Snapshots by tom eaton

"The enemy of art is the absence of limitation." - Orson Welles

During 2020 I inexplicably found myself with both some alone time and a piano, and I started a practice of setting a one-minute timer and seeing if I could develop a meaningful idea in under a minute. The 25 piano improvisations presented on Snapshots are my favorites of the music that emerged. Each piece is loosely inspired by the fleeting moments in a life. A life, as Donald Fagen might say, lived by a person of my general height, weight, and build, who grew up in a remote suburb of a northeastern city in the mid-1970s.

During the process of this minor adventure I unexpectedly discovered that depth of feeling requires no particular time frame to develop, and that I could go deeply into a feeling much more quickly than I would have imagined. I also found that ideas that didn't have a distinct memory behind them took on new life when Sarah, who does words really good, gave them compelling titles such as "Watching the Dryer," or "Three Over Par At Mini-Golf." Who knew?

I tend to wrap my music in gauze and textures and it was so enjoyable to step out of that world and explore a solitary conversation with an instrument I've been playing every day since I was a teenager. I hope you love the results as much as I do!

Tracklist

1.	The Opposite Of A Bagel	1:10

2.	Considering The Extended Warranty	1:07

3.	The Good Advice You Just Don't Take	1:15

4.	When The Color Goes Out Of Things	1:08

5.	Staring Out The Window In Mrs. Peacock's Science Class	1:02

6.	Orwell Heads To The Kitchen	1:07

7.	for kissing and to sing with (for Sarah)	1:09

8.	Moving Day At Her Third Floor Walk Up	1:06

9.	Lucille Realizes	1:09

10.	Watching The Dryer	1:10

11.	Three Over Par At Mini-Golf	1:10

12.	When The Mail Comes	1:14

13.	Sometimes A Duck Is Just A Duck	1:14

14.	My Call Is Important To Them	1:06

15.	Tom's Tree	1:11

16.	Grocery Cart Takes A Snow Day	1:10

17.	Small Talk Goes Sideways In The Cereal Aisle	1:09

18.	I'm Not Sure How Long I Can Keep Doing This	1:13

19.	An Old Man Puts On Galoshes	1:08

20.	No Training Wheels	1:11

21.	Left At The Altar	1:08

22.	Punxsutawney Phil	1:06

23.	Walking Him To School	1:16

24.	The Empty (Nutty Bar) Box	1:10

25.	All That's Left Are The Snapshots	1:13

Credits

released March 15, 2021

Sounds and substance by Tom, created at The Marsh, Newburyport, MA. Titles by Sarah Earle and Tom. Those are our actual cats and they are being compensated.

License