Chymera Harbor – In Extremis EP
A few weeks ago, I went into the mountains of Vermont with friends for skiing and visiting. Almost as an afterthought, we brought a collection of instruments including a keyboard, xylophone, accordion and guitar. As it turned out, we had such a great time playing together that we’ve done it again several times since we’ve been back. Each time the band is slightly different, so each time we rename ourselves. There’s been Ham on Houndstooth, Lovers and Dreamers and Widescreen Thumbs. Now, there’s Chymera Harbor.
Recorded in a studio far from the maddening crowd, the In Extremis EP is an organic storytelling of the whaling ship ZOROASTER that sailed from New Bedford on July 6, 1843. Master Joseph Seabury guided the vessel south and west around Cape Horn and across the South Pacific to the fecund whaling grounds of the Indian Ocean. Meditating on themes of freedom, depravity and loneliness, In Extremis articulates the introspective nature of a life spent at sea. It is heaving waves and rough whiskers. It is stale bread and red sunsets.
