Recording, Reclaiming & Relationships

In mid-April of 2020, I decided to reopen the store during the covid-mandated small business shutdowns. While at a hardware chain store, allowed to stay open during the mandate, I realized how foolish the shut downs were. Lowes had hundreds of people in their store. Hundreds. My decision was made. I’m reopening.

I had a lot of time on my hands. I had to open the store, prepare for scheduled appointments, figure out when employees would come back to work, and of course find new music as the background while designing, working and framing.

During breaks between design appointments, I explored Bandcamp to find and download inspiring music. This kept me motivated and productive, helping to recover lost revenue and cover rent paid during the mandated shutdown.

I downloaded hundreds of songs and dozens of albums. Music is quite a motivational tool for me and I had a lot to do during one of the most depressing times in the company’s fifteen year history.

One artist and one album stood out as a “best of” and I ended up listening to that album many times while I worked to make up for lost sales and rent.

I was fortunate to find and download an album by artist Silas J.Dirge called “Tales of Woe”. It was one of the first albums, in years, that I listened to on repeat. It’s the kind of album that I would have searched for back in the 1990’s, an artistic statement. Not to date myself but albums that are a story unto themselves are rare and I had found one that I loved.

I fell in love with “Tales Of Woe”. I was flabbergasted when the artist wrote me a personal message asking me how I found his music and what I thought of it. This doesn’t happen often. That conversation continued for quite some time as we talked about musicians, bands and the scene over here in the states.

In April 2021 I asked Silas to send me a few printed versions of his album cover. I received the prints and made sure to frame one especially for Silas and send it back to the Netherlands.

I used piano wood that was over 100 years old to make the frame. Of course I had to use acrylic glazing as the piece was to be shipped three and a half thousand miles away. The cracked varnish and aged patina matches exactly with the dusty old vibes of Silas’ music. (You can see the frame in the photos)

I might be the biggest Silas J. Dirge fan in the world and now, I’m excited to say, I am the drummer on his new album, “Swan Songs”.

I’ve yet to meet Silas J Dirge in person but over the last four years our friendship resulted in an opportunity for me to play drums on his latest album.

We’ve been sharing tracks remotely for the past two years and you can hear our collaboration here. Silas J. Dirge’s new album is called “Swan Songs” and will be available on all music platforms.

The first song released is called “The Saddest Girl.”  You can hear and see a video  here: The Saddest Girl

When you follow Silas J. Dirge you will receive two more singles and then the entire album. You can follow Silas on Spotify, Apple Music, You Tube, Bandcamp. Read more about Silas J Dirge here.

This album features MorganEve Swain (upright bass, fiddle and backing vocals), Harald de Ruiter (slide guitar), me (drums and percussion) and my son Keith Slobogan (percussion).

Thanks for reading,
Matt Slobogan