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Archive for paul mercer

Terror Trax: Jill Tracy Interview in HorrorAddicts

By jilltracy
Monday, August 22nd, 2016


This interview with Jill Tracy appeared on HorrorAddicts.net August 2016.
Interview by Emerian Rich.
(photo by Audrey Penven)

 

HA: Do you write your own lyrics/where does your inspiration come from?

JT: Yes, I write both the lyrics and music. Although the music always comes first for me. That’s the “way in.” The vocal melody will reveal itself early on, then words begin to emerge. I am a meticulous wordsmith to a fault. Some songs lay frozen in notebooks for years because I was never happy with one particular line. But then the perfect line may come to me, pop in my head, at a random time. The process of letting it go will often bring it back to you.

As far as what inspires—it’s never any one thing specifically; that’s the beauty of it, the sheer randomness. It’s more of a sensory response to the immediate; a word or phrase, an image, a story, a mood, a fragrance, textures, colors, the allure of the unknown, the forbidden, anything that enables me to ‘slip into the cracks.’ It’s a process of being alive in that place, allowing the flame. My music is like a portal, a transport into another realm. When I write, I’m conjuring a magic place, getting out of this world for a while. It’s the grand escape hatch.

 

HA: What singers or bands inspired you growing up?

JT: As far as bands go—most definitely Pink Floyd. They captured that cinematic mood, that dark, mournful beautiful devastation that transported you completely.
Also Led Zeppelin, The Cure, David Bowie, T. Rex, early Elton John, The Doors, Japan, later period Talk Talk, The Pretenders, Gang of 4, Psychedelic Furs, The Cult, Roxy Music, The Who, early Peter Gabriel, old Moody Blues, early Aerosmith and Black Sabbath, ahhh, so many!
It was only after I began performing live that I became acquainted with more of the classical composers, oddly enough because I was always getting compared to them. My very first-ever review in the 1990s (Bay Guardian) described me as “Erik Satie meets The Cure.” And later it was a fan who compared my mysticism to Alexander Scriabin. I am forever honored that my work is resonating with people in that realm.

 

HA: When did you first know you wanted to be a musician and how did you start out?

JT: I have always been drawn to the mysterious— fantastical, otherworldly imagery. Worlds sans-time. I was obsessed with Alfred Hitchcock, Bernard Herrmann, Ray Bradbury, Rod Serling, Jean Cocteau. As a child, I tried to build a time machine in my bedroom closet. I thought one could travel through the shadows. I just wanted to live in those worlds.

I read about time travel, the belief in other dimensions, spirits, ghosts—I would lecture to my stuffed animals about the solar system and constellations. All I wanted to do was to discover or manifest hidden worlds. I knew they existed. My mission was to figure out how to find them.

I began making frequent visits to an elderly widow who lived next door. Her home was encrusted with bric-a-brac, old photos and dolls—porcelain-painted Siamese cats with jewels for eyes. In the basement was an ancient upright piano, covered entirely in beige and gold-flecked paint. It sat next to the washer and dryer, under buzzing fluorescent lights.
There was something atrocious, yet reverent about this thing. It kept calling me. I knew nothing about the instrument, but I kept venturing next door, poised on the golden bench for hours, letting thoughts and spectres rush through my fingertips, as it transported me far away. I didn’t know what I was doing– but didn’t want to do anything else. This became my portal. It still is.

To this day, I don’t read or write music, it’s all intuited.

 

HA: Can you tell us about your Musical Seance work?

JT: I’ve learned to channel music spontaneously via various energy sources, whether found objects, environments, etc. The Musical Séance is a live travelling show, my long-time collaboration with violinist Paul Mercer. It’s a collective summoning driven by beloved objects the audience brings with them. Items of personal significance—such as a photo, talisman, jewelry, toy. This is a very crucial part of manifesting the music. Every object holds its story, its spirit— energy, resonance, impressions from anyone who has ever held the object, to the experiences and emotions passed through it.

These compositions are delicate living things. They materialize, transport, and in the same second— they vanish. That’s the amazing thing about The Musical Seance— you never know what to expect, and each experience is entirely different, extremely emotional, for us, as well as the audience. It creates this rare synergy with everyone in the entire room.

Often, the curiosities themselves are just as compelling as the music they inspire. We’ve encountered everything from cremated cats, dentures, haunted paintings, 16th century swords, antlers, x-rays, gingerbread man, a lock of hair from a drowned boy.

But one thing I’ve learned is––everyone in the world has a story to tell that will break your heart.

SONY DSC
(Photo by Neil Girling)

 

HA: What is “clairaudience?”

JT: It literally translates in “clear-hearing.” As with clairvoyance, which means “clear-vision,” being clairaudient means the ability to hear things not of this world. I have always heard strange unexplained music. Often heavy and harsh, but compellingly exquisite, alluring, complex. I can’t even begin to describe it! It maddens me that there is no way that I could ever harness it to compose or record. It’s beyond anyone’s grasp. For the past few years, I have begun to hear people’s voices talking, it’s usually very urgent and fast, like they need to relay a message. I do believe in simultaneous realms, and that we have the ability to share a frequency, be an antenna, if sometimes only for a second. It’s a mingling of Time.

I’m learning more about harnessing this gift, it plays such a key role in my ability to find hidden musical scores when I compose in unusual locales. I used to be leary of it, but now find it strangely comforting.

 

HA: What non-musical things inspire your music? Is there a place where you go to be inspired?

JT: It’s really about finding the quiet, so I can be fully receptive, like an antenna as I mentioned before. The Soul lives in the silence. You must be able to tune out to to truly tune in.

Unfortunately, these days of on-demand, constant world-at-our-fingertips connection has destroyed our sense of mystery and childlike wonder. That breaks my heart. Monsters, marvels, lore, and legend—these are the things that make us feel most alive. Now there is so much constant NOISE—we think it enriches us, adds something, but really it is soul-stifling. We’ve lost our own identities inside the din.

The Internet is a blessing and a curse. The ease to obtain information and connect with the world is glorious. But at the same time it’s destroying our individuality. Everyone is getting their news/views from the same sources and absurd algorithms, not looking outside, or challenging themselves to think further. We’re trapped in a giant echo chamber. There has never been a greater need to venture outside the cage, to seize our truth and authenticity.
To be an individual now takes a great deal of effort. But so vital!

 

HA: What’s been your favorite achievement so far?

JT: My life’s work is about honoring the mystery…One of my greatest pleasures of late has been immersing myself alone in unusual locations, or a place with a strange story, and composing music as a reaction to that environment. The intense purity and immediacy is so exciting. You are hearing my raw emotional response at the piano.

I’ve found myself conjuring the hidden score in decrepit gardens and cemeteries, on the antique Steinways of the (supposedly haunted) Victoria B.C. 1890 Craigdarroch Castle, an abandoned 1800s San Francisco medical asylum, and the Los Angeles mansion of a 19th century murderer.

