SPARK LIKE LIVING MOTHERS - SIMON GOFF
‘Spark Like Living Mothers’ is the Grammy Award winning composer, engineer and producer Simon Goff’s sophomore album, set for release by Grand Chess Records on 13th October 2023. The follow up to 2021’s critically acclaimed ‘Vale’, ‘Spark Like Living Mothers’ is a project born out of a question - what happens at the moment everything stops and restarts again? To this end, the whole album has its roots in an arrangement Goff did of the beautiful choral piece ‘If ye love me’ by Thomas Talis. A six track collection of immersive, textural and intuitive electronica, the album is testament to Goff’s multifaceted practice.
The album’s lyrics were written with Sam Potter of Late of the Pier, whose work explores dreams and creates realities. Using an Artificial Intelligence algorithm that Potter has been working with for over 2 years to process and create material, the pair generated text that formed the poem ‘Spark Like Living Mothers’’ (see below).
The pulsating, mesmerizing first single arrives with a video by legendary visual artist John Sanborn, which uses a combination of lidar and photometric scanning to produce instant 3D models of two performers, Sarah Cecilia Bukowski and Paunika Jones. In doing so it adopts the Japanese concept of wabi-sabe, encouraging the viewer to appreciate that nothing is truly perfect or permanent, and to embrace reality to survive and thrive.
‘Spark Like Living Mothers’ is also accompanied by artwork from artist, illustrator and legendary underground tattooist Ruth Marten. Furnished by Simon with the music, a poem and a brief explanation of the project, the resulting image perfectly represents the playful, creative elements of the album.
The album is also available as an exclusive collector’s edition which consists of the LP set plus one of 25 (+4 APs) original works by Ruth Marten.
In support of the release, Simon Goff will play a series of gallery shows in Germany and Belgium, including NÜÜD Gallery in Berlin on 5th October, Van Der Grinten Gallery in Cologne on 9th September and Rivoli in Brussels on 10th September.
The release is sponsored by the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg, Department for Culture and Media.
