INDIGO SILENCE
Available Now!
Alma Matters' Natalie Cressman and composer/guitarist Ian Faquini have written some great music during quarantine! One of these collaborations is our next release, "Indigo Silence". With music by Ian Faquini and words by Natalie Cressman, and features new members of Alma Matters' extended family: Kanoa Mendenhall, on acoustic bass, and Brazilian drummer/percussionist Douglas Alonso, along with Ian Faquini on guitar, Natalie Cressman on vocals and trombone, and Jeff Weinmann on flute.
The official "Indigo Silence" music video, directed by Molly Levy. This video is about sustaining love and the dance between intimacy and distance in relationships. We're grateful that the smoke from the 2020 California fires cleared up on the day of our shoot to allow the beauty of the San Francisco Bay area to be visible and inspire our dancers
Official Music Video
Both dancers took COVID-19 tests and followed careful protocols during the rehearsals leading up to the shoot as well as the shots with them close together without masks.
THE PLAYERS
Molly Levy
Natalie
Cressman
Trombonist/composer/vocalist Natalie Cressman has assimilated the full range of her sonic influences into a startlingly mature, strikingly original voice that melds the sophistication of modern jazz with captivating storytelling and intoxicating melodies reminiscent of indie rock's most distinctive songwriters.
Ian
Faquini
Ian Faquini is a Brazilian composer, guitarist, and vocalist who was born in Brasília and has lived in Berkeley. Ian has become one of the most unique and respected guitar players in the San Francisco Bay Area, with his distinct compositional style and harmonic sense. He is also a brilliant accompanist, which has made him an in-demand collaborator.
Kanoa Mendenhall
Kanoa Mendenhall is a bassist originally from Yokohama, Japan. She moved to Monterey, California with her family as a child. She attended education programs at SFJAZZ and the Monterey Jazz Festival, and after entering high school she started playing gigs with Bay Area musicians such as Bruce Forman, Vince Lateano, and Dick Whittington and more.
Douglas
Alonso
Drummer and percussionist Douglas Alonso is an example of a musician who fell in love with a style from an early age, and made it his life and breadwinner. A sambista by nature, Douglas began playing the pandeiro and later adapted the technique of the instrument to drive with the drumstick, which made it even more distinctive in his style.
THE DANCERS
Molly Levy
Molly Levy is a movement artist and dance educator based in the Bay Area. Throughout her work is a curiosity in the history in our bodies and the stories we tell when we move. As a dance educator, Molly believes and teaches that movement can empower people of any age, ability, and experience. In every aspect of her career, Molly holds a deep commitment to finding joy in movement and in being in our bodies.
Julianna Cressman
Julianna Cressman is a San Francisco native, hailing from a musical family. In COVID-19 times, Julianna has been featured in various music videos and continues to work with Sarah Bush Dance Project virtually, while using this time away from live performance to intensify her salsa training.
THE LYRICS
Indigo Silence
Lyrics by Natalie Cressman
Eyes
Shining beside me
like two embers ensconced in night
Lost
the line between
you and me shadowed and out of sight
In the
blush of an ascending day
Calm
There’s nothing
even left to say
—
In indigo silence
Truth unravels
each stitch and seam
As we shed each vestige
to dive deeper into a dream
What’s the matter with just staying there?
Moments stretch as your breath fills the air
__
Oh the passing of years only kindling
The flame of our fire never dwindling
Distilled to the essence of care
Across every road, over distance
no I can’t recall one sole instance
where I couldn’t feel you right there, While
Plumes fill each foreign sky up above like
smoke signals of a waiting love
I am tracing the way back to you
See, the flickering mimics the beating
of my open heart over heating
Enraptured and touched to the core
To the shadows where trouble may lay
We invade with a blaze come what may
Holding love that will burn evermore