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Persimmon

by Mortimer, Be Quiet.

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Calle Falksten
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Calle Falksten Awe-inspiring artpop from Toronto,Canada. If Kate Bush s Suspended in gaffa decided to travel to the future and meet up with Julia Holter there in 2000 to write a queer musical together you might end up here. Magical and addictive in equal measures. Favorite track: Dare To Hope.
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Pitchforks 02:59
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Spent 03:29
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After Dark 05:42
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Harm Of Will 04:49
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Dare To Hope 03:57
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about

Persimmon is an album of multi-phased and orchestrally layered songs about the loneliness and isolation of growing up and growing apart.
From friends and family, from society, and from even your own body.

Starting off as accidents on the piano, through continual play over years, these small phrases developed into ornate orchestral compositions. Think Owen Pallett’s “Heartland” at the hands of Julia Holter. A record for those who prefer “The Dreaming” to “Hounds of Love”, and miss the beautiful and violent juxtapositions of St Vincent’s “Actor”, but with a love for Morricone.

Inspired by film scores, these orchestrations are embroidered with foley sounds like ocean waves, street noises, to even gunshots and dogs howling, embellishing the cinematic atmosphere.

Like the title’s namesake (Persimmon, a fruit), the first half of the record’s manically shifting and violent propulsive arrangements have their guard up, presenting an astringency that when left to ripen by the second half, falls apart in a syrupy and complexly sweet mess.

Ultimately, with this record I present a negotiation between either succumbing to the depths of despair or the uncertain potentials of hope. And I like to think by the closing track “Dare to Hope” I’ve chosen the latter.

This album marks the first time having collaborated with other musicians. Anh Phung and Alan Mackie contributed live flute and upright bass to these recordings, providing liveliness amidst my singing, piano and accordion playing, and synth, string, and beat programming.

This project has been immensely meaningful, and despite being one of the most ambitious undertakings of my life so far, working on these songs has proven to be personally cathartic, and to be able to provide an outlet for others to also process this heaviness would be incredibly gratifying.

credits

released November 24, 2023

All Songs Written By James Knott
(Except Where Noted)

Harm Of Will - Harmony Korine, Björk, Guy Sigsworth

One More Goodbye - Lyrics Adapted From
“Contact Study: Rehearsals In Minor Abstraction”
By Francisco Fernando-Granados

All Instruments Performed And Programmed By James Knott
(Except Where Noted )

Flute, Alto Flute, And Piccolo On 2, 3, 6, 13 - Anh Phung
Upright Bass On 2, 3, 4, 11, 13 - Alan Mackie

Written 2017-2023
Recorded March 2022 - May 2023

Mixed And Mastered By James Knott
Except 2, 5, 6, 12 - By James And Wayne Knott

Photography By Nicholas Aiden
Silk Screened Butterflies By Monique Martin

Concept By James Knott
Art Direction And Graphic Design By James Knott

Thanks To:
Mom, Wayne, Anh, Alan, Francisco, Simran, Evelyn,
Mary-Kate, Xhesika, Janet, Nicholas, Monique, Gerald, Moe,
Auntie-Net, Milada, Julianne, Maria Belén, Hil, Rida, Ash,
Vanessa, Richard

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about

Mortimer, Be Quiet. Toronto, Ontario

Mortimer, Be Quiet. is the musical project of emerging Toronto based artist James Knott. Named after their creaky-voiced grump of a piano, Mortimer. looks to make deliriously off-kilter oddball pop music; with the masochistically wry confessional awareness of a singer-songwriter, but the absurdity of a mad scientist desperately seeking satisfaction (and never finding it). ... more

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