The somber cradle that is "A Dream of You" by Portland's Twin Bridges lead by singer-songwriter, cellist, multi-instrumentalist Zach Gerzon rocks with a gentle urgency. Like a square waltz, moving on plucked and bowed strings, what sounds like a clarinet and bassoon and other classically minded sounds, it feels as stoic as it does crushingly moving. In tandem with Zach's tenderly drawn vocals with lyrics sharing gut punch poetically shaped remembrances or coalesced dreams of sad happenstances.
From Press notes:
[On the stately and sorrowful “Dream Of You,” one of the album’s most personal songs, Zach musically sketches a loving portrait of his mother who passed away years ago. “I hadn’t planned on sharing this song, but, as time went on, I realized that it could be healing to release songs that are this vulnerable,” Zach says.]
As a sometimes songwriter, I know that writing deeply about one's own life is terrible difficult to do. This kind of bloodletting, though, is a release of not only sorrow but an acceptance of things as they are and have been. The following lyrical passage sticks in my head and heart.
"now I'm lost in the desert and stoned / sweet mother is crying on the phone / who's the owner of your depression? / Zachary please tell another joke / now I'm laughing and crying all the time / now I'm praying I'll see you on the other side..."
"A Dream of You" is from Twin Bridges' debut album "Fertile Ashes" out NOW. The following are some excerpts from press notes that I wanted to share (bracketed).
[Twin Bridges’ Zach Gerzon found solace in writing songs on a cello after experiencing the sudden passing of a parent and enduring romantic heartbreak. The tonalities of the instrument lent his darkly melodic indie-rock a beautifully haunting resonance that can be heard on his band’s emotive and cathartic debut, Fertile Ashes.
“These songs explore what can feel like an impossible task, overcoming grief from loss, trauma, and failed relationships,” the Portland, Oregon-based artist says. “Making this album helped me let go of things I held onto for so long. I found a lot of hope in the Fertile Ashes songs.”]
AND
[Zach is a self-taught cellist with a background as a multi-instrumentalist playing punk, country, and bluegrass on guitar, bass, and drums. At the age of 17, he became obsessed with the cello after hearing songs by Margot & The Nuclear So And So’s. He eventually purchased a student model cello, and learned to play through watching YouTube tutorials, and teaching himself how to read bass clef. Along the way, Zach developed a personal approach to the instrument which includes looping and effects pedals; playing the cello on its side and strumming it like a guitar; and utilizing traditional techniques such as pizzicato and bowing.]
[Twin Bridges started as a solo project, but it has evolved into more of a band setting with Zach’s gifted circle of musician friends contributing to live shows and recordings. The cast for Fertile Ashes includes Zach on cello, lead vocals, and engineering; Kylie Mcdermot on trumpet; Julia Michel on clarinet and saxophone; Chris Lazerek on bass clarinet; Jeff Kuhns on bassoon; Margaret Wehr on violin; and additional vocalists Lindsay Clark, Erisy Watt, Jeremy Ferarra, and Chloe Serkissian.]
[Zach wrote the music for Fertile Ashes during a transient period in his life when he drifted around New Mexico and Colorado before settling in Oregon. The awe-inspiring nature of these states is reflected in his songs. The album’s intimate production aesthetic reflects its earthy creative journey. Songs were tracked in a bevy of vibey loft and barn settings with Zach engineering, producing, arranging, and writing parts on cello for many other instruments.]
From Press notes:
[On the stately and sorrowful “Dream Of You,” one of the album’s most personal songs, Zach musically sketches a loving portrait of his mother who passed away years ago. “I hadn’t planned on sharing this song, but, as time went on, I realized that it could be healing to release songs that are this vulnerable,” Zach says.]
As a sometimes songwriter, I know that writing deeply about one's own life is terrible difficult to do. This kind of bloodletting, though, is a release of not only sorrow but an acceptance of things as they are and have been. The following lyrical passage sticks in my head and heart.
"now I'm lost in the desert and stoned / sweet mother is crying on the phone / who's the owner of your depression? / Zachary please tell another joke / now I'm laughing and crying all the time / now I'm praying I'll see you on the other side..."
"A Dream of You" is from Twin Bridges' debut album "Fertile Ashes" out NOW. The following are some excerpts from press notes that I wanted to share (bracketed).