The lovely and difficult thing about this work is that I can’t prepare for it, as I never know what to expect. I must allow myself to be completely vulnerable; simply feel, and react. It’s not about me anymore; it’s about the music, the story. It becomes so much bigger than any of us. That’s the beauty of it.

My huge dream-come-true is that I am first musician in history to ever be awarded a grant from Philadelphia’s famed Mütter Museum, to create a series of work inspired by its spellbinding collection of medical oddities. I spent nights alone at a piano amidst the Mütter’s grotesque cabinet of curiosities, which includes the death cast and conjoined liver of original Siamese twins Chang and Eng, the skeleton of the Harry Eastlack “the Ossified Man,” Einstein’s brain, The American Giant, books bound in human skin, and the Mermaid Baby. It was vital for me to be in the presence of these long-lost souls, as I composed and recorded. They become an actual part of the work and not just the subject matter.

The project will include not only a music album based on the Mütter collection, but also an art book and memoir of my chilling experiences inside the museum after dark.
All of my work will be factual. I’m done extensive research at the museum, even utilizing excerpts from letters and doctors’ records. I began this project in 2012, and have become completely swept up in the research!

enumen_jilltracy_ph3 copy
(Jill Tracy composing after-hours inside Philadelphia’s Mütter Museum. Photo by Evil Numen)

 

HA: What was the scariest night of your life?

JT: This is a great question! People always ask me if I got scared inside the Mütter Museum alone in the dark, or if I get frightened when channeling music in a cemetery, asylum, etc. The answer is no. I am completely immersed in that moment— it is a feeling of hyper-realism. Being fully alive. Super-charged.
It’s that same feeling when I’ve acted in classic Grand Guignol plays (famed Paris Horror Theatre 1897-1962.) Letting yourself be completely terrified onstage is a strange, exhilarating catharsis. Screaming at the top of your lungs in front of an audience is profoundly liberating.

I’ve died onstage in many bizarre ways: Torn apart by a savage wolf boy, killed in a violent train crash, leapt off a balcony to my death, hypnotized by a mad scientist, locked in a castle tower with a demon, etc— The underlying thing is you know in your soul, underneath the fake blood and the layers of prosthetics and costumes, that you are going to be okay.

BUT—I have been in some quite scary REAL-LIFE situations. I was in a near plane crash, as the airplane’s brakes went out. We had to prepare for an emergency landing on a foam-covered runway, hoping to slow down the plane. We had to remove all jewelry, belts, sharp objects, hold a pillow over our head, eyes closed, as we bent over our lap awaiting possible impact. I remember passengers screaming and sobbing.

I was also mugged at knifepoint in a New York City subway alone at night. I instinctively ran after the mugger shouting within the empty concrete labyrinth. As I rounded a corner, he grabbed me.
I was almost kidnapped in Paris by a strange man with pink hair and his two accomplices who locked me in the back room of a restaurant.

I have discovered 3 dead bodies in my lifetime, in 3 different situations.
In the midst of this real terror, your brain locks into that fight or flight mode— no time to feel afraid, you just do what you need to to think clearly and get through it!

 

HA: What are your favorite horror movies?

JT: I prefer the chilling, classic psychological horror, over the slasher-gore fest. For me, it’s all about the story, getting drawn in, and the fear of the unknown. (Our imagination is truly the scariest component of it all.) There are many great movies, but these come to mind:
Eyes Without A Face (1960), The Birds (1963), Rosemary’s Baby (1968)—also Mia Farrow in the great lesser-known thriller The Haunting of Julia (1977), Invasion of the Body Snatchers (original 1956), Mad Love (with Peter Lorre 1935), The Sentinel (1977), The Shining (1980).

 

HA: What are you working on now?

JT: I’m currently writing — resuming work on the Mütter Museum book and music project, as well as other new songs. I just began a lovely hibernation from live gigs to focus on creating again. I am also designing what will be a subscription-only series called The Noctuary (inspired by my love and lore of the Night,) which will feature exclusive music, videos, stories, private concerts, behind-the-scenes interviews, and more for subscribers only. I am excited to reveal the details!
Please sign up to my inner email circle at JILLTRACY.com and you’ll be first to be invited to join The Noctuary!

 

enumen_jilltracy_72
(Jill Tracy composing alongside the Hyrtl Skull Collection at Philadelphia’s Mütter Museum. Photo by Evi Numen)

 

HA: What is available now that the listeners can download or buy?

JT: I have 5 full length albums, plus various film scores, and singles, even a Christmas album— my dark classical interpretation of some of the more haunting old carols. Definitely the holiday collection for people who prefer The Dark Season.
As an intro to my work, I would start with albums The Bittersweet Constrain and Diabolical Streak.

 

HA: What is the website they can find it on?

JT: JILLTRACY.com is best.
I offer some exclusive titles on my site unavailable on iTunes, Amazon, and other corporate shops. Plus no middlemen taking money for nothing.

 

HA: What is the best social media site for listeners to connect with you?

JT: Twitter: https://twitter.com/jilltracymusic
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jilltracymusic
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jilltracymusic/
YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/jilltracymusic
Bandcamp: http://jilltracy.bandcamp.com/

Categories : Albums, books, Concerts, History, Interviews, Memoir, Projects, Uncategorized
Tags : audrey penven, bernard herrmann, Chang and Eng, claireaudience, claireaudient, Dexter, Diabolical Streak, Erik Satie, Harry Eastlack, Hitchcock, horror, horror movies, inspiration, Jean Cocteau, Jill Tracy, medical oddities, musical seance, Mutter Museum, Noctuary, occult, paul mercer, Ray Bradbury, Rod Serling, Scriabin, Seance, shadows, spirits, time travel, Twilight Zone, writing

JILL TRACY Interview in Nocturne Magazine: “On Mystery, Music, and the Mütter Museum”

By jilltracy
Saturday, March 16th, 2013

 

NOTE: This interview was originally printed as a beautiful 6-page spread in New Zealand’s Nocturne Magazine, Issue #5. We are proud to present it online for you here!


JILL TRACY: On Mystery, Music, and the Mütter Museum

by Fiona McKechnie (for Nocturne Magazine, New Zealand)
photo by Audrey Penven

 

Jill Tracy is a conjuror of the enigmatic; a purveyor of the extraordinary and raconteur of dark delights. She weaves her web with delicate soundscapes, seducing us into her parlour with eerie tales, which are sinister, yet captivatingly sweet. A singer, songwriter, composer, performer and all-around creative wonder, Jill has her delicate fingers in many delicious pies!

We found Jill tangled amongst a fury of live performances, recordings and music channeling: freeing herself for a moment to talk with us about some of the many projects she is currently immersed in.

 

Your music conjures such strong impressions of the past, each taking the listener back to a different by-gone era. What do you think it is about the past that is so seductive?

Jill Tracy: My music doesn’t evoke the Past so much as it does a sense of pure Timelessness. Transcendent of Time. That’s what makes it seductive; creating that place––familiar yet oddly intriguing. It resonates on a soulful level, but still maintains an air of the mysterious. That’s the magic music allows —like a trap door or portal, it accompanies us—to a place we never knew existed, but wish to go.

