….the concept…
I always wanted the studio to be an experiment. whether playing on form or function, I never felt fully at home in a traditional studio environment, so back in 2010, I installed a studio in an old house in the woods of Woodstock, and for the next 11 years, it served as my home base. part studio, part lodge, we made dozens upon dozens of brilliant records there, until the post-Covid real estate bonanza forced an early move…
…Isokon v2…
after woodstock, and amid the difficulty of finding a new Isokon in the same mold, I stumbled upon an opportunity that I couldn’t ignore… I installed the Isokon into a former IBM campus, in the former boardroom. a large and unencumbered space in its own private wing of a massive building, reminiscent of 1990’s Berlin, when artists and idiosyncratic thinkers began taking over and reinventing old industrial spaces, I seized on the spirit of that inspiration, and took on the challenge of creating an inner sanctum in the heart of this post-industrial wasteland.
…Isokon v3…
Having run its course at the former IBM, I moved the studio in July 2022, to a former Ford Motor assembly plant/dealership in Midtown Kingston. In a spacious industrial loft, the live room was open and airy, and the space felt ‘found’ in the best way possible.
…Isokon v4…
Finally having an opportunity to live a life long dream of having horses, and living in open sky country, my wife and I bought a small ranch in Timberville, Virginia, right in the heart of the gorgeous Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. We converted a barn on the property into the new and hopefully final form of the Isokon - at least for a long while. Embracing my long loved way of working, with an integrated live room & control room, the room is wrapped with reclaimed spalted maple, and rough cut cedar ceilings, not only creating a cozy, lived in aesthetic, but a beautifully balanced and rich sounding acoustic space.
seizing a moment in time is the entire root of my view of making records. and that provides some insight into why new chapters excite me.
...the origin of the name...
in the 1940’s, while germany was in the throes of a madman, a group of avantgarde architects took refuge in london, and took it upon themselves to design the first apartment building dedicated to communal living amongst the avantgarde....... this building was called The Isokon Building. the name came from the words ‘isometric construction’.
the name is in homage to that spirit, that concept.