DON'T DIE TODAY!
my new album is available on SFI Recordings
On Friday, February 6th, my latest record “Don’t Die Today” was released on limited tape and digital download through the fine people at SFI Recordings (order and listen here). If you follow me at all, you have heard about it. Hell, I wrote about it in last weeks article on New Age music and punk. If you haven’t given a listen yet, please do. I am very proud of it. If you want to know what it is about, here is a little write-up that I DEFINITELY did not write.
It started with field recordings. Gathered at various national parks, temples, and mountains around the world. Audio documents, collected from Southern California to Japan, trying to capture some moments of peace in a hectic world. Using those documents of past visits and memories these sounds became the inspiration for the eight tracks that make up “Don’t Die Today”.
On his newest release on SFI Recordings, “Don’t Die Today”, Geoff Garlock (Orchid) explores the complex feelings of standing in nature, trying to be present, and not being able to shut your mind up from the various intrusive thoughts of the world. Trying to be at peace, while being filled with a sense of dread and awe at the world all at once. Through synths.
He possibly accomplished it. At the very least, it’s a solid listen, inspired by the greats from Steve Roach to Michael Garrison to the lo-fi sounds of walking through the snow of Paysage D’Hiver. Nine private press influenced songs, recorded in a shed in the shadow of a mountain, reminding us all to, in spite of everything thrown at us, Don’t Die Today!
To delve a bit more in-depth, because this is Substack and that’s what it is all about. Here is a little something about the roots of this particular record and a track by track commentary.
Years ago, I was on a trip to Romania. My wife was working there, and I tagged along because when would I ever get the chance to go to Romania again? Part of the trip, we took a bus to Brasov to visit Dracula’s castle. And by Dracula’s castle, I mean when you arrive,they immediately tell you that Vlad the Impaler might have stayed there one night as he traveled through on his way somewhere else, but even that is not guaranteed. To curtail the disappointment that you were possibly just looking at any old castle, they had some wall-sized displays on the history of vampires, including some blown-up pictures of very low-res JPGs of scenes from “The Lost Boys”. It was...cool?
We were then picked up by someone who we were told would just be in “a grey car at the base of the castle”, to bring us to a bed and breakfast in the middle of a tiny farming village in the mountains, where we were the only people staying. We had no cell phones that worked and had a good 20 minutes of wondering “are we stranded in Romania?”
It was all both amazing and nightmare material. Literally, I had the worst nightmare I have ever had in my life that night. My subconscious was OUT OF CONTROL! While we were there, we also went on a hike to a Bear reserve in the Carpathian Mountains. It was amazing. While hiking, we kept getting surrounded by these very loud crows/ravens, which, of course, my first thought was, “man, I should record these and use them as a sample in a black metal song one day”. My second thought was, “I think these giant ravens might peck out my eyes. Maybe that will be what the song will be about.”
Par for the course of many creative ideas I have, I talked about using the recordings for years, had my wife ask me many times if I was ever going to use them in a song, and when I finally sat down to do it, I realized I had lost them on some hard drive along the way. I can almost guarantee I hardly labeled them as I’m want to do. But that first recording sent me down a path of trying to gather field recordings wherever I am visiting for some unseen future purpose. I was mostly inspired by one of my favorite black metal artists, Paysage D’Hiver. A one-man black metal band from Switzerland, whose “demo’s”(starting in 1998 he put out 10 full length albums that he still called demo’s, 4 split recordings, before finally putting out his first “real” record in 2020 that was real apparently because it was 4 LP’s OR USB Drive), often include long 10-15 minute field recordings of him walking through the snow before the song kicks in. The field recordings and songs are often recorded so low-fi that you don’t even really know the song started.
It is musically perfect.
I can listen to the crunch of the snow under his feet, followed by his repetitive minimalist black metal riffs with vocals buried underneath so low that you can’t even tell they are happening forever. And I always wanted to do something in homage to that.
Moving to California, I found myself on a lot more hikes in a lot more locations with a lot more opportunities to record the sounds of these hikes. Eventually, I had collected enough that I started to realize, oh I should try to write something inspired by these sounds. One by one. Bird by bird. I did. That’s how music works. That’s how albums come together. I would pull together these random synth pieces, inspired by the sounds I had collected, with the vague idea of it being a new record. I still needed something to connect the ideas.