I’m honored to be this gatekeeper of emotions. Throughout my life, I’ve simply followed my own muses. I’ve always just composed the score I hear inside my head. Music from the mind’s eye… To listen to my music is to know me.

I have always been drawn to fantastical, otherworldly imagery. Worlds sans-time. As a child, I was obsessed with Alfred Hitchcock, Bernard Herrmann, Ray Bradbury, Rod Serling, Jean Cocteau. I just wanted to live in those worlds. I still do.
So I did the next best thing: I devoted my life to creating my own musical netherworld.


photo by bleedingvisuals

You’ve performed a number of ‘Musical Séances,’ with violinist Paul Mercer, over the years. At these events attendees bring along objects, trinkets, belongings that remind them of loved ones and you ‘channel’ live music using these possessions. What is it like to speak with the dead through music?

JT: Paul and I never approach it that way. It would be outrageous and in bad taste to claim we are “speaking to the dead through music.” If anything, it’s about honoring the dead, not mocking them, or selling hokum like sideshow hucksters.

The “Musical Séance” is a collective summoning inspired by beloved objects. Quite frankly, it’s more about the present than the past, music channeled from that fragile moment captured among the living. From sentiment to sadness, frivolity and fear. It’s musical psychometry.

Audience members are asked to bring tokens of special significance, such as a photo, talisman, jewelry, toy. This is a very crucial part of manifesting the music. Every object holds its story, its spirit. Energy, resonance, impressions from anyone who has ever held the object, to the experiences and emotions passed through it.

Often, these curiosities themselves are just as compelling as the music they inspire. We’ve encountered everything from cremated cats, dentures, haunted paintings, 16th century swords, antlers, and x-rays.

But one thing I’ve learned is––everyone in the world has a story to tell that will break your heart.

Objects brought to A Musical Seance (photo by Neil Girling theblight.net)

How did this process of channeling music evolve?

JT: My music and live performances have always been so emotionally driven to begin with– I would see people sometimes crying in the front row, or they’d come up to me after a set relating how a particular song got them through a rough time, or helped them find their true path, etc. I’ve realized I’ve become a beacon for so many kindred souls. And that’s very important to me. That genuine direct connection with an audience is such a rarity these days—in a world where entertainment has become vacuous and superficial. We are about as real as it gets.

I wanted the audience to become even more a part of my process, and actually compose pieces in front of them, culled from their energy. It’s a perfect circle. The audience gives to me, and I channel it musically and give it right back, creating a piece that will exist solely for us in those few minutes. It’s the most powerful thing I’ve ever experienced. A musical umbilical cord.

That led me to immersing myself in unusual locations laden with mysterious history, and manifesting music from my reaction to the environment. The intense purity and immediacy is so exciting. You are hearing my raw response at the piano. I call it “spontaneous musical combustion” (as homage to “spontaneous human combustion,” and my affinity for peculiar history and science tales.)
I’ve found myself conjuring the hidden score inside haunted castles, abandoned asylums, decrepit mansions, gardens, and theaters. It’s definitely one of my greatest pleasures right now.

The lovely and difficult thing about this work is that I can’t prepare for it, as I never know what to expect. I must allow myself to be completely vulnerable; simply feel, and react. It’s not about me anymore; it’s about the music, the story. It becomes so much bigger than any of us. That’s the beauty of it.


photo by Audrey Penven

It seems appropriate that you hold these musical séances when your music is so often described as being ‘haunting’ and ‘otherworldly’. Perhaps you are a bit of an apparition yourself?

JT: (laughs) Jello Biafra is quoted as saying “Drop dead original and dark as a drowning pool…I sometimes wonder if Jill Tracy is actually a ghost.”

I’ve been described as a musical sorceress, evocateur, intrigante, woman of mystery, ‘dark Queen of Melancholia,’ ‘femme fatale for the thinking man.’ All of these descriptives I adore. I guess when you feel out-of-sorts with the world, you must create your own.

From spiritualism to alchemy – what fine potions have you been working on by which to enchant us through another of the senses?

JT: I engage such a full-sensory arc in my work. I’ve always wanted to create fragrances to correspond to the music, similar to the way we concoct visuals with each album. Why not engage the olfactory? The sense of smell is directly linked to the limbic system, the part of the brain where emotion and memory are centered!

I’m collaborating with master perfumist Emerson Hart of Nocturne Alchemy. We’ve released two scents: Silver Smoke and Star of Night. I’m addicted to them already and have been wearing them constantly. More to come!

It’s been so exciting and fulfilling to smell these fragrances on different skins, everyone brings their signature to the scent and it changes person-to-person.
Night fragrance for Night music…


photo by Jeremy Carr

You’re currently in the middle of a new project with the Mütter Museum, where you have been invited to create compositions inspired by their collection of medical oddities. How did this come about?

JT: Yes, I’m honored to make history as the first musician to be awarded a grant, which is enabling me to compose music inside the Mütter Museum, a series of compositions directly inspired by pieces in the collection. It was vital for me to be in the presence of these long-lost souls, as I composed and recorded. I needed to immerse myself in their world. There is so much lurking here. This glorious synergy– the collection of souls together from various time periods and walks of life, most who endured extreme and rare medical conditions. I needed to be with them as I composed and make them a real part of the creation. This is my gift to them.

What inspired you to want to compose with the museum as a backdrop?

JT: The Mütter Museum has always been on of my favorite places on earth. When I first visited, I remember vividly standing on the red-carpeted steps leading down to the lower level and hearing the buzz. It was overwhelming. All these people, all these stories, together—yet apart, remembered—yet forgotten. I was swept in a whirlwind of feelings: admiration, pity, fright, shock, respect, repulsion, sadness. I just wanted to sit and listen, to hear their tales, to know them.

As you explore the Hyrtl Skull Collection, for example: Each has a brief story written in meticulous cursive on the side of the skull: Suicide by gunshot wound of the heart because of “weariness of life.” Lovesick teenager, a soldier, a shoemaker, well-known murderer, a tightrope walker who died of a broken neck, a hanged man, and a famous Viennese prostitute. All this life and death shared together in one glass case. It’s phenomenal.

There is such a brave beauty in these souls who had to endure these afflictions. I want to bring them to life through my music—peel away the clinical guise, dwell deeper, find the voices hiding within these walls.

All of my work will be factual. I’m in the throes of extensive research at the museum, even utilizing excerpts from letters and doctors’ records. My goal is to evoke the spirit, set a mood that transports you inside just by listening.


(Hyrtl Skulls, photo courtesy of Concierge.com Philadelphia)

What experiences have you had so far while working within the Mütter Museum?
What is it like to create music in a setting that is normally very sterile and diagnostic?

JT: Well, for many, the study of science and disease is viewed as quite dry and clinical. There exists a strong disconnect with the examination of the disease itself and the dear souls who had to endure these afflictions. The personal saga of these brave patients is not often well documented, nor discussed. I remember as a child being obsessed with old medical textbooks and tomes, and upset that I could never find out more about the people in these books, but merely the disease.

