Appalachia Borealis [CD] (ONLINE ORDER ONLY)

In the Fall of 2022, Phil Cook found himself living alone in a small homeat the edge of field and forest in North Carolina's Piedmont. For most ofCook's life he lived near the hearts of the towns he had called home,near the groan of traffic and hubbub of coffee shops. Such closequarters helped make the gregarious Cook a prolific collaborator, fromco-founding Megafaun to working with The Blind Boys of Alabama, BonIver, Hiss Golden Messenger, and endless others. But Cook's closestneighbor now was a trailhead, so he went and listened, enraptured firstby the stillness and then by the manifold birds. He began leaving hiswindowsill slightly cracked each night, so that the dawn chorus greetedhim. Cook began recording these tangled bird songs, and he slowlyjoined them. With the sun finally high, Cook would listen to the day'srecordings and improvise in real time on the instrument that remains thefirst and most steadfast love of his musical life, the piano.When Cook left that cabin after a year, he moved into a home of his ownin Durham, with plenty of space for his two boys to play and forsomething he'd never actually owned-a proper piano. Over the nextseveral months, Cook spent untold hours drilling down on these pieces.During lessons with the Southern gospel great Chuckey Robinson, thepianist had challenged Cook to sustain fewer notes, to stop cloudingand crowding his melodies by using the instrument's pedals ascrutches. His music suddenly had more clarity, with the sounds and thefeelings they ferried given more room to function. Cook dug into thedanger and delight, into the idea that we twist our bodies into knotstrying to understand what is best for our hearts.In April 2024 Cook returned to Wisconsin's Chippewa Valley where hewas raised. His lifelong friend and bandmate, Justin Vernon, had justfinished an overhaul of April Base, the studio compound where Cookhas worked on more than a dozen records during the last 15 years.Cook asked Vernon to produce Appalachia Borealis as simply aspossible-merely to listen and offer feedback in two extended afternoonsessions, to talk about the right takes and make sure that they'dcaptured the heart. It, of course, got more complicated, as theyexperimented with the process. Vernon would add or subtract the birdsongs to Cook's headphones, seeing how they impacted his playing. Orthey would route his notes through a massive reverb chamber, Cookresponding in gossamer improvisations.Appalachia Borealis is a deeply poignant and personal set of 11 pianomeditations, built with the emotional range of a full and open existence.Inspired by those windowsill improvisations, it reflects not only theturmoil and sadness of a fraught time for Cook but also the hope, light,and joy of looking for the other side. You can sometimes still hear thebirds whose tune and time helped to inspire so many of these songs.Even when they're not within earshot, their essence remains.