September is always a noisy, chaotic month. Maybe this rings especially true for educators, but I think most people feel it. When the calendar page flips, we leave lazy summer days behind and are jolted into a new, busier season. Because of this somewhat stressful change of pace, the timing of Rob Collier's new album on Geology Records, titled Moving Backwards, could not be better.
Collier's five spare, meditative piano pieces do not actually move us backwards (an impossibility), but they do slow things down for a moment. The artist explains that his music is inspired by the stillness of nature and pausing of time - themes which are very apparent on Moving Backwards. Soft chords are spaced with long rests, and if you sit with the entire album (perhaps on your lunch break?) you can really feel your heart relax and breathing slow.
But Collier also acknowledges that even nature does not stand completely still. Time is simply different in the natural world than it is for us humans running the rat race day in and day out. Personally, I look forward to revisiting this album again and again this fall, not only to center myself when I'm wound up, but also while sitting in my backyard, regarding the slowly changing scenery. Go ahead and listen to a favorite track below, and order a tape on Bandcamp through this link if you feel so moved.
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