But the Mütter is a different experience. It is indeed a medical teaching museum. But, Dr. Mütter’s entire point for starting the museum was to teach empathy and compassion. There lies in that a tremendous sense of marvel for me.

I want to honor the emotional side, the human experience from the Mutter’s collection. You may read about Harry Eastlack, the ossified man, whose rare disease (FOP) caused his entire body to slowly transform into bone. Young, handsome, vibrant– painstakingly trapped beneath a second skeletal cage. In the end, he could only move his lips. What was he like? How did he cope? What was his day-to-day experience? It’s unfathomable to me. I was thrilled to be able to read through Harry’s private files in the Mütter collection, letters, photos, extensive doctors’ records.

I composed and recorded the work “Bone by Bone” as I sat next to Harry’s famed skeleton. I needed him with me, to truly be part of the song, and not just the subject matter.


(Harry Eastlack’s skeleton, courtesy College of Physicians, Philadelphia)

One of the most moving pieces I’m creating is entitled “My First and Last Time Alone,” about conjoined brothers Chang and Eng Bunker. Most of us know them as the original Siamese Twins, gloriously renowned performers who toured the world (even appeared before presidents and Queen Victoria)—married sisters, fathered 21 children, and employed the use of a “privacy sheet.” But after doing extensive research, I was completely devastated when I read how they died. The song is about that heartbreaking 3-hour period on a cold January night.

I was with Chang and Eng’s actual death cast, and their conjoined liver as I composed the piece. This was one of the most compelling experiences I’ve ever had. Abiding by the twins’ wishes, the liver was never separated, even after death.

How does the musical ‘channelling’ differ from the process you go through when composing (for example, the score for F.W. Murnau’s Nosferatu) and/or writing the songs for your previous albums?

JT: It’s completely the opposite. In the case of film scoring, visuals dictate the music. I’m hanging on the visual, emotional cues–serving them. Channeling music is like jumping off a cliff. I’m not even conscious of it. It’s a visceral reaction to an energy, a sensation.
When I was scoring Nosferatu, I spent so much time in Murnau’s eerie world that the imagery would seep into the present. I remember vividly crossing a busy San Francisco street, looking down and suddenly seeing rats scurrying everywhere in a grainy, chiaroscuro haze.
When writing songs for my own albums, I get to take the reins. That process is much more personal.


(Jill Tracy performing her score to Nosferatu. photo by Jon Bradford)

Is there a famous figure from history you would like to try to connect with through one of their belongings? Anyone you would like to bring forth in a musical séance for your own pleasure?

JT: Wow, what a fantastic question! I can think of so many great ones: Count St. Germain’s velvet cloaks, Nikola Tesla and his beloved white pigeon, Rod Serling- via his Night Gallery paintings. I’d give anything to sit behind John Bonham’s drum kit, or play Richard Wright’s (Pink Floyd) piano.

Have you always been interested in history and its secrets?

JT: For me it was more about the unknown rather than just history stories. I loved asking certain questions and realizing no adult knew the answer. I learned there was a much deeper level that no one seemed to be able or brave enough to tap into.
I was given the book The Mysterious World when I was a child and when I first opened it, there was a picture of spontaneous human combustion. I had never heard of such a thing in my life. There’s that wonderful old photograph of Dr. John Irving Bentley who suddenly burst into flame. There’s a bit of his leg, with his foot still in a slipper, his walker, and cinders everywhere. And I’d read about toads and frogs and blood raining from the sky. Or Count Saint Germain, who was recorded to have lived for hundreds of years. He said his secret to immortality was to eat oatmeal and wear velvet encrusted with gemstones. To this day, no one knows exactly who he was, where he came from and if indeed he was immortal.
Monsters, marvels, lore, and legend—these are the things that make us feel most alive. The most wonderful questions of all are the ones for which there are no answers.


photo by Audrey Penven

At Nocturne Magazine, we ask our readers to suspend disbelief and become curious again. Is this also your hope for the future, that people allow themselves to be seduced by the mystery of life?

JT: Yes, I live to honor the mystery. I need to be a beacon for people, and allow them into the swampy place in their souls where the sinister and sensual meet. Peel away the layers of comfort and convention we hide behind. I find it fascinating to delve into those places and take an audience with me. Allow people to slip into the cracks, pry up the floorboards and search deeply. Believe. Imagine. It’s so important to hold on to that childlike sense of marvel.
Sometimes I feel that magic and the suspension of disbelief is the only thing that matters.

Categories : History, Interviews, Memoir, New Music, Photography, Projects, Uncategorized
Tags : audrey penven, Chang and Eng, clairaudient, claireaudience, film score, Harry Eastlack, Jill Tracy, medical oddities, musical psychometry, musical seance, Mutter Museum, mystery, nocturne alchemy, nosferatu, paul mercer, perfume, photos, Seance, Silent Film, spontaneous musical combustion

Silver Smoke, Star of Night: Tales of the Accidental Album

By jilltracy
Friday, September 14th, 2012

The accidental album, as I have been referring to it these past weeks, was just that. Totally unplanned, never even thought of doing such a thing before, but sometimes the accidentals are by far the most poignant and magical in life. You can’t ignore them. They wish themselves into being. You must always be at the ready.

I found myself late at night out by the ocean, recording antique bells, chimes, old toy parts, mallets, metals, playing the piano with tears in my eyes as the moonlight glistened across the keys.

The accidental album, my dear Malcontents, is called  “Silver Smoke, Star of Night.“ It is a Christmas album.

Inspired for the most part by your enthusiastic pleas on Twitter, after I spoke of singing carols by candlelight last Christmas Eve at San Francisco’s historic Swedenborgian Church. A dear friend was going through rehab, so we were trying to find a distraction from the parties and alcohol— a sign posted a midnight carol sing-along at the church. We had always wanted to peek inside this magnificent structure anyway, might as well take the opportunity tonight.

I had not heard many of these carols in years, was so moved that I couldn’t get some of them out of my head. I began researching more, posted on Twitter of my intrigue. An onslaught of Tweets followed begging me to release an album of these songs.  When chatting with Sam Rosenthal of Projekt Records, I mused “I’m thinking of an album of my interpretation of dark classical Christmas carols.” He said  “Are you kidding? That would be amazing. I’ll release that in a second!”
So the seed was planted. Contracts were signed.

I had just come back from the Mütter Museum in Philadelphia where I began research for my musical excavation project there. I put that on hold (as well as composing songs for my next album) and began working on Christmas music.  I spent evenings through the summer holed up at the piano with bottles of wine, burning frankincense, playing Christmas carols. Truly bizarre and wonderful! This is the holiday album I always wished existed. But I guess it was up to me to make it so.

At the same time, I wanted to create lavishly dark, beautiful music you could listen to at ANY time of year. I’m proud of this collection as it’s in no way limited by the calendar. Happy accidents.

