Mary Lattimore "Returned To Earth" CS (2017)

Details: * RARE - Out of Print * Mary Lattimore, "Returned To Earth," CS released by New York holistic cassette tape label, Soap Library. Original pressings of each cassette were paired with a hand-stickered envelope containing a palmful of heirloom orange zinnia seeds, care instructions, and a digital d/l. This item is ONLY for the cassette (does not come with seeds). Previously owned, NM. Cassette comes in a white opaque shell with black pad printing on both sides and a red stamp on the top of the cassette shell. Each cassette has the hand-embossed "Soap Library" stamp on the slip-case cover insert. In 2020 the A-Side, "For Scott Kelly, Returned To Earth," would be released/reissued as one of the tracks for the Ghostly International release, "Collected Pieces: 2015-2020." The second release for the Soap Library label (out of 16, as of 2022).

Description: "Returned To Earth names twelve minutes of music by harpist Mary Lattimore and Soap Library’s sophomore release. The two tracks that make up this limited edition tape, like alternating sides of a shiny coin, share Lattimore’s trademark grace but vary in conception.

A-side offering “For Scott Kelly, Returned to Earth” was written for its namesake man + moment—the American astronaut’s homecoming from a year spent living aboard the International Space Station. Kelly’s ship-to-shore transmissions via social media redefined our image of the Astronaut from an intrepid explorer to something of an omniscient, benevolent spirit. Orbiting, watching, he posted updates on his orange zinnia (#spaceflower), aerial shots of great rivers and their curious zig-zags (#earthart), a moonrise, an aurora borealis. Lattimore followed and marveled at the sincerity in Kelly’s extreme, singular solitude. She fortuitously fell and fractured her jaw that winter, necessitating it be wired shut in order to heal. Undergoing two months without the ability to speak, Lattimore was confined to a strange isolation. Come spring, jaw healed and soul-inspired, Mary wrote a song for Scott Kelly as he returned to Earth after his final, year-long mission aboard the ISS—a new “Space Oddity” for the Aquarian Age.

Lattimore and Jefre Cantu-Ledesma crossed paths in the high desert plains of Marfa, Texas, and reunited to jam + record in New York City shortly thereafter. “Borrego Springs” is six minutes of beautifully balanced improvisations from this day spent together and completes Returned To Earth. Lattimore’s painterly flourishes are grounded by Ledesma’s expressive interplay of piano, guitar, and the very room itself—leaving one instrument to reverberate while crossing the space to re-activate the other. The resulting piece evolves the harp from a categorically solitary instrument to the anchor and root of this unique collaboration." 

Grade: NM (Cover/Cassette)

TRACK LISTING SIDE A:

A1. For Scott Kelly, Returned To Earth

TRACK LISTING SIDE B:

B1. Borrego Springs (featuring Jefre Cantu-Ledesma)