Josh Ginsburg - Zembla Variations (2012)

Zembla Variations. Zembla is the name I like to use for Red Hook, Brooklyn- the wonderfully strange neighborhood I have lived in while writing most of the music on this album. Zembla is also the fictional homeland of the narrator in Nabokov’s Pale Fire. As this book progresses it becomes less and less clear if the place really exists, or if it is just a mad fantasy.

PushBar. After September 11, 2001, the authorities in NYC installed emergency panels on the gates used for exiting the subway. Before that, we would ask the station manager to open the door. Now, everyone just pushes the bar, setting off an alarm that used to be alarming but is now just another sound in the landscape.

10,000 Leagues. A song based on “How Deep is the Ocean?” George masterfully plays the part of “other.”

Koan. A deceptively simple melody over a form that alternates between a large and small pulse. Like contemplating a zen koan, switching between the two meters causes a change in the perception of time.

Gently. Began as a ballad in 7/4 time; though may not be a ballad in the end. It’s has a very unusual, but infectious, rhythmic feeling. The melody is serpentine and lyrical.

Oxygen. A relaxed feeling, with a melody based on the breath; permeated by a creeping, secondary tonality.

Red Giant. A “red giant” is a star on the verge of explosion. The star explodes in the drum solo. In it’s aftermath, something new is created.

Jakewalk. An extended blues. Unusual metrics without preciousness.