Welcome to the website of Deconstruct My House, and composer/performer Jesse Olsen. Here you can find out about our current and past projects, listen to some music, and peruse our recordings. I’m updating this site often, so check it frequently! A huge thank you to Skye Bender-Demoll for helping me set this up.
I’ve uploaded some new audio and video clips from recent projects:
Video from Towards The Meeting Grounds, 4/19/09, Santa Rosa:
“Stepping Song”
“Humming Song”
“Opening Song”
And some audio from the same performance:
Audio from Open Graves/Tide Tables (Paul Kikuchi, Jesse Olsen, Alexander Vittum) at the Festival of Music for People and Thingamajigs, October 09, San Francisco:
And a rough mix of a recording in the Dan Harpole Memorial Cistern at Fort Worden, WA, with Paul Kikuchi and Stuart Dempster
Enjoy!
I’ll be playing songs from the album, with help from an amazing group of musicians including Peter “Tallpaw” Bergquist on guitar/piano/vocals, Maxwell Church on trombone/vocals, and Ben Gustin on guitar/bass/vocals (yes we’ll all be singing!). Reverent Sisters is the duo of Dawn McCarthy (of Faun Fables) and Joni Davis. This will be a really nice, intimate concert, and maybe your only chance to hear me play these songs live!
Saturday Oct 24, 8pm
Sebastopol Center for Arts, 6780 Depot St, Sebastopol
$10, no one turned away
for reservations: deconstructmyhouse@riseup.net
Read about “Ojito” in the post below titled “Ojito is done!”…and listen to samples at www.myspace.com/jesseolsen
an evening of unique live music, film, and performance
…electro-acoustic music performed on hand-crafted, sculptural instruments…
…dance performance with live musical accompaniment…
…environmental dance films & DIY animation…
Saturday September 26, 8pm
Green Valley Village Barn
Sliding scale $5-10
from the liner notes…
“This music was created during a year spent living in the high desert of New Mexico. Our small farm was surrounded on all sides by endless open space, with a small stream running nearby, the only water for miles around. With only a limited solar-power system, any sort of amplified or digital music making was impossible.
I spent days on end wandering with my guitar and a hand-held tape recorder, recording myself playing and singing into that bare, harsh, shockingly beautiful landscape. Much of this album consists of these original cassette tapes, layered and collaged together. Ojito is a reflection, investigation, and dialogue with that place, a record of what I saw and felt during my brief but transformative time there.”
—–
Ojito is a collection of strange and beautiful songs and sound-scapes. Guitar, piano, banjo, toy instruments, and found objects mingle with field recordings, creating a sound-bed for simple melodies and impressionistic lyrics. The hiss, click, and grainy sound quality of lo-fi technology take on their own voice, shaping the music, adding layers of dust and grit.
You can hear some of the tracks at www.myspace.com/jesseolsen
The CD is available online for $15 at www.cdbaby.com/cd/jesseolsen
You can also buy the entire album or individual tracks as downloads. If you want this album but can’t afford the CD Baby price (or would like to offer more as a donation), you can send a check for your desired price, plus $1.50 for shipping, to:
Jesse Olsen
18320 Willow Creek Rd.
Occidental, CA
95465
This is the debut album from Open Graves, the duo of my self and Paul Kikuchi, a Seattle-based percussionist, composer, and instrument-builder. “Hollow Lake” is a document of three days recording in the Dan Harpole Memorial Cistern, an empty 2 million gallon water cistern in Port Townsend, WA. The cistern is known to have the longest reverberation time of any structure in the world, reaching 45 seconds or longer.
These are sparse, carefully constructed improvisations on percussion, voice, guitar, trombone, scrap metal and driftwood, exploring the possibilities of this unique and magical space.
Released on Prefecture Records, this album is available as a CD or a download from CD Baby:
www.cdbaby.com/cd/opengraves
Listen at www.myspace.com/opengravesmusic
And stay tuned for a recording of our second session in the Cistern, featuring the trombonist Stuart Dempster, due out in November…
Taproot Dance Project and DeconstructMyHouse present...
An evening of new work by Frieda Kipar and Jesse Olsen
Friday & Saturday, April 24 & 25, 8pm
at The Imaginists Theatre Collective
461 Sebastopol Ave, Santa Rosa
Towards the Meeting Grounds weaves together dancing installations, a capella songs, and new solo dance and music works, in a landscape of movement and stillness, melody and rhythm, silent language and wild sound. With performers Peter Bergquist, Donna Denevan, Claire Drucker, Meryl Juniper, Meadow Leys, Chance Massaro, Anne Carol Mitchell, and Lee Wylie.
For reservations or more information, contact deconstructmyhouse@riseup.net or (707) 823-5008.
Check out the posts below for some new video and audio, including:
Video clips from a recent performance of “Makings”, Jesse’s adaptation of writings by his grandmother, Tillie Olsen
Rough mixes of a collaboration between Jesse Olsen and Paul Kikuchi, recorded in an underground water cistern in Port Townsend, WA
Work-in-progress songs from Ojito, a project of Jesse’s inspired by his year living in the high desert of New Mexico.
Enjoy!
Click here to go to the YouTube page with video excerpts from Makings, March 23, 2008, Sebastopol Center for the Arts.
Click on “Press” for the full text of a preview write-up for Makings, from the North Bay Bohemian, March 19, 2008.
Makings is a musical performance piece I’m working on, based on unpublished writings by my grandmother, acclaimed writer Tillie Olsen. I’ve been working on this piece for several years, and it’s nearing completion. [Read more →]
From the North Bay Bohemian, 3/19/08
RESURRECTING TILLIE
Jesse Olsen honors his grandmother’s life – in her own words