Austin-based experimental and classical cellist Randall Holt will re-issue his solo LP Inside the Kingdom of Splendor and Madness on April 20th via Self-Sabotage Records. Originally put out digitally in 2016, this re-issue on cassette and compact disc marks the first physical release for the album. Holt is a member of the improvisational group Knest (with Thor Harris and Jonathan Horne), as well as Horne+Holt, and he has also played in Reverend Glasseye and collaborated with artists like Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Yann Tiersen, Eric McFadden Trio and the jazz composer Adam Rudolph. The cellist recorded his solo LP with Chico Jones at Ohm Recording Facility in Austin, TX using a live-looping set-up – much in the same way as he would perform live. We recently had a chance to communicate with the musician via email, and Holt took time to discuss his compositional and recording methods, the difficulties of putting out a solo record, and the inspiration behind it, before touching upon his upcoming musical ventures for 2018.
LETV: Hello Randall. Congratulations on the upcoming physical release of Inside The Kingdom of Splendor and Madness. After having put out the solo LP digitally in 2016, I bet it’s a rewarding experience to finally have the work available on cassette and CD. You recently retweeted a very interesting quote from the cellist Zoe Keating in which she said: “I’ve been saying this for years: the economy of streaming favors pop music. For the rest of us? We rely on the sale of our music, on concerts, on licensing, on commissions, on direct-to-fan platforms…” I’m curious how the physical release of your album came about and whether your experience as a musician is similar in any way to the sentiment expressed by Keating?
RH: Hello Live Eye Tv! Thanks for taking the time to ask me a few questions. Yes, it’s very exciting to have the album get a physical release. While it’s had some traction on digital platforms, I’m very much looking forward to having physical copies available for everyone.
Zoe Keating has been an inspiration for many musicians and is very savvy about the technology/music correlation. These days, it’s become very apparent that to be a musician you have to rely on not only technology, which serves best as an avenue to spread your music to the largest audience, but also on the things listed. I believe live performance is our greatest tool, the way to best communicate your passion and artistic self to your fans. Having something physical to walk away from that experience with is still important. I’m glad that my friends at Self-Sabotage Records also feel this way, and so here we are!
LETV: Inside The Kingdom of Splendor and Madness is an extraordinary listening experience–especially in light of the fact that it is a solo effort. Before we get into some of the “nuts and bolts” of recording an album like this, I’d love to hear more about your composing process. Can you touch upon what was it like writing a solo record?
RH: I’ve been playing cello for twenty years now, in many different environments. As I’ve grown and interacted with all sorts of different musicians along the way, you always can take something from each rehearsal, each genre – whether it be a classical symphony, playing with experimental jazz musicians, or sitting in on a psych-rock session – each of these experiences along the way helps you to find your own voice. I like to believe that everyone plays the music that they most want to hear, and if they can’t find it elsewhere, then they create it. A lot of my composing process for the last decade has come largely influenced by technology and what one can do as a solo cellist. I work largely in dramatic spurts – I won’t write anything new for months, and then compose structures for two or three pieces in a couple of hours. That being said, some of these pieces have been around in some form or another for several years. Pulling them apart and putting them back together again for this album was a very exhausting experience – mostly done through a weekly residency I held for close to a year here in East Austin before going into recording. I really got to tweak each aspect in a live environment during this time.
LETV: While working on the album you revealed via Instagram…”I am “terrified” to record this next album — solo — “Inside the Kingdom of Splendor and Madness” — those of you who know what it’s like to put yourselves out there, you know. I embrace this feeling of terror.” Can you talk about some of the “fears” that you experienced in recording your album and how they might have impacted your creative process?
RH: I hadn’t recorded a solo album in about seven years, and this was the first one that I knew I was going to do “right” – label support, a great engineer and studio, a good amount of life lived and processed through between those times, and as always, a very solid dose of myself involved in each piece. I play instrumental music, which on one hand is freedom from lyrics, but on the other displays parts of my innermost self to, basically, strangers. Playing cello has always been a tool to help process my thoughts and emotions, from early childhood and still now. It isn’t uncommon to find myself in the middle of writing a new piece and tear up because it’s such a release, bewildered as I am at the sounds coming through my cello and gear. It’s a terrifying aspect of life to realize that someone might see you for the imperfect person you are, and are proud of, but still human. I hope that part of this communicates through the instrumental nature of my music. I believe it does.
LETV: You recorded Inside The Kingdom of Splendor and Madness at at Ohm Recording Facility in Austin, TX with Chico Jones. It looks like the studio is a real labor of love for the engineer. I was intrigued to learn that he has outfitted the studio walls with all kinds of pieces of found wood as a way of enhancing the sound. How did you choose this studio and engineer? Had you worked with Jones before and what was it like working with him on this album?
