released March 23, 1999

Black Foliage • Animation Music
Recorded on various 4 and 8 track machines at home 95-98 and with Robert Schneider mixing and overdubbing on some tracks for two weeks in the spring of 98. Thank you, Robert. It was sequenced with the help of Issac McCalla. Mastered by Alan Douches.

The Olivia Tremor Control is: Bill Doss, Peter Erchick, John Fernandes, Eric Harris & William Hart
with help from the following people:
Julian Koster - Vocal on 21 & 27, Banjo on 18, Magnus Organ on 16, Saw on 13, Accordion on 17, 18, and 21
Jeff Mangum - Melodica on 8, Percussion on 9, Vocals on 13 & 27, generous loan of sound effects library for this project.
Eric Ledford - Cello on 8, sampled from his contribution to “The Late Music” by The Black Swan Network on several of the tracks.
Robert Schneider - Vocals on 8, Guitar on 10
Scott Spillane - Trumpet, Euphonium & Bugle on 4, 10, 18, 21, & 24
Kirk Pleasant - Trombone on 2, 4, 10, 13, & 21
John d’Azzo - Acoustic guitar on 4, Vocals on 21 & 27
Robbee Cucchiaro - Vocal on 27
Bryan Helium - Acoustic guitar on 4, Vocals on 13
Kevin Barnes - Acoustic guitar on 4, Vocals on 13, 21, & 27
Josh McKay - Vibraphone on 9
Kai Reidel - Xylophone and Selemintan on 9
Jeremy Barnes - Intro percussion on 9
Laura Carter - Vocals on 13 & 27, Percussion on 27
Andrew Rieger - Vocals on 13
Erin Rodriguez - Vocals on 13
Christopher Hart - Diving on 19
Jennifer Olliff - Vocals on 27
“Dream Tapes” used: Maggie Wright, Emily Grace McMullen, Hideki Ito, Ralf E. Friel, Jack Chang, Josh Bearman, and Troy Elyea.

Paintings by: W. Cullen Hart
Layout by: W. Cullen Hart, Bill Doss, Chris Bilheimer

"Tell us your dreams, send cassette taped details documenting your dreams and sounds of your environment (real or otherwise) four our next project."

Black • Foliage • Notes
"The idea as black foliage began was to take a section of the guitar line from Black Foliage (now called Itself) and make a set of animated departures stemming from that bass guitar melody, twisting it to many variations • as time moved on the animation series became intermingled with our daily lives, we added new hunks of sound everyday, the animation sections began to include pieces of each other example: the vocals from 1 were reshaped and sampled into 2 that reworking would be used. Again reshaped for for 3 etc. as the other songs began to take shape we began extracting elements of them example: horns from "Hideaway" and string part from "A Sleepy Company" as each song became integrated as a whole into the new songs, edits became edits within edits...which birthed "combinations"--pieces of songs melodies vocal parts, drum fills etc. become electronic interludes that are derived from the songs themselves, all of which are in various states of becoming or drifting back from animation. Including dreams along the way from our "send us your dream" appeal careful though was also considered as to making the music pulse with the rhythm of modern life at times things seem quiet, or multiple sounds merge...let your environment in..."

Black Foliage • Flags of Sympathy Swan Response
1. Opening: Lots of theremins
2. A Peculiar Noise Called “Train Director”
3. Combinations: This first brief introduction was pieces of the animation sections to come
4. Hideaway: 10 acoustic guitars are added 2 at a time as the mix progresses
5. Black Foliage Animation 1
6. Combinations: Tapes from our "Dream Appeal" are filtered over 3 animation sections
7. The Sky is a Harpsichord Canvas
8. A Sleepy Company: The violin and clarinet tracks in the first break were synced to the mix to retain the qualities of a fortunate accident that occurred as the part was being realized at home, as the mix returns to the chorus the violins and clarinets slowly fall out of sync with each other to create a natural phase-like effect • the closing animation is all made up of violins and cello from the chorus
9. Grass Canons: What if we wore our stripes in the sky?
10. A New Day: Two different sets of lyrics were combined in the left and right channels to achieve a new history. During the breakdown this songs horn section was sampled and is the source of animation
11. Combinations: Several vocals from Animation I are blended into the theremins from Opening
12. Black Foliage Animation 2: Listen closely...pieces from every animation section are used
13. I Have Been Floated: During the final chorus voices of 10 friends blend with and relieve each other: a thread runs through all things
14. Paranormal Echoes: Listening to bells and hardened beaches untouched
15. Black Foliage Animation 3: Paranormal Echoes theme crossed with the Black Foliage melody
16. A Place We Have Been To
17. Black Foliage (Itself): Clarinet is filtered through a variable speed oscillator adding lower harmonies to a chorus of saxophones
18. Sylvan Screen: The opening is made from various tapes from Sweden (Aug 96)
19. The Bark and Below It: An ocean is heard merging with the sounds of several bells. High wires and low bass are provided by two disguised pianos. Soon several vocal sounds are manipulated to sound frog-like as kitchen bowls become tiny gongs, soon to be interrupted by violins and cellos of The Sleepy Company. Things continue and merge with a street scene and at 4:15 an abrupt shift is brought by samples of the horns from several songs and piano turning to wet bursts, clarinets turn to flutes then to wet bursts, they stand alone at 4:46. A piano phrase is repeated 6 times before the street scene is visited again, under a blend of cellos form "Late Music" and horns from "Train Director" manipulates involving violin, cello, piano and clarinet continue until a marriage between these sounds and "Looking For Quiet Seeds" begins to sound like a transistor radio. At 7:40 Black Foliage theme leads in a divers splash, the songs re-emerge and various manipulations carry through to the final phase where animation to come is filtered and blended until the introduction of the final animation.
20. Black Foliage Animation 4: Things which seemed like guitars in the closing moments are actually people humming overdubbed to sound like a symphony
21. California Demise 3: I watched an eyeglass get up and walk away
22. Looking For Quiet Seeds: The lead vocal effect is gargled water
23. Combinations
24. Mystery: I know it's hard to believe in something you can't see
25. Another Set of Bees in the Museum: The flags, above them, can we go?
26. Black Foliage Animation 5
27. Hilltop Procession