Balmorhea - Inscape

It’s an unusual brief to write a single piece of music unrelated to a larger context. Initially it felt like flying blind, but as we started thinking deeper we realized there was indeed a larger factor present; the shared musical sensibilities of a generous and thriving community. We found ourselves asking: What will our choices say about us? Should it be a departure? Will our music work together to set up a dialogue that draws people into a larger conversation? Partially, it was not knowing the answers to these questions that made the project feel so alive.

Ask any musician to talk about the artists that inspire them and you may get an eye roll. In some ways, inspiration is all there is—it’s too all encompassing to know where to begin. We have asked two artists to join us that have deeply imprinted on us in specific ways: Rachel Grimes,
from the Louisville-based instrumental group Rachel’s, made us aware of so many creative freedoms, as young musicians yearning to explore quiet and grand, genre-bending spaces. Now a close friend; Takeshi Nishimoto was a mysterious figure to us for more than a decade through his captivating guitar recordings that bristle with life and innovation.

We titled our track “Inscape,” referencing a concept from poet Gerard Manley Hopkins, who described the term as the intrinsic beauty, essence, or identity embodied within any given thing. It serves as a fitting corollary to a piece of music conceived blindly in relation to a larger whole.

Most of what we have as artists belong to others; both in what came before and in what that work points towards within us. We are thrilled to be a part of Across the Horizon. It gives shape to this community of music and will hopefully provide a light to our collective path forward.