[Twin Bridges’ Zach Gerzon found solace in writing songs on a cello after experiencing the sudden passing of a parent and enduring romantic heartbreak. The tonalities of the instrument lent his darkly melodic indie-rock a beautifully haunting resonance that can be heard on his band’s emotive and cathartic debut, Fertile Ashes.
“These songs explore what can feel like an impossible task, overcoming grief from loss, trauma, and failed relationships,” the Portland, Oregon-based artist says. “Making this album helped me let go of things I held onto for so long. I found a lot of hope in the Fertile Ashes songs.”]
AND
[Zach is a self-taught cellist with a background as a multi-instrumentalist playing punk, country, and bluegrass on guitar, bass, and drums. At the age of 17, he became obsessed with the cello after hearing songs by Margot & The Nuclear So And So’s. He eventually purchased a student model cello, and learned to play through watching YouTube tutorials, and teaching himself how to read bass clef. Along the way, Zach developed a personal approach to the instrument which includes looping and effects pedals; playing the cello on its side and strumming it like a guitar; and utilizing traditional techniques such as pizzicato and bowing.]
[Twin Bridges started as a solo project, but it has evolved into more of a band setting with Zach’s gifted circle of musician friends contributing to live shows and recordings. The cast for Fertile Ashes includes Zach on cello, lead vocals, and engineering; Kylie Mcdermot on trumpet; Julia Michel on clarinet and saxophone; Chris Lazerek on bass clarinet; Jeff Kuhns on bassoon; Margaret Wehr on violin; and additional vocalists Lindsay Clark, Erisy Watt, Jeremy Ferarra, and Chloe Serkissian.]
[Zach wrote the music for Fertile Ashes during a transient period in his life when he drifted around New Mexico and Colorado before settling in Oregon. The awe-inspiring nature of these states is reflected in his songs. The album’s intimate production aesthetic reflects its earthy creative journey. Songs were tracked in a bevy of vibey loft and barn settings with Zach engineering, producing, arranging, and writing parts on cello for many other instruments.]
A songwriter sometimes says what is hard for us to say. A commiserating artful expression that oftentimes helps us know we are not alone in our depressive state and even joyful moments.
-Robb Donker Curtius
https://www.instagram.com/twin.bridges/
“These songs explore what can feel like an impossible task, overcoming grief from loss, trauma, and failed relationships,” the Portland, Oregon-based artist says. “Making this album helped me let go of things I held onto for so long. I found a lot of hope in the Fertile Ashes songs.”
Twin Bridges’s melancholic aesthetic is the result of fusing classical and chamber music’s instrumentation and musicality with folk and indie-rock. The band’s music is sonically aligned with artists such as Andrew Bird, My Brightest Diamond, Takenobu, Kishi Bashi, and Arthur Russell. To date, Twin Bridges has issued the 2019 single “Clover & Honey,” and Fertile Ashes’s first single, “Come Out / On.” This single has been featured in blogs such as Hot Lunch Music, The Sounds Won’t Stop, No Transmission, Podcart (UK), and Last Day Deaf. “Come Out / On” has also earned widespread exposure through appearing on several Spotify playlists, and in French media outlets.
Zach is a self-taught cellist with a background as a multi-instrumentalist playing punk, country, and bluegrass on guitar, bass, and drums. At the age of 17, he became obsessed with the cello after hearing songs by Margot & The Nuclear So And So’s. He eventually purchased a student model cello, and learned to play through watching YouTube tutorials, and teaching himself how to read bass clef. Along the way, Zach developed a personal approach to the instrument which includes looping and effects pedals; playing the cello on its side and strumming it like a guitar; and utilizing traditional techniques such as pizzicato and bowing.
Twin Bridges started as a solo project, but it has evolved into more of a band setting with Zach’s gifted circle of musician friends contributing to live shows and recordings. The cast for Fertile Ashes includes Zach on cello, lead vocals, and engineering; Kylie Mcdermot on trumpet; Julia Michel on clarinet and saxophone; Chris Lazerek on bass clarinet; Jeff Kuhns on bassoon; Margaret Wehr on violin; and additional vocalists Lindsay Clark, Erisy Watt, Jeremy Ferarra, and Chloe Serkissian.
Zach wrote the music for Fertile Ashes during a transient period in his life when he drifted around New Mexico and Colorado before settling in Oregon. The awe-inspiring nature of these states is reflected in his songs. The album’s intimate production aesthetic reflects its earthy creative journey. Songs were tracked in a bevy of vibey loft and barn settings with Zach engineering, producing, arranging, and writing parts on cello for many other instruments.
