 |  | Lines Build Walls [play hifi lofi] [license] [download] |
 | | The Depths of a Year [play hifi lofi] [license] [download] |
I began playing at the age of five under the suzuki theory and continued with lessons until the age of 18 or so. I became bored with playing other peoples songs and the piano in general. I really started making a lot of progress when I got into improvising and composing my own pieces. This was around the age of 13 or 14.
I recorded and released my first solo album at the age of 17.
The Depths of a Year was written from the age of 18 to 19 while I first attended the University of Kansas. Much of the album came from a need to cope with a failed relationship. I wrote the album and called Kate who I barely knew. I did know she could play and she gladly joined on.
I dropped out of school to play piano and organ with a rock and roll band called the gadjits ( now the architects) and a band called the belles. I toured for two and a half years, playing over 300 shows in all of north america and the UK.
Being burnt out by the road and rough lifestyle, I have happily returned to school to study visual arts and focus on my composing, drawing from the likes of Radiohead, Interpol, and many others.
I am now 22 and hope to keep pushing the boundaries of my creativity and composing in general.
Lines Build Walls, my second album took two to three years to write and complete.
Most of that time was spent constructing the vision of a cohesive album before
it was ever written. I listened to hundreds of albums while on tour with my band
and patiently developed the sound I wanted. I grew from listening to Wilco
(Yankee Hotel Foxtrot), Interpol, New Order (Get Ready), Black Rebel Motorcycle
Club (B.R.M.C.), Medeski Martin and Wood, Spoon (Girls Can Tell), Primal Scream,
Ryan Adams (Heartbreaker), and Radiohead (everything). The discovery of
Amnesiac, the first radiohead album i heard and then OK Computer turned my world
of music on its head. All these albums posses the juxtaposition of beauty,
anger, joy, and melancholy...which is something that i strive for. As time
passed, my inspiration was fueled by two emerging themes: True love and the end
of the world...and how these two are interconnected. Each song title was
meticulously chosen as well as the album title..... Lines Build Walls...the idea
that once you cross a certain point you can never go
back...........................(maybe).
Pianist Ehren Starks is joined by Kate Gurba on cello for this album of Ehren's
music "The Depths of a Year."
Ehren approached Kate Gurba to work with him to perform on this album, to add
the sultry continuous tone of the cello the Ehren's minimalist, jazzy piano
textures.
"The Depths of a Year" essentially documents a relationship. This inspiration
produces a wide range of songs and emotions, ranging from jazz and classical to
new age.
Born in Tulsa Oklahoma but raised in Kansas City, Missouri. Currently attending the University of Kansas studying Art History Drawing and Painting. I now live in Lawrence Kansas USA.