One time visiting Joshua Tree National Park, my wife pointed out the new shirts in the gift shop on the way home. The shirts were part of a new campaign that was also scattered around signs in the park. Joshua Tree went for the most surprisingly brutal slogan for a park to get this idea across. This became the connective tissue of the entire new record.
Now, if you are like me, you love reading way too much in-depth writing about the music you love. (I am currently reading an entire book dedicated to the full recorded output of the famed Morrisound Studios Florida death metal producer Scott Burns, after reading the biography of Chuck Schuldiner of Death. This is my bread and butter). So, of course, I felt compelled to write a little thing on each of the songs from “Don’t Die Today”. If you are not like me, hell, don’t read this. Just enjoy the songs. But please go enjoy the songs. I am very proud of the record. Now. ONTO THE TRACKS…
INTO THE ICY ABYSS-One of the amazing parts of living in Southern California is how easy it is to travel to different terrains. Different climates. People act like it’s the same weather all the time here. I find it more varied than anywhere I have ever lived. Within a couple of minutes to a couple of hours, you can be in the high desert and then go up a mountain and end up on a snowy peak for skiing…or looking at the restaurant where Alyssa Milano and Arnold Schwarzenegger eat ice cream in “Commando”.
This audio was recorded on a snowy path on the side of the road as I took a moment away from my family and friends, as they pelted each other with snowballs. I grew up on the East Coast, do not miss the cold at all, but forced myself to walk through the crunch of the snow to remember there is beauty in even things that I kind of despise. I also wanted to start the record with the most blatant nod to Paysage D’Hiver.
WALK THROUGH FUTURE CHERRY BLOSSOMS- I took a trip to Japan last year with my family, and it was one of the most amazing trips I have ever been on. It was also exhausting. After a long flight to Tokyo, then traveling through the airport to get to the Shinkansen/Bullet train, and then immediately leaving to go to Kyoto, by the time we reached Kyoto, my whole family was understandably beat. Which did not stop jet lag from totally throwing off our sleep, so we were up at the butt crack of dawn trying to get into a 7-Eleven to get some food before we marched for what would end up being 10 miles around Kyoto the first day. One of our first stops on this morning’s stay awake walk was Maruyama Park next to the Yasaka Shrine. It was right before the cherry blossoms were about to bloom, and we sat exhausted, eating our breakfast as I recorded these crows/ravens in the park and had the feeling of “this was all worth it. I am so happy to be here with my family”. This song is trying to replicate that feeling of being exhausted by the journey but happy you took it in the first place.
A PATH I NEVER WALKED- Many of the hikes my family takes are with our good friends Andri and Amanda and their children. Which means that they often have to join my family in wondering, “why did Geoff stop all of a sudden and walk away from us while he is holding up his phone”? Eventually realizing that if you walk with me, I will drop off to go record some field recording if I hear something interesting.
One summer, as they visited Switzerland, I was sent a video they had captured at the Wallenberg Swiss Open Air museum of the sounds of nature and alphorns being played, with the message that they wished I was there with them to capture the ambient sounds. I wish our family was there as well. So even though this was a walk I was not on, I was able to manipulate the recording, build one sequence off of the recording, and create a track of sounds to represent when you wish you could share an experience with friends, but you are happy they are out there experiencing it.
THE BURNING SAND- Joshua Tree National Park is one of my favorite places in the world. When we first moved to California and the pandemic hit, it was one of the first places that we could escape to that truly felt like an escape. When we were living in fear of everything, it was a place where we could breathe free and remember that in this scary world there was still some beauty. Hiking through the park, I achieve moments of clarity I don’t achieve anywhere else.
It is also often hot as all hell when you are visiting or camping there. Which is another reason I like it. Both the feeling of clarity mixed with the sobering reality that if you don’t respect the nature and the hike, you could die. Which is why I appreciated the brutality of the current motto of Joshua Tree that they sell in the gift shops and that I mentioned before. A saying that makes people still think I am wearing a metal shirt when I wear my Joshua Tree shirt.
What eventually became the title of this record.
Don’t Die Today!
RACING THOUGHTS IN CALM WATER- On a family trip with another family, we were visiting Mexico. It was a beautiful shared building, right near the water and I felt very lucky to have this experience, getting to know newly formed friends, sharing food and life. But as I stood in the water, taking in nature and staring at the sea, I still couldn’t stop the darkest parts of my brain from rolling in.
