown away. I think his solo takes the track to a new level. I'm so glad he agreed to do it! (Pedro and his wife have completely rehabbed a historic brick home here in St. Joe, and Becky and I actually first met him when the home was on a house tour a little over a year ago. He has a room full of vintage mics and tube amps that he works on. He also fixed up a badass black Cadillac—his "bluesmobile.")


The song is another one about lost love, this time about going back out and seeking that love — out by that murmuring shore — the one past the purple hills of fragrant-less heather, way out there, to where the birds are silent and the flowers are colorless (or maybe contain all the colors at once). Seeking that unforgotten face (that unforgettable face). Seeking within the jaws of death and possibly ending up in the sea...

("A Garden by the Sea" will the the 9th track on the forthcoming Still Lost Bird Music album, August.)