Cocoon by S. Hollis Mickey

Note: all sales of the digital album on this page will be donated to Solve, a nonprofit devoted to Myalgic Encephalomyelitis research and advocacy. https://solvecfs.org/about-us/

Physicals available: https://fullspectrumrecords.bandcamp.com/album/cocoon

Full Spectrum Records is honored to present ‘Cocoon,’ a new collection of recordings from interdisciplinary artist and educator S. Hollis Mickey.

To create a cocoon, a pupa spins a silken thread around itself. This thread is created from the body and energy of the larvae. In the same way, the winding tracks of ‘Cocoon’ represent the body and energy. Each track captures a real, finite amount of energy. These improvisations wrap tenderly around and around the time of their making, creating a protective capsule of an embodied moment.

S. Hollis Mickey has severe Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, which now significantly limits her ability to play music. This complex, energy-limiting disease with no effective treatment or cure inhibits Hollis’ physical, emotional, and cognitive output, and prohibits her from sitting up or standing for any duration.

In order to continue to create, Hollis had assistance constructing a recording set up with instruments set out – lap harp, flute, harmonium, kalimba, toy piano, and effects pedals, all complemented by her winding vocal lines. When she felt able, she would sit down in this arrangement and without preparation or composition, play until she was no longer energetically able. So, each improvised track sonically captures Hollis’ physical capacity for that day. As she played, she was focused both on the creation of sound but also on the state of her body, trying to ensure not to exceed physical limits. A tenuous, visceral cadence pulls the sound forward, out of Hollis’ body, into the world, and reaches out to the listener.

At the time of the release of this album, the severity of Hollis’ illness has progressed and she has been unable to make music for nearly one year, with her last playing captured in Cocoon. In this way, the album also serves as a recorded memory, a trace of a past body and way of expressing. She is now entirely housebound, with little physical ability to contact even briefly with others. ‘Cocoon’ invites the listener into a space of connection across time and space, a shared meditation, in and on the body.

A cocoon is a production of a form in transformation. A container made for deep rest. Spin into this sound space for being embodied now.

S. Hollis Mickey is an interdisciplinary artist working in text, textiles, sculpture, performance, and installation.

As a disabled artist, her work is created through the embodied experience of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis.

hollismickey.com
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