Interdisciplinary artist Fletcher Tucker has shared “To Light A Fire,” the powerful second single from his forthcoming album, Kin. The track, a compelling fusion of animistic verse and hypnotic drones, features notable contributions from Phil Elverum (Mount Eerie) and Spencer Owen.
Drawing inspiration from an unlikely source, the track’s fluttering Mellotron flutes, performed by Owen, are inspired by the modal compositions of Hildegard von Bingen, the 12th-century German abbess and one of the earliest known composers. This ancient influence is masterfully contrasted with what Tucker describes as Elverum’s “anarchic percussive clatter,” together expressing a sense of cosmic polarity.
The song itself depicts a dramatic real-life event that he describes below. “To Light A Fire” is a prime example of the album’s foundational palette of “breathing instruments,” including Swedish bagpipes, pump organ, and various flutes. These elements create a textured soundscape for Tucker’s chanted vocals, which explore a deep, spiritual connection to the natural world. This new single serves as a further welcome taster of the enchanting and deeply personal world of Kin.
Fletcher Tucker shares:
“The first half of this song depicts a moment of real-life high drama, where my wife and I were caught in a white-out blizzard in the Northern Sierra. We survived the night beside a giant bonfire—we did not know my wife was only a few weeks pregnant at the time. Several months later, on the summer solstice, our daughter was born; the second part of this song describes her birth from a mythic, ceremonial vantage.
This song is exemplar of the ‘breathing instrument’ palette of Kin—featuring elder & bamboo flutes, pump organ, Swedish bagpipes, and Mellotron flute. The Mellotron flutterings (performed by Spencer Owen) draw inspiration from the modal hypnotics of Hildegard von Bingen; they form a call and response with Phil Elverum’s (Mount Eerie / the Microphones) anarchic percussive “clatter”, and together express Cosmic polarity.”
Video shot by Fletcher Tucker on Esselen land in Big Sur, California.
Kin is set to be released on August 15th via Gnome Life Records/Adagio 830.
Fletcher Tucker will be playing a series of Kin album release shows at community spaces supporting the esoteric underground throughout California this August. See the list of dates below.
Fletcher Tucker Album Release Shows
8/15 – Los Angeles, CA – Philosophical Research Society
8/16 – Berkeley, CA – Berkeley Alembic
8/17 – Big Sur, CA – Big Sur Grange Hall
Order via
Gnome Life: https://www.gnomeliferecords.com/physical-store/kin-by-fletcher-tucker
Bandcamp: https://gnomelife.bandcamp.com/album/kin