Selcouth/Sysiphian
Track Listing
Selcouth/Sysiphian was the first release for the project I titled Our Twilight Pastime. It was recorded in the beginning of 2004 and “released” that summer. I put quotation marks around “released,” since it was made entirely on my digital 8-track, and only two copies were ever burnt on my computer.
If you download these tracks and listen to them, you’ll notice an obvious difference between any following release under the name Our Twilight Pastime. In truth, they sound more like Special 99—a project headed by my good friend Chris and myself: half the tracks are instrumental, and they’re all layered, somewhat melancholy compositions. I made a lot of odd decisions on this EP. I decided to name the third track “The Silent Truth” in French (which I don’t speak at all), the last track is mostly looped samples (recorded by me) that eventually go out of sync in what comes across as a failed attempt to emulate Steve Reich (a thought process that could only be explained as a combination of a too-artsy-moment and naivety). Still though, I like the final scream in Selcouth/Sysiphian.
Even with all that said, I still do enjoy specific parts of this release. My cousin, the filmmaker Mike Notarile, used segments in a short film of his titled Internal Beat. It’s also a part of Our Twilight Pastime’s history, even if it sounds nothing like it. And, if it weren’t for track six, I probably would have named the EP Our Twilight Pastime and called my project Shadow Art.
So, download, and enjoy! Oh, and tracks one, two, and five weren’t always untitled: I just forgot their names and never wrote them down. Woops.
All tracks written, recorded, and performed by Mike Goldense
The spoken word in track five was written by Adam Mancuso, performed by Mike Goldense
Copyright 2004, Mike Goldense.