Initially released 10/23/2019 on digital
SUPPORT THE ARTIST - Please buy at lisacameronsisterskullrekkids.bandcamp.com/album/water-is-life
Lisa Cameron and Ernesto Diaz-Infante
"Water is Life"
1.Inception 07:33
2.Signs And Signals 05:49
3.Watery Water 08:47
4.Petroleum and Its Discontents 09:01
5.Infinite Struggle 05:37
6.Oceti Sakowin 06:57
7.Standoff At Backwater Bridge 05:05
8.The Twilight Of Capitalism 07:08
Lisa Cameron : percussion, contact mics, lap steel
Ernesto Diaz-Infante : electric guitar
Recorded at The Temple Of Light and Sound, Richmond, CA by Andy Puls
Mixed by Matthew Turner and Lisa Cameron
Mastered by Dylan Cameron
Cover Art- Marisa Pool
RUR122
Ruralfaune 2021
"Water Is Life"
Water Is Life is an audio sculpture that evokes impressions of one of the defining events of our time, the Standing Rock protests, with improvised sound. Each track describes a different phase of the conflict, beginning with "Inception", describing the initial tension between the Standing Rock Sioux and Energy Partners Pipeline, and ending with "The Twilight Of Capitalism", reflecting on the fortitude and resilience of the resistance.
In the summer of 2016, Lisa Cameron and Ernesto Diaz-Infante rented some studio time in Richmond, CA at a studio called The Temple Of Light and Sound. We spent some time while having dinner at a nearby Chinese restaurant discussing what we would do for the session. Ernesto said he was only playing an electric guitar, with no effects. I had brought along some percussion, some contact mics, and a Gibson lap steel. We had absolutely no idea what we were going to play, and arrived at the studio, which had formerly been a Der Wienerschnitzel, met the engineer, Andy Puls (of A Magic Whistle) and began setting up. We had only 4 hours to do the recording, so we went right in and Ernesto began playing the first track, "Inception", and away we went. Four hours later, we were leaving the building and felt really good about what we had done. We had some difficulty, but those mistakes later turned out to be assets, and later we found that they actually lend a unique quality to the recording, such as Lisa's amp literally frying in the middle of a song but sounding just right, the sound of a cat that lived in the studio meowing, a truck rolling by outside. We knew that we had done something very abstract. The result was this collection, completely improvised, no overdubs, a document of a mystical experience, Water Is Life.
Reviews
from felthatreviews@blogspot.com:
"A tale of momentarily lapse of unreasonable shifts - a new album by Lisa Cameron and Ernesto Diaz-Infante.
An improvised tale that has a very clear cultural and even ecological and political reference - a conflict between Standing Rock protesters and Energy Partners Pipeline. A tale and and a song lineput into 8 parts recorded (only) in 4 hours - improvised without overdubs giving you the raw version of mystical experience - the depth of the meditation on water - the source of energy and link between the human life and wider truth of the ecosystem. The improvisation of Lisa and Ernesto has some sort of folk purity about it. Something elusive that is lost in the pathways of time - the music in its purest of forms - deeply meaningful but without anything pretentious and pompous in it. A time closed in the time of deep listening experience - just like water - maleable and shapeless yet having the power to transform your understanding of what is it to be in touch with the most organic of the substances. There is another aspect of it which is very melancholical and quite sad but revived in a sort of a memory amalgam that could help you to understand things as an long prolonged afterthought. Something that haunts you deeply as a means to understand your private connection. Rarely you can experience such an intimate touch of creativity and vision."
credits
released March 15, 2021