New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Revisiting his Musical Persona,
Martin Walker (as Alter-Ego, Performer Art Schop,) is Inspired by the Lives and Works of Seminal Writers Including Emily Dickinson, Samuel Beckett, Albert Camus and others -- Literate Rock Album 'Death Waits II: The Writers' is out now
In a series of new interviews, below, performer Art Schop (the alter ego of singer, writer and philosopher
Martin Walker,) shares an inside look at the making of his esoteric new rock album 'Death Waits II: The Writers'. On the acclaimed CD, Schop pays homage to the lives and literary styles of an eclectic range of writers, including Sylvia Plath, Dante, Emily Dickinson, Samuel Beckett, Albert Camus and more, "dazzling listeners with yet another series of inspired and thought-provoking vignettes."
Walker praises these seminal writers as "mortals creating immortality", and reveals more of his creative process in his liner notes, here:
https://artschopmusic.com/death-waits-ii-the-writers/
This is a complex, multi-dimensional collection in which Walker performs as Schop who performs in the mindset of
Dante and so on. As was the case with his acclaimed first album, 2015's 'Death Waits I:
Music and Fine Arts', Walker conceives 'biography songs', and each track becomes a literate piece of art within which Schop may emulate the vocal mannerisms of the writer's style (as he describes below) or have the sound of the song evoke a mood consistent with the writer's works.
An expansive interview and Exclusive Video Premiere ran via Eponymous Review -
By Laurie Fanelli, 3/2019
Interview: Art Schop's
Martin Walker talks 'Death Waits II: The Writers,' debuts new video for 'Have You Paid The Gasbill"
https://www.eponymousreview.com/4795/interview-art-schop-martin-walker-talks-death-waits-ii-writers-debuts-new-video-have-you-paid-gasbill/
A lengthy new interview and Exclusive Video Premiere with VENTS Magazine:
https://ventsmagazine.com/2019/03/12/interview-art-schop/
The Record-Journal - CD Review (Meriden, CT)
By Jim Pasinski 3/2019
https://www.jpsmusicblog.com/2019/03/dont-miss-out-on-new-music-from-don.html
"After nearly three years, singer/songwriter/philosopher Art Schop returns with his sequel "Death Waits II: The Writers." It pays homage to the lives of such famous writers as Emily Dickinson, Sylvia Plath,
Dante and others through these ten brand new songs featured on Art Schop's latest release. He begins with a song for Dickinson with the title song "Death Waits II." The song's sweeping melody and emotional lyrics showcase Schop's love for Dickinson's writings. Next, he rocks out on "A Poor Aunt," for his homage to Japanese writer, Haruki Murakami, then quiets his sound on the sweet melody of "My First Goose" as Art Schop sings about Isaac Babel. The steady flow of "Have You Paid The Gasbill" for Sylvia Plath and the gentle touch of "Beatrice" for Dante, display the love and inspiration that has been felt while writing about his heroes. Art Schop wraps up his new album with the acoustic folk appeal of "Dublin To Trieste" (homage to
James Joyce) and the grand closer of "Existentialist Nostalgia" (for Albert Camus). To find out more about Art Schop and his latest release "Death Waits II: The Writers," please visit artschopmusic.com > "
Walker further describes the concept as follows:
"Literature and music have always overlapped for me. Writers like Emily Dickinson, Samuel Beckett, and Albert Camus use rhythms and colors the way that Beethoven, Bowie, and Satie do. And songs inspired by books and writers have long been part of my musical output. The Death Waits project put songs about artists front and center, and proved so fertile that The Writers eventually took up an album for themselves! As with the song for Sappho on Death Waits I, Death Waits II weaves together the works, the lives and the literary styles of its subjects — Beckett inspires terse, elliptical lines, Camus demands philosophical beauty, Plath's father takes over as the deluded narcissistic narrator of her fate. Working on these songs over the years, I found that the preoccupations and motivations of these writers informed each other reinforcing the common theme, that of mortals creating immortality."
Each song on 'Death Waits II' is accompanied by a stunning illustration, courtesy of artist Eric Collins. This striking visual element, coupled with Walker's song notes (link above,) provides an additional glimpse into the project's intellectual and musical complexity. See a portfolio of Collins' new collection, here:
https://spark.adobe.com/page/rnpvyyZ9x9Y5r/
A series of stark, intimidating, intense videos have been shot. In addition to the Exclusive Video Premieres seen in the coverage above, a clip for the title track is viewable here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4YrzVH7eiI&feature=youtu.be
'Death Waits II' was released March 12th. An album release concert and tribute to Jimi Zhivago's work on the project took place on March 15th, and more dates will be announced soon. Zhivago (Walker's collaborator on the 'Death Waits' projects) sadly passed away after completion of the recordings.
Another early review offered praise:
https://audiofuzz.com/hear/writers-to-indulge-in-art-schop-the-writers/
Art Schop has done it again. In his last album, he explored some of his favorite painters and sculptors; in this album, he explores his feelings and reactions to his favorite writers, many of which are mine also. These artists are Emily Dickinson, Haruki Murakami, Isaac Babel, Samuel Beckett, Sylvia Plath,
James Joyce, Dante, Paul Bowles, Seamus Heaney, and Albert Camus. And how you knew three of my favorite poets were Dickinson, Plath, and
Dante (you need to include Sexton and Rosetti the next time), and Murakami is my go-to author always. And of course, Schop's lyrics, music, and especially his keyboards always set the mood for his great introspective songs. No doubt, Art Schop is one of the most intellectual singer/songwriters out there without being so obtuse as to scare potential listeners away. This is magnificent music.
MORE ABOUT ART SCHOP:
Martin G. Walker began writing, recording and performing as Art Schop upon feeling constrained by the limits of the singer-songwriter format. After writing a song about Arthur Schopenhauer's turgid inner life (or so imagined), Walker adopted and adapted his favorite philosopher's moniker and moved merrily forward into a productive period of songwriting that has yielded song cycles about the novels A Chronicle of A Death Foretold by Marquez and The Fall by Camus, income inequality and the subsequent collapse of the Greek empire (Wolfswork), and Composers, Musicians and Artists in Death Waits I, bringing us to his current outing Death Waits II: The Writers. Expanded Bio: https://artschopmusic.com/about/
Notes On The Death Waits Recordings:
Several years ago some of these songs existed in a rudimentary state. Bringing them to fruition seemed to require just a bit of expert arrangement and production for which I turned to Jimi Zhivago. If we'd known then that we would be spending hundreds of hours recording, rerecording, and for my part writing and rewriting the music that you hear today, working through bitter winters and sweltering summers in my basement(s) and various recording studios around New York, perhaps we would have thought twice about it. But we didn't. Thank you, Jimi, for your fellow naivety, your boundless creativity, and your endless encouragement.
Visit:
https://artschopmusic.com/
