Baker's Dozen

Artists discuss the 13 records that shaped their lives

5. FursaxaAlone In The Dark Wood

Fursaxa is a project of Tara Burke who is a friend of mine and a longtime mainstay in the Philly music scene. She is also a one-woman band that works with loops and a bunch of instruments. She’s uninfluenced by fashion, doesn’t really care about being trendy and doesn’t tour that much. She purely makes music in this zone she occupies by herself. Her old house where we would hang out is this really cool place in the mountains, like a retro futuristic spaceship in the woods. Tara is just this really unique beautiful character who knows a lot about plants and I just really love and admire her. She’s the first person I experimented with music with, her and Helene Espvall from the band Espers who is a celloist. The three of us would hang out and play music. 

What do you say to the people who find the records drones and static a bit disconcerting? Your more of a harmony-based musician and this record goes in a completely different direction.

I love it because it feels very free and unselfconscious to me, it’s just her experimenting with sounds she has at home, it’s very personal and homespun in this way that I really love. I also know her very well so listening to the record always reminds me of my friend and her brain, for me it’s a magical and strange record.

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