Read more about the making of Silver Smoke, Star of Night in the press release below.

You can pre-order Silver Smoke, Star of Night HERE!

 

The official PRESS RELEASE:
The Making of Silver Smoke, Star of Night


Silver Smoke, Star of Night beckons away from the cheap holiday tinsel and phony cheer to reveal a more evocative, sophisticated undercurrent. This is the season’s Night Music–– Jill Tracy’s glorious realm that lurks within the shadow of Christmas, and will cast you under its spell.

Silver Smoke, Star of Night is Jill Tracy’s lavish, shadowy interpretation of some of the more haunting classic carols.  Emotional, delicate, and textural,  the music was recorded in completely organic, but grand fashion-––from hand-held antique chimes, bells, toys, mallets, bamboo, metals, and drums by master percussionist Randy Odell;  to the mysterious heartfelt strings of cult violinist Paul Mercer.

The space, the breath, the huge dynamics of the recording add to its intensity and filmic aspect. This ambiance was a crucial factor for Jill Tracy who even sampled environments, including an abandoned stairwell at night, to create the reverb sound for her piano.

“I wanted listeners to lose themselves hypnotically within this music, but also honor and embrace the imagery, ” Tracy explains. “We 3 Kings” begins with a veritable score of the Magi traveling far, in the black of night, laden with strange, exotic gifts.  In fact, the lyrics for “We 3 Kings” was a major part of the reason I wanted to do this album. The little-known verses are dark and gorgeous: Myrrh is mine, its bitter perfume / breathes of life of gathering gloom / sorrowing, sighing, bleeding, dying / sealed in the stone-cold tomb. — These are not songs merely to be sung, but tales to be told.”

The inspiration for Silver Smoke, Star of Night came at the urging of fans on Twitter. Jill Tracy tweeted about an adventure that found her inside San Francisco’s historic Swedenborgian Church at midnight last Christmas Eve singing by candlelight.

“I’ve never really been into Christmas,” she reveals. “But I was completely moved, had not heard some of these songs for years. The lyrics are poignant and bleak, yet hopeful. I began researching some of the more older obscure carols, some of these date back to the Middle Ages. I wanted to interpret them in my style, create an emotional, mystical journey befitting to the spirit and subject matter. But at the same time, music that you could listen to at any time of year.”

Silver Smoke, Star of Night includes the 16th century “Coventry Carol“, (a mothers lament over King Herod’s Massacre of the Innocents;)  a nine-minute swoon-worthy “O Come O Come Emanuel” with sweeping violins, angular piano, and an almost noir jazz contrabass,  a devastatingly beautiful piano vocal version of “What Child is This,” and “Room 19,” Jill Tracy’s original ballad about a spirit haunting a run-down hotel room after his 1947 Christmas Eve suicide.

“This album has become one of my most empowering projects yet,” Jill Tracy reveals.  “And one I never imagined doing. That’s what makes it utterly compelling.”

Pre-order Silver Smoke, Star of Night HERE!

 

 

 

 

ALBUM CREDITS:

Piano, vocals- Jill Tracy
Drums, percussion, metals, antique bells, chimes, toys– Randy Odell
Violin- Paul Mercer
Contrabass- Kenny Annis
Ebow-John Anaya

engineered, mixed by John Anaya, Humpback Recording (San Francisco)
additional engineering, mixing by Drew Zajicek, GetReel Productions, Bruce Bennett.
mastered by Gary Hobish, A. Hammer Mastering
produced by Jill Tracy with John Anaya

Photography by Audrey Penven
Artwork, star puppetry by Trista Musco

Categories : Albums, History, New Music, Photography, Projects
Tags : albums, audrey penven, carols, Christmas, holiday, Mutter Museum, paul mercer

Jill Tracy and The Mütter Museum: An Excavation of Musical Spirits

By jilltracy
Saturday, April 21st, 2012

 

If you follow me on Twitter, you’ve no doubt seen some odd musings lately. From tales involving archeoforensics, mermaid babies, leeches, assorted spinal deformities, the ossified man, various wet specimens, skeletons, and anthropodermic bibliopegy, the practice of binding books in human skin. And that’s just a start.

Although to most of you who know my work, this would be nothing out of the ordinary. But indeed, a very special creation was under wraps… So, now– drum roll please…

I am honored to make history as the first musician to ever be awarded a grant from the Wood Institute, College of Physicians of Philadelphia to compose music inside the famed Mütter Museum, (the nation’s foremost collection of medical oddities) a series of compositions directly inspired by pieces in the collection.

This is a dream come true project for me, It was vital for me to be in the presence of these long-lost souls, as I composed and recorded. I needed to immerse myself in their world. I needed them with me, so that they become an actual part of the work and not just the subject matter.
I first made the announcement onstage at the Mütter Ball to enthusiastic applause, and debuted a new (completely unfinished) piece from this project, part of my Teratology Lullaby series. I was exhilarated and terrified.

Here is a fantastic interview where I discuss my plans and inspiration behind the Mutter project with Cristy Zuazua from Chain D.L.K. Magazine:


You just announced at the Mutter Ball that you received the Wood Institute Grant – something unprecedented for a musician. Can you tell us a little bit about how you got involved with the grant and the project you’re currently working on at the museum?

JT: Yes, I’m honored to make history as the first musician to be awarded this grant, which is enabling me to compose music inside the Mutter Museum, a series of compositions directly inspired by pieces in the collection. It was vital for me to be in the presence of these long-lost souls, as I composed and recorded. I needed to immerse myself in their world. There is so much lurking here. This glorious synergy– the collection of souls together from various time periods and walks of life, most who endured extreme and rare medical conditions. I needed to be with them as I composed and make them a real part of the creation. This is my gift to them.

 

What inspired you to want to compose with the museum as a backdrop?

JT: The Mutter Museum has always been on of my favorite places on earth. When I first visited, I remember vividly standing on the red-carpeted steps leading down to the lower level and hearing the buzz. It was overwhelming. All these people, all these stories, together—yet apart, remembered—yet forgotten. I was swept in a whirlwind of feelings: admiration, pity, fright, shock, respect, repulsion, sadness. I just wanted to sit and listen, to hear their tales, to know them.

As you explore the Hyrtl Skull Collection, for example:  Each has a brief story written in meticulous cursive on the side of the skull: Suicide by gunshot wound of the heart because of “weariness of life.” Lovesick teenager, a soldier, a shoemaker, well-known murderer, a tightrope walker who died of a broken neck, a hanged man, and a famous Viennese prostitute. All this life and death shared together in one glass case. It’s phenomenal.

(Hyrtl Skulls, photo courtesy of Concierge.com Philadelphia)

There is such a brave beauty in these souls who had to endure these afflictions. I want to bring them to life through my music—peel away the clinical guise, dwell deeper, find the voices hiding within these walls.

All of my work will be factual. I’m in the throes of extensive research at the museum, even utilizing excerpts from letters and doctors’ records. My goal is to evoke the spirit, set a mood that transports you inside just by listening.