As I listened to and recorded the sound of the oceans, anxieties about my career. My life. My place in the world. All of the anxieties that have haunted me for most of my life and I work on daily to quiet started to take over. Staring at the peaceful water, I couldn’t get out of my own way and I tried to replicate the flux I know we all have, back and forth, moment to moment. Trying to appreciate the beauty that surrounds you while fighting off the great gaping maw of existence.
THE GREY DISTANCE- On a camping trip with some friends, we were adjacent to a beach and went out on a dark, cloudy day to look at the tide pools. I was surrounded by my family and friends, joyously looking around the ocean. And I was pissy. I didn’t know why exactly and was frustrated with myself that I was feeling this way. I couldn’t engage in any conversations. I couldn’t walk around and marvel at the sea life we were surrounded by. I just wanted to be alone.
Staring into the dark clouds.
The grey distance.
I captured the sounds of the waves, using it as an excuse to be alone. This happens to me often. I don’t think I am alone in this feeling. The feeling of solitude amongst people. I tried to capture the moment when you are overwhelmed by the thoughts in your mind. But also the moment when reality sets in and a light peeks through the grey.
Remembering that this is not forever. This is just a moment.
DARK CLOUDS ROLL IN-Visiting Hong Kong with my wife on a work trip was an amazing experience. Less amazing was that after a week of hard traveling through Japan to Hong Kong, I started to not feel great. The travel had caught up to me, and I was definitely sick. But being a parent, you still have to take care of your kid. Calling it quits is not an option, especially when an amusement park has to be visited. We were staying at a hotel connected to Ocean Park Hong Kong, a very large marine themed amusement park/aquarium which I had to take my son to. It was around Halloween, and the park speakers were pumping out all of this really disconcerting “spooky” music. Which was matching my melting sick mind as I walked around this unbelievable place with my son, with beautiful views, watching him full of joy, taking in the park. While I was feeling TERRIBLE, pounding Advil and trying to get through this extremely hot day, compounded by the fever I had.
When I would listen back to the various recordings I made of the park music, I could feel the combination of pure joy that my son was feeling, with the dark feelings of just trying to physically get through it all on my end. The music tried to capture that back and forth between hope and utter despair.
MOUNT WILSON WATERFALL-This song truly just represents awe. Every waterfall I see makes me feel full of awe. From the giant waterfalls of Iceland that pop up everywhere, to the weird little manmade waterfalls generated outside of a fish restaurant in Connecticut.
I appreciate in myself that no matter how big or small, when I see one, my brain will still say, “Ooh…a waterfall. Cool”. I’m a simple man sometimes.
This was recorded on a trail I can’t currently walk on due to the Eaton Canyon/Altadena fires. I miss the various trails that are still unsafe after the fire that destroyed my neighborhood. There is a longing for those escapes in this song. I love my neighborhood. Altadena strong.
WHITE POINT THRASHING-This song is a documentation of my stupidity. I went with my family and friends to look at the tide pools at White Point Beach in California. Of course, I decided to capture the sounds of the waves crashing against the rocky peninsula we were crawling around to look at sea urchins and starfish. Thinking the entire time, “wow, these are some really big waves”. This is what raced through my mind as I held my phone out to the sound of the final wave I got near that day, and continued my thoughts. “Hmm, that one really is crashing hard…hmmm, that one got dangerously close. I got a little spray on my pants. I should probably head back. But maybe just one more. And FUCCCCCCCKKKKK”.
This is the point when the wave crashed up onto the rock, towered over me, and right before I got completely drenched from head to toe, I desperately covered my phone and my hearing aids. Thousands of dollars worth of machinery that help me exist and were in danger of getting completely soaked as I did. Luckily, they made it out. My clothes and my dignity did not. I included the undoctored sound of my idiocy. If you listen closely, you can hear me be upset at myself before the song kicks in, trying to show awe for the power of nature after nature tried to destroy me, rightfully so, for my hubris.
“Don’t Die Today” out now on SFI Recordings!
Up the new age punx!
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Where else can you find Garlock stuff?
-Go listen to 108.9 The Hawk, the greatest podcast about a fictional failing classic rock station. If you are reading this the week it came out, we are giving you a month of best of episodes by year for the entire month of December. It’s a great way to catch up on or get into the Hawk. Currently our “Best of 2023” is up for a listen.
