#chris tenz

[vic-the-butcher]

Thinking about you today, Chris. I know what energy you used has been given back to the Earth, and is being redistributed to, hopefully, create beautiful things. We all miss you.

[vic-the-butcher]

And as it turns out, a few days ago a friend in the music community passed by his own hand. I only had a handful of conversations with him, and he was always a really good guy. I'm sorry that you felt like it was your only decision, but I understand. I hope you're resting well, Chris. I'll be spinning my Slowwank album for ya.

[reallygoodbuddy]

Rest in peace, dear friend. You live on in your ponderous music. Meanwhile,You Will Forget by Chris Tenz

[christenzmusic]

Nails Through Bird Feet

Full stream of Nails Through Bird Feet, the new Chris Tenz album, released November 13th 2015 on Slowwank. Grab the LP, along with a bonus 7" and Cassette at https://slowwank.bandcamp.com

For the soundcloud lovers out there, go stream the new record. Then go buy the vinyl, because it comes with loads of extras and it won’t be around forever. Thanks, folks! 

[christenzmusic]

during the last five minutes before leaving for the memory drawings newcastle date, chris tenz decided to use richard's piano and guitar one last time. captured by richard adams.

[onethousandshirts-blog]

Poster I did for a gig me and Max are playing at (as Grapefruits) in a couple of weeks.  Should be good.

[onthebridges]

090213: Memory Drawings + Chris Tenz + Michael Marwood @ Morden Tower

Saturday 9th February 2013 @ Morden Tower £5 in advance / more on the door. Tickets from We Got Tickets.

There will be no bar on the night, but you're more than welcome to bring your own refreshments (including booze). MEMORY DRAWINGS  Listen | Web | Facebook

Memory Drawings is the beguiling, drum-less project of Minneapolis-raised, Morocco-based hammered dulcimer player Joel Hanson, erstwhile Hood guitarist/multi-instrumentalist and sometime Declining Winter main-man Richard Adams, and Lanterns on the Lake/Brave Timbers violinist Sarah Kemp.  Partly inspired by Adams’ native West Yorkshire landscape (particularly as enshrined in Ted Hughes’ and Fay Godwin’s 1979 poetry/photography essay Remains of Elmet), Music For Another Loss maps the contours between brooding melancholy and redemptive calm. It’s an equipoise reflected in a musical signature which simultaneously suggests both classical minimalism and hearth-side folk, but which, tantalizingly, is never quite either. With Hanson’s exotic dulcimer peals always at the core, framed in Adams’ and Kemps’ halos of poignant melody and harmony (here and there augmented by guest keyboardists Rachel Grimes, of Rachel’s, and Gareth S. Brown, along with the occasional trace of vocals from Yvonne Bruner) this is a seductive, watercolour music whose true potency lies in its subtlety, but which gets right under the skin from first listen, nonetheless. (N.B. The Memory Drawings live band for this performance will be Richard Adams, Joel Hanson, Gareth S. Brown and Chris Tenz). CHRIS TENZ  Listen | Facebook

Chris Tenz is a Calgary (Canada)-born, self taught multi-instrumentalist. Since the release of his debut record in June, 2009, he has tirelessly worked on expanding his sound with two solo projects, and as one half of “Language of Landscape”. His work consistently relies on mood and subtlety, never trying to hide or distract from the honest emotion being conveyed.

MICHAEL MARWOOD Listen 

Newcastle based Michael Marwood experiments with the acoustic guitar. His love of a variety of styles (including electronica, post-rock and ambient) influences his playing, resulting in an instinctive understanding of timbre and dynamics that sets him apart from his peers. His EP, 'Pneu_leaf. is different, in a good way.

At Morden Tower, Back Stowell Street, West Walls, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 4XG / http://www.mordentower.org/. Morden Tower is located in the alley behind Stowell Street. The easiest way to find it is to enter Stowell Street from Bath Lane, go through the walls and take a left directly before the 'Nagomi' restaurant. Take a right on to the back alley, and Morden Tower is up the stairs approximately 100 metres on the left. Disabled access is limited at Morden Tower - please e-mail [email protected] if you have any queries.

[bandcamphunter]

BCH Pick of the Week - Frozen Arms by Chris Tenz

In my rusty thoughts I can't be here

You may expect an album by an artist from Calgary that's released on an Edinburgh label (Mini50) to have a coldness to it. For the first suggestions of frost to be forming on its edges. I'm not sure if this is a concept album from Chris Tenz but the song titles provide a good indication of the atmosphere of these songs - "First Cold", "Frozen Homes", "Cold Sunshine". Then there's titles like "Artificial Lights", "Coffee Spills" and "Window Lights"..evocative phrases that conjure a certain fragility, a sparsity. Keeping the song titles to two words (track one "Birth" being the only single word title) is a conscious decision by Tenz, I believe, and maybe this is a concept album after all. In this place there's lots of nothing to be done

Introspection leads to restlessness. The void staring back at you and all of that. Sitting in a warm house all winter long can lead to cabin fever, no doubt. This album seems to sway between those internal ruminations and observations from a long walk in the cold, still night. Though there's larger issues shifting beneath the ice. I'll pretend that I've been well these past seven years

Tenz doesn't express this only through words though, he creates these contrasting feelings of warm melancholy and biting cold through the blending of gentle finger plucked folk and shimmering soundscapes. At times he adds samples too, as on the broken answering machine monologue on "Forgotten Friends". In these moments I'm reminded of the great Mark Linkous, in the creak of the piano set against the buzz of an old fridge. And like Linkous, Tenz seems to be a troubled soul, a soul that aches with wonder. There's themes and ideas here that remind me of something Jeff Tweedy said of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. Soemthing about that album being about the frustration of not being able to communicate, of the struggle to articulate one's feelings and experiences through the static of a fuzzy consciousness. Or something. Anyway, there's plenty of static on "Frozen Arms" (two words again, see?)-noise that melts away to reveal shards of pristine ambience. Voices emerge through the fog and clarity comes, then it goes again. When the words do come through it's apparent that these are lyrics crafted with heart, and often quite wonderful: So tear those paintings down there's disconnected ways we really should communicate; I read so far into your smiles I believe they're all encrypted plans to capture me

Encryption, disconnection, communication. The warm and the cold. This is what I believe this album is about. Things we all experience. For such a personal album, that's quite an achievement.

<a href="http://mini50records.bandcamp.com/album/frozen-arms" data-mce-href="http://mini50records.bandcamp.com/album/frozen-arms">Frozen Arms by Chris Tenz</a>