 

You’ve worked in several different mediums – film, music, voiceovers, performance art – what is your favorite method of expression?

JT: Music has always been magic to me. I’m evoking emotion solely out of sound– and transporting myself and others instantaneously. It’s a true slice of Time archived, never to be heard the same way again– especially with my “spontaneous” pieces. Both the fragility and immediacy are my greatest pleasure and challenge– as I’m not really a composer as much as a portal, conjuring this dark and elegant place with just my thoughts and fingertips. It’s both empowering and humbling to become the gatekeeper to emotions, and inviting the audience to join me there.

(Jill Tracy, College of Physicians of Philadelphia. Photo by Evi Numen.)

Is there any type of performance art that you’d like to try and haven’t yet?

JT: I would like to do more theatrical live performances that incorporate various elements, storytelling, memoir, film projection, music, lecture, revolving around one particular theme. I also have had some TV projects in development, trying to find the right home for them. They deal with my penchant for the dark corners of history and science.

 

I love the way you had this very dark, bluesy, 1920s lounge singer look for your performance at the Mutter – if you could live in any other time or place to make music and art, what would it be?

JT: The theme to the Mutter Ball this year was “Medicine and Electricity in the Roaring Twenties,” so the crowd was resplendent in their costumes, and the Ball featured odd electrical devices from the time period like violet ray generators. There was even bathtub gin amidst pipes in an old ornate claw foot.

Ideally, I’d build the ultimate time machine, and experience many periods and places. That would be fantastic. Although the 1920s was such a vibrant era of art, fashion, decadence—and the Victorian era abundant with aesthetic and ingenuity—I really feel like I’m in the perfect period now, as I am fortunate to employ technology, modern conveniences, communication. Plus being a woman was terribly tough during those times– especially as a fiercely independent artist who has no interest in marriage or having children. It’s hard enough as it is now. I would have been locked up in an asylum for sure.

(Jill Tracy, College of Physicians of Philadelphia. Photo by Evi Numen.)

How did you come up with the idea of “spontaneous musical combustion,” your improvised performances that are all unique? Did the way you involved the audience (like asking for a valued object) ever vary?

JT: My music and live performances have always been so emotionally driven to begin with– I would see people sometimes crying in the front row, or they’d come up to me after a set relating how a particular song got them through a rough time, or helped them find their true path, etc. I’ve realized I’ve become a beacon for so many kindred souls. And that’s very important to me. That genuine direct connection with an audience is such a rarity these days—in a world where entertainment has become vacuous and superficial. Most live shows are anything but—you’re watching a lip-sync to a prerecorded track. On the other hand, I am about as real as it gets!

I wanted the audience to become even more a part of my process, and actually compose pieces in front of them, culled from their energy. It’s a perfect circle. The audience gives to me, and I channel it musically and give it right back, creating a piece that will exist solely for us in those few minutes. It’s the most powerful thing I’ve ever experienced. A musical umbilical cord.

That led me to immersing myself in unusual locations laden with mysterious history, and manifesting music from my reaction to the environment. The intense purity and immediacy is so exciting. You are hearing my raw response at the piano. I call it “spontaneous musical combustion” (as homage to “spontaneous human combustion,” and my affinity for peculiar history and science tales.)
I’ve found myself conjuring the hidden score inside haunted castles, abandoned asylums, decrepit mansions, gardens, and theaters. It’s definitely one of my greatest pleasures right now.

(Objects from a Musical Seance, photo by Neil Girling, theblight.net)

The “Musical Séance” (which I most often perform alongside violinist Paul Mercer) is a collective summoning inspired by beloved objects. Audience members are asked to bring tokens of special significance, such as a photo, talisman, jewelry, toy. This is a very crucial part of manifesting the music. Every object holds its story, its spirit. Energy, resonance, impressions from anyone who has ever held the object, to the experiences and emotions passed through it.
Often, these curiosities themselves are just as compelling as the music they inspire. We’ve encountered everything from cremated cats, dentures, haunted paintings, 16th century swords, antlers, and x-rays.
The lovely and difficult thing about this work is that I can’t prepare for it, as I never know what to expect. I must allow myself to be completely vulnerable; simply feel, and react. It’s not about me anymore; it’s about the music, the story. It becomes so much bigger than any of us. That’s the beauty of it.

(Jill Tracy, College of Physicians of Philadelphia. Photo by Evi Numen.)

You’ve said in the past that the current focus on instant gratification has damaged people’s desire to use their imaginations – do you think your music would be different if you’d had the internet and a similar environment growing up?

JT: That’s a brilliant question. Yes, absolutely I would be a different person. The Internet is both a blessing and a curse. The ease and ability to obtain information is indeed wondrous. But, at the same time, it creates a laziness factor. The great “connection” we think we have achieved is actually destroying our distinct awareness because everyone is getting their information/views from the same sources, not looking outside or challenging themselves to think further.

Online marketing and social media creates a troubling herd mentality. When you purchase something, you are told, “Well, you will like THIS artist or product or friend.” Not giving you a chance to discover what you like on your own terms. Listening to radio like Pandora, etc is only playing things for you that it thinks you like, culled by very narrow factors. We think these tools are making our world bigger, but in essence it’s stifling us, making it much smaller. Only giving us a glimpse.

There has never been a greater need to venture outside the cage, to seize our true passions and shape ourselves authentically. Where’s the triumph of discovery, or empowering sense of identity when the same crap is being pushed down everyone’s throat? To be an individual now takes a great deal of effort, and sadly most people are apathetic, too buried in it all to even try or care anymore.

It’s the stepping away from the virtual Petri dish that’s vital to self-discovery. Great art was never created on a consensus.

(Mutter Museum, courtesy Concierge.com Philadelphia)

One theme going through your work is the concept of “the legend” and maintaining a sense of the unknown as we grow, yet the Mutter Museum and its research is geared toward dispelling much of that mystery as it relates to our bodies; how do you see your music combining these concepts?

JT: Well, for many, the study of science and disease is viewed as quite dry and clinical. There exists a strong disconnect with the examination of the disease itself and the dear souls who had to endure these afflictions. The personal saga of these brave patients is not often well documented, nor discussed. I remember as a child being obsessed with old medical textbooks and tomes, and upset that I could never find out more about the people in these books, but merely the disease.

But the Mutter is a different experience. It is indeed a medical teaching museum. But, Dr. Mutter’s entire point for starting the museum was to teach empathy and compassion. There lies in that a tremendous sense of marvel for me.

I want to honor the emotional side, the human experience from the Mutter’s collection. You may read about Harry Eastlack, the ossified man, whose rare disease (FOP) caused his entire body to slowly transform into bone. Young, handsome, vibrant– painstakingly trapped beneath a second skeletal cage. In the end, he could only move his lips. What was he like? How did he cope? What was his day-to-day experience? It’s unfathomable to me. I was thrilled to be able to read through Harry’s private files in the Mutter collection, letters, photos, extensive doctors’ records.

