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Ken Cormier, English doctoral student, teacher, occasional radio host has released a new album. (MICHAEL MCANDREWS, HARTFORD COURANT / October 8, 2009) |
It's not a question of one imitating the other: Life and art are deeply interconnected for Ken Cormier.
They intertwine in a self-perpetuating creative loop through Cormier's activities: He's a musician, poet, occasional radio host and full-time doctoral student at the University of Connecticut. He lives in Willington.
His new album, "Nowhere Is Nowhere" (Cosmodemonic Telegraph), is but one step removed from the work he's doing for his dissertation, which is about the audio presentation of creative works. It includes experimental sound pieces featuring his poetry and fiction.
"It does occur to me that maybe I'll make a record of those at some point," Cormier, 41, says by phone during a rare break in his schedule.
In the meantime, there's "Nowhere Is Nowhere," a collection of off-kilter pop songs with vivid (sometimes weird) imagery and carefully crafted arrangements of guitar, keyboards and drums. It's his third album and first since 2002.
"I felt no pressure about this record at all," says Cormier, who is married with an 8-month-old son. "I kind of decided that I wanted to do another record, but that I wouldn't have any kind of schedule for it. I would just kind of record songs as they occur to me, and I usually write songs as I record them."
These 14 tunes blend old themes with new ones, as Cormier layered current ideas on top of old demo recordings he revisited.
"It's really exciting having had a set of ideas back then and a whole new set of ideas now," he says. "It's interesting to go back to those old recordings, which kind of hit dead ends at the time, maybe. I have a ton of instrumental tracks that I never finished or lost inspiration for. It's nice to listen to those again and think, 'Wow, this is really interesting.'"
Although he performs occasionally, there are other things about music that Cormier loves more.
"My favorite thing about music since I've been a teenager has been the recording part," he says. "I've just always loved four-track recording. I feel satisfied hearing arrangements in my head and then recording them."
Couple his love of recording with technological changes in the way people find and collect music since Cormier's last record, 2002's "Radio-Bueno," and he's finding it easier than ever to reach an interested audience on his own terms.
"I can see myself settling into a period here when I can release records the way I want them to be with not much pressure at all," he says. "Whatever audience I can find is fine, but the stakes are lower, because it doesn't cost as much."
>> NOWHERE IS NOWHERE is $9.99 at www.cdbaby.com/cd/kencormier2. More CD reviews on Page C3.
They intertwine in a self-perpetuating creative loop through Cormier's activities: He's a musician, poet, occasional radio host and full-time doctoral student at the University of Connecticut. He lives in Willington.
His new album, "Nowhere Is Nowhere" (Cosmodemonic Telegraph), is but one step removed from the work he's doing for his dissertation, which is about the audio presentation of creative works. It includes experimental sound pieces featuring his poetry and fiction.
"It does occur to me that maybe I'll make a record of those at some point," Cormier, 41, says by phone during a rare break in his schedule.
In the meantime, there's "Nowhere Is Nowhere," a collection of off-kilter pop songs with vivid (sometimes weird) imagery and carefully crafted arrangements of guitar, keyboards and drums. It's his third album and first since 2002.
"I felt no pressure about this record at all," says Cormier, who is married with an 8-month-old son. "I kind of decided that I wanted to do another record, but that I wouldn't have any kind of schedule for it. I would just kind of record songs as they occur to me, and I usually write songs as I record them."
These 14 tunes blend old themes with new ones, as Cormier layered current ideas on top of old demo recordings he revisited.
"It's really exciting having had a set of ideas back then and a whole new set of ideas now," he says. "It's interesting to go back to those old recordings, which kind of hit dead ends at the time, maybe. I have a ton of instrumental tracks that I never finished or lost inspiration for. It's nice to listen to those again and think, 'Wow, this is really interesting.'"
Although he performs occasionally, there are other things about music that Cormier loves more.
"My favorite thing about music since I've been a teenager has been the recording part," he says. "I've just always loved four-track recording. I feel satisfied hearing arrangements in my head and then recording them."
Couple his love of recording with technological changes in the way people find and collect music since Cormier's last record, 2002's "Radio-Bueno," and he's finding it easier than ever to reach an interested audience on his own terms.
"I can see myself settling into a period here when I can release records the way I want them to be with not much pressure at all," he says. "Whatever audience I can find is fine, but the stakes are lower, because it doesn't cost as much."
>> NOWHERE IS NOWHERE is $9.99 at www.cdbaby.com/cd/kencormier2. More CD reviews on Page C3.