When I was a kid I was scared of Oaks Park. It was just too much to take in—carnies, fast rides, bits of cotton candy floating aimlessly throw the air. It wasn’t until much later that I discovered that the park was, in actuality, kind of a small, run-down, dump; a relic from another era. When I moved back to Portland last fall, jobless and looking for some sort of direction, I visited the park one afternoon by myself, walking around on a cloudy day with just my iPod and a warm, sugary elephant ear. And I just happened to be listening to Ethan Rose.

Not many places like Oaks Park still exist in Portland. There’s barely a hint of modernity in the whole spot, save for the inevitable ATM machines; the park is built on rickety wooden rides, box cars and circus peanuts, ski ball and the famous roller rink. Rose’s music, on the other hand, is very modern sounding, despite that fact that its usually rooted in old technologies or instruments: music boxes, player pianos, carillions. And just like his past work, “Oh Wheels Rotating,” the first piece released from Oaks, maintains the same balance: its gurgling, chiming sounds always seem rooted in the present.

For his third full-length release (following the ambient Spinning Pieces and 2006s Ceiling Songs, one of my favorite records of this decade and a disc ex-Local Cutter Michael Bryne really loved) Rose recorded Oaks using the giant Wurlitzer organ installed near the skating rink. I’ll let him explain it:

Over the past year I’ve been coming out to the Oaks Park Roller Rink to play and record the Wurlitzer Theater Organ that is located there. The organ dates from the 1920s and was originally housed in the Broadway Theater in downtown Portland where it was used to accompany silent films. It is currently played and maintained by Keith Fortune who has been involved with the organ and the rink for the past fifteen years. I’ve had the privilege of assisting Keith with organ repairs, which has deepened my appreciation of the instrument. Musically speaking, my primary interest with this organ has been to bring its antiquated sounds into a modern context, essentially treating it with the same sense of sonic reinterpretation that I have brought to my previous works.

Like Ceiling Songs, “On Wheels Rotating” is a comforting, temporal record. I keep on hearing new things after a few spins, and I can’t wait to see how the rest of Oaks stacks up. Next time life leads me to Oaks Park, I’ve got a whole new soundtrack to listen to.

Download audio file (onwheels.mp3)

Links:
Ethan RoseSpace
Oaks Park

Photo courtesy of Ethan Rose