I composed and recorded the work “Bone by Bone” as I sat next to Harry’s famed skeleton. I needed him with me, to truly be part of the song, and not just the subject matter.

(Harry Eastlack’s skeleton, courtesy College of Physicians, Philadelphia)

Personally, one of the most moving pieces I’m creating is entitled “My First and Last Time Alone,” about conjoined brothers Chang and Eng Bunker. Most of us know them as the original Siamese Twins, gloriously renowned performers who toured the world (even appeared before presidents and Queen Victoria)—married sisters, fathered 21 children, and employed the use of a “privacy sheet.” But after doing extensive research, I was completely devastated when I read how they died. The song is about that heartbreaking 3-hour period on a cold January night. (I won’t give the rest away!)

I was with Chang and Eng’s actual death cast, and their conjoined liver as I composed the piece. This was one of the most compelling experiences I’ve ever had. Abiding by the twins’ wishes, the liver was never separated, even after death.

(Chang and Eng Bunker, courtesy summagallicana.it)

I’ve read you love the Bay area and have had a great reception there – could you see yourself living anywhere else?

JT: I adore San Francisco and the Bay Area; it will always feel like home. But I’m certainly open to adventure. I would love residing in other places if there was an intriguing project or circumstance beckoning me. The allure of new possibilities. Change is an integral part of feeling fully alive.

 

Here is a link to the original interview at Chain D.L.K.

 

 

Categories : books, History, Memoir, New Music, Projects
Tags : anthropodermic bibliopegy, cabinet of curiosities, Chang and Eng, channeling music, clairaudient, claireaudience, composing, Harry Eastlack, human skin books, Jill Tracy, medical oddities, museum, musical seance, Mutter Museum, oddities, paul mercer, Philadelphia, spontaneous musical combustion

Swan Song 2011: The Year in Review

By jilltracy
Monday, January 16th, 2012

“Jill Tracy is the Queen of taking her listeners into another universe”
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE

“Jill Tracy is the first musician I found who sells the passion, the emotional turmoil and tremendous, tragic beauty which lies there, waiting to be uncovered, in the darkest corners of experience.”
ZA RECORDS


I guess it’s a good sign when 2012 begins with such a flurry of dream projects, that I have had no time to devote to a year-end review until now. Stay tuned for news about my upcoming 2012 collaboration with Philadelphia’s legendary Mutter Museum and new recording for Swedish publishers Malört alongside Einstürzende Neubauten. Visit the NEWS page to get the latest updates.

2011 was such a tough, challenging, but charmed year–this new website did not go live until September—so I wanted to make sure to feature the highlights for you here.

Of course, January means the famed Edwardian Ball, clearly the most lavish and fantastical event of the year–a costumed spectacle in honor of the late great raccoon-coated scribe Edward Gorey. For the last decade, I have had the honor to be hailed “Belle of the Ball” and perform in concert each year. The above photo is my favorite 2011 Edwardian Ball shot by Samuel Coniglio. Custom adorned top hat by the marvelous House of Nines Design.

At the Los Angeles Ball, I welcomed special guests: renowned theremin player Armen Ra ( fresh from the Grinderman tour) and Coilhouse mastermind/ Parlour Trick violinist Meredith Yayanos.

I released “Under the Fate of the Blue Moon,” a waltz to make wishes come true–a dreamily enchanting piece I composed on the rare Blue Moon New Year and recorded the night of the total Lunar Eclipse Solstice Dec 20, 2010. I released the work as a free download. It’s my online wishing well. Make a wish, leave an offering.

BENEATH: The Bittersweet Constrain was a glorious accidental release. After several Hollywood music supervisors asked me for an instrumental version of “Haunted by the Thought of You,” I met with producer Alex Nahas in New York City to remix the tune. We both became more and more intrigued, as the absence of vocals invited many of the previously unused or little-heard tracks: strings, woodwinds, Chapman Stick, sarod, harmonium and others. I’m thrilled when people tell me they write or work to my music, and this is certainly a perfect soundscape, a dark, gorgeous portal. Brilliant cover shot by Michael Garlington.

In February, I joined host Chloe Veltman live on KALW, San Francisco public radio/NPR affiliate 91.7 FM as guest of the hour-long “Voice Box” program. The theme of the show was “singers who accompany themselves on the piano,” and it gave me a wonderful chance to discuss the variations, challenges– and funny stories that come with the territory.  Listen to an archive of the show online HERE.

San Francisco mobbed famed City Lights Books for my murderous musical set with none other than the infamous Lemony Snicket himself (aka Daniel Handler) on accordion. This photo was taken by Audrey Penven post-show.

With a mutual fondness for gin and creepy things, we were quite the effortless diabolical duo– reworking the rarely-heard 1933 Robert Desnos/Kurt Weill song “La Complainte de Fantômas!” Complete with its original 26 gruesome verses! This was the grand kick-off to San Francisco’s Fantômas 100th anniversary festival celebrating the dashing French literary arch-criminal. I’m delighted to say our duet was named one of the “Best Live Shows of 2011.”

You best know Oakland filmmaker Bill Domonkos by our beloved award-winning short “The Fine Art of Poisoning,” and his collection of acclaimed videos for legendary masked band The Residents. I had the great opportunity to again collaborate on his latest– the surreal, sci-fi suspense NERVOUS96. Bill painstakingly crafted excerpts from my Musical Seance sessions with Atlanta violinist Paul Mercer, and our channeled music becomes the emotional dialogue for the entire film. It’s stunning. The NERVOUS96 musical score is available for download on Bandcamp!

New York Times best-selling author Melissa Marr named  “Sell My Soul“ as the official song for her novel Graveminder. Marr says she listened to the tune on endless repeat for inspiration, especially while creating scenes in the Land of the Dead. I will be forever immortalized as the sultry singer in Mr. D’s Tip Top Tavern, alluring nightspot of the unliving. Marr also listed “Haunted by the Thought of You” in the playlist for her “Wicked Lovely” series.

My music is also on the official playlist for Cat Winter’s In the Shadow of Blackbirds, a YA novel centering around Victorian spiritualism.

I was a celebrity speller for Small Press Distribution‘s annual Bee In, hosted by West Coast Live’s Sedge Thompson. I went down on the word “abscess” befittingly enough. It’s always the tricky little words that get you.

After touring with the iconic David J (Bauhaus/Love and Rockets), he became so enamored of my dark post-classical piano interpretation of Bauhaus’ classic “Bela Lugosi’s Dead” that he took us into the studio to record it. You’ll hear more about the project later in 2012. Featuring my drummer Randy Odell and bassist Kenny Annis, plus strings player Ysanne Spevack (Smashing Pumpkins.) Talk about a goth girl’s fantasy come true. Oh, and I also spent my 2011 birthday with Peter Murphy!)

A wondrous shot of me with David J, shooting green screen on the set of the music video of the David J. +Shok collaboration “Tidal Wave of Blood.” I sing back-up vocals.

