A Character of Quiet
Artist: Simone Dinnerstein
Release Date: September 18, 2020
Label: Orange Mountain Music
I recorded A Character of Quiet in June of 2020 in my home in Brooklyn, New York. My dear friend and producer, Adam Abeshouse, drove down from Westchester with a van full of equipment, and we made the album over the course of two evenings.
My experience of the pandemic was hardly unique in that it dramatically restricted my world. My son came back from London. My husband started working from home. All of my travel and concerts were cancelled. Time seemed to stop.
I felt very lucky to be able to stay in one place with my family but, candidly, lockdown did not make me feel creative or productive. It made me anxious and enervated. Indeed, for two months I think I barely touched the piano. Music did not seem like an adequate response to everything that was happening in the world. Instead I read Wordsworth and Melville and went for walks in Green-wood, the historic cemetery on my doorstep.
It was Adam who talked me back into music. He wondered whether my retreat from music might have led to new places artistically, and he pointed out that I had always wanted to record on my own piano, my favorite instrument. Recording in a concert hall was clearly out of the question in this new normal, but Adam was confident he could create an acoustic space in my room that would have its own integrity.