Mason finds peace in nuance and finds more in less.
In January 2021, New York City-based guitarist Mason Lindahl, made his Tompkins Square debut with Kissing Rosy in the Rain. While Lindahl grew up listening to folk and country music in Northern California, his style of playing is largely influenced by minimalism and classical music. This month finds Lindahl touring Europe including a London date on 12 January at New Cross Inn (Tickets here).
Glenn Kimpton (from his album review here):
In his press release for this album, Josh Rosenthal (founder of Tompkins Square) talks about music that stays ‘in a zone, not caring about variation for variation’s sake.’ Kissing Rosy has this confidence but is also in many ways a very naked-sounding album; although there are effects heard throughout, there is an intimacy to the record that would be compromised by any more filling out of the arrangements. Every note that Mason plays on here counts and can be heard; there is no fat or filler, but instead a quiet strength and boldness to the music that makes it so effective. Kissing Rosy in the Rain is fantastic – Lindahl has explored the limitations and boundaries of instrumental guitar music and created something fresh and vital.
Glenn also took the opportunity to interview Lindahl who provided an insight into the album’s creation:
“There wasn’t really any concept for this…I had been wanting to do a record for a really long time, but wanted it to sound a very specific way. I had an idea and didn’t want to just sit in my bedroom and record it and have it come out as this half-assed thing. I wanted it to be exactly what it was, so I sat on these songs for about four years, waiting to record them.”
Watch ‘Outside Laughing‘, which was Directed and edited by filmmaker and writer Michael Roberson – I was heavily drawn to Mason’s music after discovering his album Kissing Rosy in the Rain. I gravitate toward atmospheric music — songs with emotional depth that don’t succumb easily to sentimentality. Mason’s music does this. It immediately conjured a wave of cinematic possibilities, so I reached out to him and told him I wanted to make him a music video. He liked my short films, so we had a few conversations before I brainstormed some concepts. This video for “Outside Laughing” actually began as a sketch for Mason. I was trying to convey the tone of an idea I’d hoped to shoot, so I began cutting together archival footage. But as I pulled in more footage and weaved it with the music, something clicked. It just felt right. I sent a cut to Mason, and he loved it. So I edited a bit more, cleaned it up, and locked the video for “Outside Laughing”.
Tour Dates
Short Film Essay: sky breaking clouds falling
“sky breaking clouds falling” is a film-essay directed by matvey fiks to the music of folk guitarist mason lindahl. fiks’s patrolling camera and lindahl’s acoustic guitar merge in a melancholy tune and create a poetic statement that resonates with the pandemic and its atmosphere.
a blinding police floodlight shines, similar to the beam of light flickering on and off from the camera. as an unwelcome witness, the lens observes the city streets from a single vantage point – a window of a passing car. breaking the night and the privacy, the film unrolls an epic image of new york on the verge. the city’s nightlife is revealed in fragments, following lonely dwellers, wandering in masks, hurrying away, and escaping under the cover of the sky until it “breaks and clouds fall”. the year 2020.