My favorite photoshoot of the year by far was one done with next to no prep, stealth, late at night, sneaking into the dark, ornate stairwell of a downtown office building. Photographer Audrey Penven and I wanted to play with shadow. I loved the idea of incorporating lace textures, perhaps shoot through lace. She had the incredible idea to project actual lace onto the entire shot.

The way these photos were achieved is innovative and fascinating. Please read the tale of the making of “In Lace Shadows.“ There are many more shots there too, plus a link to the full gallery.

One of Audrey’s Lace Shadows portraits became the landing page for my new website which I was ecstatic to finally launch in 2011!!
The site backgrounds were created by visual FX artist and friend Robert Rossello. (You remember his gorgeous artwork for Diabolical Streak!) We collected and created imagery–all from my personal collection– Even the textures like feathers, fur, old medical perscriptions, antique charts of constellations, opium poppies, apothecary bottles, my talismans– were all individually crafted.

Thank you so much to Rob and Sue Trowbridge for their hard work, ingenuity, and support. Read the backstory on the inspiration behind the new website. And plans are underway for several features, including Cabinet 45, my artists collaborative shoppe.

2011 was my first year officially working with the San Francisco Silent Film Festival. I did a myriad of things–from scoring several film shorts and performing live for their press conference, to moderating the panel “Variations on a Theme,” discussing the craft of scoring silent films with some of the best in the business. The photo above by San Francisco’s Examiner’s Omar Moore shows me introducing F. W. Murnau’s epic Sunrise.

The most thrilling part of the SF Silent Film Festival was finally getting to collaborate with the wonderful UK pianist Stephen Horne. I got a late night email from him days before the festival saying he envisioned my voice as part of his score to the sultry 1915 femme fatale shocker Il Fuoco. We literally put the score together in a matter of 2 days. I was so proud and inspired by the work. Absolutely riveting. The press agreed:

“The score by Stephen Horne and Jill Tracy…is like an Ennio Morricone score for a giallo: erotic, threatening, haunting, the siren call of a sexual predator who devours and abandons her prey. A perfect evocation of the drama playing out onscreen.” SLANT Magazine

“Dark sexuality…The musical accompaniment fit the film quite well; Stephen Horne was at it again, doing what he does best. With him, though, was Jill Tracy, adding a vocal splash of eroticism as Menichelli’s theme, which was utterly poignant and fit perfectly, especially when her throaty voice continued to echo in the main character’s mind in the end.” FILMBALAYA

Ahhh, the sheer delight on my face as I reveal seductive tales about the deadly mandrake root! Within a garden of poisonous plants no less! (Photo by Julie Michelle)

The dark side of the Garden came to deadly bloom in October at the historical San Francisco Conservatory of Flowers as I teamed up with Wicked Plants author Amy Stewart and produced a perilous event within the exhibit. We called it appropriately enough “The Fine Art of Poisoning: Perils, Pleasures and Protocols.” The beautiful white glass Victorian dome is a sight to behold in the dark, so I wanted to give the public a chance to explore it at night, under my guise.

After hours in the Conservatory of Flowers with Wicked Plants author Amy Stewart and a giant tarantula. This event was such a success that the Conservatory and I are in meetings to create an ongoing night series together!

When producer/writer/filmmaker Jordan Stratford invited me to perform at Victoria British Columbia’s Craigdarroch Castle as part of his great Victoria Steam Expo, it fulfilled a wish I made when I first visited. This was an ideal location for my “spontaneous musical combustion”– composing works on the spot in front of the audience, manifesting the musical spirit within the location itself. Every place has a story, every object holds music. My job is to be the gatekeeper, and open the portal.

Nothing on Craigdarroch Castle’s official website will tell you it’s haunted. The 1890 treasure is simply hailed “Victoria, British Columbia’s legendary landmark.” It’s when you begin talking to the locals– and even people who work within its lavish walls– that you begin to hear secret tales of its 39 rooms, 87 steps, 4 floors, 18 fireplaces, tower, and tormented past. I wanted to immerse myself within its surrounding and bring it to life.

I encountered a wonderfully strange bond with this antique Steinway in the front parlour. The staff at the castle said this piano never gets played. I spent most of my time at it, it seemed to have the most to say.  Please indulge in the Blog post “Antique Steinway, Haunted Castle and a Long-Lost Love” to hear my account of this Victorian conjuring. (Photo by Maggie Binnie O’Scalleigh)

There were many memorable shows in 2011, including a double bill and collaboration onstage with Tuvan throat singer Soriah. In this photo by John Adams, I’m speaking to the crowd at a moving benefit for friend and fellow performer kSea Flux.

Sacramento Horror Film Festival presented an evening called “The Elegant Dark with Jill Tracy,” where I not only performed a concert, but shared my stories, short films, and Q&A with the audience. I was really inspired by the opportunity to present my various passions and mediums all together, and plan to do more full sensory shows like this.

My provocative “In Between Shades” was featured on Projekt’s compilation  A Dark Cabaret 2. The top-selling first in the series also includes my song “Evil Night Together.”

I was honored to pen the forward for Maria Alexander’s decadent and deadly collection of absinthe-inspired verse At Louche Ends (Burning Effigy Press) recalling my days performing in the then-illegal emerald underworld. NYC artist Katelan Foisy’s gorgeous painting adorns the cover. An intoxicating dose of words and visuals from three powerful women.

NPR’s beloved long-running radio show Hearts of Space devoted an entire program to my music to celebrate the October season. Haunted– a Jill Tracy Conjuration aired on over 200 NPR stations, celebrating my instrumentals, film score work, and haunting, ambient songs. I was astonished and delighted as they rarely devote an entire show to one artist. Thank you Stephen Hill and everyone at HOS! They tell me the show got a tremendous response. Click on the link to hear the archive. It’s Program 961.

“We consider Jill Tracy a Bay Area treasure…like Grafeo coffee, Scharffen Berger chocolates, and fine Napa Cabernets.

As a lyricist and songwriter, Jill Tracy plies the literary currents popularized by Edgar Allen Poe, Bram Stoker, Edward Gorey and other 19th and 20th century storytellers of the netherworld: spinners of tales of the mysterious, the strange, and the macabre.

Her sound begins with an unadorned dark cabaret trio of contrabass, drums and parlor piano; it expands on recordings into the Malcontent Orchestra violin, viola, cello, and low woodwinds, plus guitar, Chapman stick, electric bass, harmonium and the odd sarod. She calls it “post-Classical Noir” and glams, goths and Dark Romantics of all ages love her with a crimson passion.”
NPR’s Hearts of Space

 

Here’s to a magical 2012. I’m glad you’re along for the ride.

 

Jill Tracy

Categories : Uncategorized
Tags : albums, audrey penven, bauhaus, bill domonkos, Conservatory of Flowers, craigdarroch castle, david j, Hearts of Space, lemony snicket, musical seance, NPR, paul mercer, photos, poisoning, san francisco, shadows, Silent Film, spontaneous musical combustion, victoria bc

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