My Misshapen Ear, by Joe Sorbara

My Misshapen Ear

by Joe Sorbara

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1.	My Misshapen Ear I 03:16	buy track
2.	My Misshapen Ear II 07:37	buy track
3.	My Misshapen Ear III 06:00	buy track
4.	My Misshapen Ear IV 05:11	buy track

about

My Misshapen Ear is a four-piece mini-suite inspired by a moment in the opening chapter of Haruki Murakami’s novel, 1Q84.

Reading 1Q84, I was drawn in by the seemingly strange focus on the "malformed" ear of Aomame, a character who is in the process of deciding to "do something out of the ordinary". Inspired toward the unexpected by the sounds of Leoš Janáček's Sinfonietta on the radio—"probably not the ideal music to hear in a taxi caught in traffic"—she rises to the dare implicit in the cab driver's suggestion that an emergency staircase might be used to escape the expressway they are stuck on, "but you'd have to do something a little. . . extreme."

Just before Aomame gets out of the car—to the applause of the audience listening to Janáček's music, no less—the driver warns her to, "please remember: things are not what they seem... you are about to do something out of the ordinary... And after you do something like that, the everyday look of things might seem to change a little. Things may look different to you than they did before... But don't let appearances fool you. There's always only one reality." To the astonishment of their passengers, she makes her way through parked cars to the emergency staircase and descends to the street below as "the early April breeze [...] sweep[s] her hair back now and then, revealing her misshapen left ear."

As creative musicians, we invest lifetimes in the misshapen-ness of our ears; ears "malformed," perhaps, in a more metaphorical sense than Aomame's, but just as inclined toward the unexpected, just as drawn by the out-of-the-ordinary. They are ears that long for change, ears that perk up in celebration of difference, ears that hear the very real beauty in unexpected sounds and seek to inspire that recognition in others.

credits

released June 6, 2022

Anthony Argatoff . alto saxophone
Andrew Furlong . bass
Joe Sorbara . drums, percussion

all compositions by Joe Sorbara (Oval Window Music, SOCAN)

recorded by Leon Taheny at Union Sound Company, Toronto, 12x2017
mixed by Leon Taheny and Joe Sorbara
mastered by François Houle, FMH Productions
artwork, design, and notes by Joe Sorbara

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about

Oval Window Records Toronto, Ontario

Oval Window Records came to life in the Southern Cross Lounge of the Tranzac Club in Toronto in 2003 when Joe Sorbara came to the decision that the music of Saint Dirt Elementary School, who were playing another brilliant set, needed to be documented.

The label continues to run on an almost-non-existent budget coupled with a good dose of hope.

There is more music to come. Thanks for listening. ... more

ovalwindowmusic.org

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