Aeolian Bedforms
Following the March 11, 2020 release of Rock Record, eclipsed by the COVID-19 pandemic shut-down that Friday, Los Angeles singer songwriter, pianist, and teacher Liz Pappademas returns to Baker and Pine Recordings with a fully improvised instrumental EP.
Aeolian Bedforms is an exploratory, calming, six-song solo project. Composed, performed, and recorded by Pappademas, the song titles reference playgrounds from Pappademas’s childhood in San Francisco, except for the final track, written the day Mark Hollis of the band Talk Talk passed away.
The album title speaks to the aerodynamic ripples arising spontaneously out of a two-way interaction between surface and air, and the irregular transfer of material between them. Aeolian bedforms are dunes, wave-like motions and shapes on Earth or elsewhere.
In Pappademas's own words: "The improvisations on Aeolian Bedforms were created by selecting a keyboard setting (which on the Korg SV1 are all round dials), or sitting at the piano, then thinking of a place, and recording what comes to mind. When one 'song' is finished, turn the dial or re-place your hands at random and see where that sound takes you.
I wrote these songs thinking of the places I used to play, usually alone, when I was a little girl. San Francisco is a small city, so it’s easy for a young person to get around. I did not have to rely on my parents to drive me anywhere. I would listen to my Walkman while hiking through the foggy eucalyptus groves in the Presidio. I'd build forts and have conversations with myself, skateboard to the playgrounds, shoot free throws for hours, inventing imaginary teammates and rivalries. Childhood is a perpetual state of improvisation.
The final track was my attempt to connect with Mark Hollis's memory, his style of playing, and to mourn a great loss without using words. Talk Talk's records continue to influence the way I listen to and write music. This album is a tribute to the music that calms us, that transports us to another time and place, that arises, spontaneously out of the sand and wind. Even though we are constrained by the pandemic, we can still travel in the mind."
Pappademas considered developing the songs on Aeolian Bedforms into more structured pieces with additional instrumentation, but decided to release them to the world as is, with the hope that Rock Record would sustain any listeners seeking a more polished product. For fans suspicious of this new direction, Pappademas's next piano/vocal album, Love Premiere, will be released in 2021.
Released on 11/6/20 (a Bandcamp Friday), all proceeds from this EP will be donated to Sunrise Movement, which aims to stop climate change and create millions of good jobs in the process.
LIZ PAPPADEMAS
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ABOUT
Liz Pappademas is an American singer songwriter, pianist, and educator.
Born in a New York City Checker taxicab and raised in San Francisco, Liz graduated from Berklee College of Music where she won the SESAC Award for songwriting and a John Lennon Songwriting Contest scholarship.
Touring both solo and as a member of various bands, Liz began her professional career in Austin, Texas with her trio Hurts to Purr. She has performed three times at the South by Southwest music festival and has been featured on local radio and NPR’s All Songs Considered.
Known for poetic lyrics with affecting melodies, Liz is influenced by songwriters and film composers who share her interest in telling stories: Randy Newman, Ennio Morricone, Tom Waits, Aimee Mann, Joni Mitchell, and others.
In 2012, Liz returned to school to study special education at California State University, Northridge. Her master’s thesis explored parallels between academic homework and music practice and the inherent challenges in both for students with learning disabilities. She became K-12 Director of Learning Services at Sequoyah School in Pasadena in 2022. She lives in Los Angeles.
Liz Pappademas is an American singer songwriter, pianist, and educator.
Born in a New York City Checker taxicab and raised in San Francisco, Liz graduated from Berklee College of Music where she won the SESAC Award for songwriting and a John Lennon Songwriting Contest scholarship.
Touring both solo and as a member of various bands, Liz began her professional career in Austin, Texas with her trio Hurts to Purr. She has performed three times at the South by Southwest music festival and has been featured on local radio and NPR’s All Songs Considered.
Known for poetic lyrics with affecting melodies, Liz is influenced by songwriters and film composers who share her interest in telling stories: Randy Newman, Ennio Morricone, Tom Waits, Aimee Mann, Joni Mitchell, and others.
In 2012, Liz returned to school to study special education at California State University, Northridge. Her master’s thesis explored parallels between academic homework and music practice and the inherent challenges in both for students with learning disabilities. She became K-12 Director of Learning Services at Sequoyah School in Pasadena in 2022. She lives in Los Angeles.