RH: Chico and I met briefly back in 2009, or so, when I was doing a joke Christmas album with a bunch of friends at his studio – OHM Recording Facility (he’s since moved to a new location) – and reconnected a short few years later. We became fast friends then. He was somewhat familiar with my music, solo and with other groups, but understood quickly my vision for what I wanted out of his space and his expertise – a solo live-looping cellist recording exactly how he performs on stage. No pre-recorded samples, build each loop live, highlight both the acoustic sounds of the cello (we had fifteen different microphones in the huge live room alone, just drawing out the dynamics of the cello itself before passing through pedals and amps) and the gear in the isolation chamber. The thing I love most about recording with Chico is how -exacting- he is. He won’t let me settle for fumbled rhythms once he knows what I’m aiming for, or he’ll stop me and say I’m pitching out of tune. Some things you just have to live with, but he won’t let you walk away unhappy with yourself. An extremely humbling but rewarding experience – and we will be working together on the next solo album (One Thousand Pillars) later this year!
“I try to mimic how I perform live, which means each piece starts with a single loop and then builds from there. There is an aspect of improvisation to my solo music as well – while the loops are my “building blocks” and are fully composed as the standard motifs of each composition, the improv lies in how I get from loop to loop.”
LETV: Are there more challenges to recording a solo record like Inside The Kingdom of Splendor and Madness, and how different was the process than working in a group setting like with your cohorts in Knest (Thor Harris and Jonathan Horne)? How did you go about tracking the album, and how long did the recording process take?
RH: My friends in Knest are some of the most amazing and thoughtful musicians I’ve had the pleasure to perform and record with – and with us, it’s all improv. Essentially, press record and then we’re off. For my solo pieces, the recording is slightly more exacting because of the live-loop aspect. I try to mimic how I perform live, which means each piece starts with a single loop and then builds from there. There is an aspect of improvisation to my solo music as well – while the loops are my “building blocks” and are fully composed as the standard motifs of each composition, the improv lies in how I get from loop to loop. It allows for exploration, feeling, and the ability to correct an errant loop should one occur. In recording, I just do take after take until I’m satisfied with the end result, and also that Chico is happy with it as well. I try to only spend three days on most recordings – two days to track, one day to mix. Not including mastering, etc (but that’s always done by Jerry Tubb at Terra Nova Digital Audio and Mastering here in Austin, takes me about 6-9 hours or so).
LETV: Inside The Kingdom of Splendor and Madness is a very poetically evocative title. Did you have this title in mind while composing the work or was it something you arrived at later? Are there any insights you might provide as to the title’s meaning and how it shaped the work – or reflected the shape of the work? For me, it conjures a notion of Buddhist “Mind,” but also could reflect political and social conditions in the US. How about a title like “Revolution Weariness” or “Labyrinths (and other writings)“–might that reference the Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges?
RH: Ha, well, I’m a huge fan of Miyazaki’s films…and right around the same time as I was getting tracks together and thinking about recording, the documentary “Inside the Kingdom of Dreams and Madness” came out about Studio Ghibli. I was so mad – that was the perfect album title! I struggled with a few (albeit horrible) spins on that title, until friends encouraged me to settle on Inside the Kingdom of Splendor and Madness. As for the track titles themselves, all except “What Hope..” are based off some of my favorite authors. Chapter titles, short story titles, clips of favorite passages…Yes, you’re correct about the Borges – but also Hesse, Nabokov, and John Barth. I believe that the external conflict of the world at large also has an impact on us as individuals, and I choose to explore my own meanderings through reading, writing, and composing music.
LETV: I noticed that in addition to being a musician your also a chef! Is there an overlap for you between cooking and art (or music in particular), and how does this work support your creative efforts?
RH: Yes, currently I’m Chef de Partie at Emmer and Rye here in town. I’ve been cooking for almost as long as I’ve been playing cello! Interestingly enough, a large group of coworkers came to my last show and had some comments about this correlation of cooking and music/art – they understood how I’m able to easily multitask, what with all the pedals and everything. It’s all repetition, muscle memory, and dancing. I choose to cook because it’s my passion other than music – both feeding people in a way, you know?
LETV: Obviously, Austin is known as being quite a music town with SXSW being held there each year, and is also known for it’s more progressive politics–especially considering how conservative other areas of Texas can be. Is Austin also supportive of more experimental forms of music, and what is it like being a musician there?
RH: Totally. Austin has a great experimental music scene, though I wouldn’t say it’s necessarily because it’s a politically-progressive town. I think it has more to do with the difficulty of being a niche genre, and the folks here work hard to produce quality shows and content. When it all boils down, that’s what it’s about. Of course, everyone here is a musician, but that’s great! Welcome to Austin.
LETV: What’s next for you musically? Do you have more solo work in the future or more work with Knest, or Horne+Holt, coming up? How about live performances?
RH: Well, yes, there’s a lot. I already mentioned that Chico Jones would be working with me on my next solo album, One Thousand Pillars. Also, Horne+Holt are finally releasing their album from 2013, WIRES, on Self-Sabotage Records as well. We recorded that at Hotel2Tango in Montreal with Efrim Menuck engineering. We’re planning on recording our second album later this year with some surprise guests. Also, KNEST will be having a physical release of Honorary Bachelor’s of Arts this year as well. Keep tuned, there’s a lot more!
