Walt McClements - On a painted ocean

Stillness can imply either tranquility or stagnation. Walt McClements grappled with these opposing forces in the years it took to realize On a Painted Ocean: a suite of searching accordion and pipe organ-led pieces that travel a steady course, swelling and expanding with a tide of tender emotion. The composer and multi-instrumentalist takes the title of his second album from Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s famous epic The Rime of the AncientMariner and its depiction of a boat that’s stalled at sea—As idle as a painted ship/ Upon a painted ocean. It’s an impression that mirrors both the process and the product of McClements’s Western Vinyl release, from the gentle unfurling of a raw reed tone on opener “A Painted Ship” to the gritty ebb and flow of effects-laden drone on “Washed Up,” and the closing flutter and signal interference that noisily builds toward triumphant euphoria on“Clattering.”

On a Painted Ocean emerges at a confluence of events and inspirations that have shied and changed like the weather itself. Its initial sketches began with unexpected access to aPasadena church organ in 2022, before being set aside to prepare for a busy year as a member of Weyes Blood’s live band. Months on the tour bus with limited instruments led McClements to explore recreating the sound of his processed accordion on the synthesizer, layering it with the organ pieces. As that cycle came to end, McClements was eager to finish the record, but was unsure how to pick up the thread. Stuck in the doldrums of creative block, McClements took his traces of processed accordion and synthesizers, reversed pipe organ and melodica, reeds and pipes run through pedals and computers to his former home of New Orleans for Carnival.Having lived in the Louisiana city for a decade before moving to Los Angeles, McClements found renewed inspiration from his community during one of its most ecstatic and meaningful times of year. Its ethic of art for community’s sake and practices of care inspired him to take fellow musician and mentor Rachika Nayar’s advice by including collaborators, including Nayar herself, who contributes additional production to “Sirens.” Old friend and former bandmate Aurora Nealand would also answer the call, adding dramatic saxophone to the choppy waters of “Cloud Prints” and “Parade.” The latter track stands out for its sonic and conceptual culmination of McClements’s journey toward realizing Ona Painted Ocean, where a rising pitch and buffeting sails meet a field recording of community care, a training in how to use Narcan to reverse an overdose. A credit to strong relationships and mutual support, the album charts a personal pilgrimage – adapting to the tides and remembering your community can help when you feel stuck at sea.