The cinematic new single, Carbon & Dust, features dreamy vocals, composed melodies brimming with a yearning musicality, and an intriguing arrangement all tied together by a snappy groove. This song epitomizes the album’s general theme of wading through grief and heartbreak to finally achieve equanimity. Here, Zach recounts a dialogue with a deceased love one that he experienced while dreaming, and the song’s lyrics express an aching resignation. He sings: Want you to know that I’m just grief and lust / Thought I could live without but your / Name fills my mouth. The song’s animated video by filmmaker Durnis visualizes the grey area the song was written in through using dream-like animation that tells the story of a ghostly presence re-living tragedy and walking into the great beyond.
Twin Bridges, folk, indie folk, orchestral folk, somber moving tribute, new album "Fertile Ashes", single "A Dream of You", cellist, singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, Zach Gerzon,
-Robb Donker Curtius
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM
https://www.instagram.com/twin.bridges/
Twin Bridges’ Zach Gerzon found solace in writing songs on a cello after experiencing the sudden passing of a parent and enduring romantic heartbreak. The tonalities of the instrument lent his darkly melodic indie-rock a beautifully haunting resonance that can be heard on his band’s emotive and cathartic debut, Fertile Ashes. The 8-song album’s first single will be the wistful, “Carbon & Dust.”
“These songs explore what can feel like an impossible task, overcoming grief from loss, trauma, and failed relationships,” the Portland, Oregon-based artist says. “Making this album helped me let go of things I held onto for so long. I found a lot of hope in the Fertile Ashes songs.”
Twin Bridges’s melancholic aesthetic is the result of fusing classical and chamber music’s instrumentation and musicality with folk and indie-rock. The band’s music is sonically aligned with artists such as Andrew Bird, My Brightest Diamond, Takenobu, Kishi Bashi, and Arthur Russell. To date, Twin Bridges has issued the 2019 single “Clover & Honey,” and Fertile Ashes’s first single, “Come Out / On.” This single has been featured in blogs such as Hot Lunch Music, The Sounds Won’t Stop, No Transmission, Podcart (UK), and Last Day Deaf. “Come Out / On” has also earned widespread exposure through appearing on several Spotify playlists, and in French media outlets.
Zach is a self-taught cellist with a background as a multi-instrumentalist playing punk, country, and bluegrass on guitar, bass, and drums. At the age of 17, he became obsessed with the cello after hearing songs by Margot & The Nuclear So And So’s. He eventually purchased a student model cello, and learned to play through watching YouTube tutorials, and teaching himself how to read bass clef. Along the way, Zach developed a personal approach to the instrument which includes looping and effects pedals; playing the cello on its side and strumming it like a guitar; and utilizing traditional techniques such as pizzicato and bowing.
Twin Bridges started as a solo project, but it has evolved into more of a band setting with Zach’s gifted circle of musician friends contributing to live shows and recordings. The cast for Fertile Ashes includes Zach on cello, lead vocals, and engineering; Kylie Mcdermot on trumpet; Julia Michel on clarinet and saxophone; Chris Lazerek on bass clarinet; Jeff Kuhns on bassoon; Margaret Wehr on violin; and additional vocalists Lindsay Clark, Erisy Watt, Jeremy Ferarra, and Chloe Serkissian.
Zach wrote the music for Fertile Ashes during a transient period in his life when he drifted around New Mexico and Colorado before settling in Oregon. The awe-inspiring nature of these states is reflected in his songs. The album’s intimate production aesthetic reflects its earthy creative journey. Songs were tracked in a bevy of vibey loft and barn settings with Zach engineering, producing, arranging, and writing parts on cello for many other instruments.
The cinematic new single, Carbon & Dust, features dreamy vocals, composed melodies brimming with a yearning musicality, and an intriguing arrangement all tied together by a snappy groove. This song epitomizes the album’s general theme of wading through grief and heartbreak to finally achieve equanimity. Here, Zach recounts a dialogue with a deceased love one that he experienced while dreaming, and the song’s lyrics express an aching resignation. He sings: Want you to know that I’m just grief and lust / Thought I could live without but your / Name fills my mouth. The song’s animated video by filmmaker Durnis visualizes the grey area the song was written in through using dream-like animation that tells the story of a ghostly presence re-living tragedy and walking into the great beyond.
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