A Host of Possible Dramas and Exchanges
Release Date: May 3, 2023
Carrier Records 070
A Host of Possible Dramas and Exchanges is an exercise in automatic writing, a response to four different episodes Robert Ashley’s Perfect Lives.
An assemblage of events, true and imagined, in a slurry of semi-autobiographical extensions.
Somewhere inside the lines of fabrication are semblances of
T-R-U-T-H (as opposed to)
pure fiction.
Sailing by the archipelago of four different episodes of Perfect Lives - the text has porthole windows which view and comment on the original text from a wavering distance.
HARLOW (Jessie Marino):
narrator (sometimes with a head cold)
electronics
the worst piano player in the world.
Chapter One: THE OCCASION.
Todd, Vera, Allen & Me.
on a road trip, with the radio on, and the constant thumpity-thump of the lines painted in the middle of the road, speeding underneath the tires.
Chapter Two: THE OFFICE.
Boss, Operator, Other People & Secretary
are having a meeting about logistics.
Secretary might be the first one to quit, let’s see.
Chapter Three: THE SUPERMARKET.
Geometric Shapes, Bob, Green Figure, Train Conductor.
An audio description of the video The Supermarket, an episode of Robert Ashley “Perfect Lives” - spliced with an audio transcription of a long train ride starting in the Black Forest and traveling north. The train conductor announces points of interest along the way.
Chapter Four: THE BACKYARD (an escape).
Her Mother, Her Mother’s Tenant (Mary), The Nosy Neighbors, Diane the Piano Teacher, Her. trying to find the exit.
-HARLOW
Berlin, April 2023.
Written, performed, recorded, mixed, mastered by Jessie Marino at her home studio.
A Host of Possible Dramas and Exchanges is the first solo album by HARLOW (Jessie Marino). HARLOW creates a multi-perspective narrative using blunt electronic vocal manipulation to weave the language of each tale into the mouths of a whole cast of characters.
A one-man-band of multiple personas.
The text, is free-form automatic writing by HARLOW, in which she responded to four different episodes from Robert Ashley’s television opera, “Perfect Lives.” Some of the original lines or choral asides are quoted throughout the text (AS BOB WOULD SAY), while the remainder of the text is drawn from personal histories, collected stories or misremembered events, all of which were triggered, prompted and conjured during countless re-readings of the original Ashley text. HARLOW’S script acts as a fun-house mirror—a convex glass portal to another slippery world which could only be accessed through direct encounters with “Perfect Lives.”
Chapter One: THE OCCASION
Underneath we hear the constant bump- bump - bump- bump of tires rolling over the perforated white lines of the highway. The radio is on, but it’s quite unpredictable, and the inhabitants of the car are meandering towards an unknown destination. Everyone thinks that Vera has the plan, but she admits that she’s just been going along, clueless as her fellow travelers They make a stop for sandwiches and Vera steals a soft drink. The situation is tense, but everyone relies of Allen to smooth things over (which he always does).
Chapter Two: THE OFFICE
Boss has created an uncomfortable working environment for Other People. Boss has been trying to organize yet another trip, but Other People are finally voicing their dissatisfaction with Boss’s preparations. This is a problem. The office relies on Other People holding their tongue, and simply agreeing to the conditions that Boss has not bothered to communicate. Other People have been hired to offer their good ideas so that Boss can suddenly deem them his own.
Meanwhile, Secretary if aloof and distracted. She is exhausted. She may be pregnant. She hates to talk on the telephone. She watches, lethargically, as Operator spills another cup of tea on his dress shirt.
Chapter Three: THE SUPERMARKET
It begins with a frame by frame audio description of the video graphics and recorded images of “The Supermarket (Famous People) episode of Perfect Lives. Different scenes are described with as much detail as creatively needed.
At the fulcrum of the work, an insert of a wholly different scene cuts in. A train conductor takes the microphone to direct the passengers attention to the unremarkable sights which can be viewed through the train’s window.
Bob dons the perfect shade of lipstick, complimenting his brilliant silver hair and yellow shawl.(envy)
Chapter Four: THE BACKYARD (an escape)
The Persistent counting found in Ashley’s “The Backyard” makes large formal impressions.Childhood memories from an American suburban upbringing are trotted to the fore. SHE is trying to figure out how to leave without hurting her mother’s feelings. HER MOTHER only wants to reminisce. Two stereo clocks are counting and skipping in each ear, passing and inaccurately marking the time at different rates. Everyone hopes they will soon reach the end - in fact, they can’t wait any longer.
This album has been made with support by the Musikfonds Stipendiumprogramm.
Special thanks to Peter Margasak, Katie Young, Andrew Greenwald, François Sarhan and the Carrier Records team.