John Southworth - Rialto (2021) [Official Digital Download 24/96]

A few years back I had this dream: I was walking through vast grasslands towards a solitary hill. On top of the hill was a movie house. On the marquee: History of Jazz.

I kept thinking about it. What was in the movie house? Why was I going there? Why “History of Jazz”? To reach some kind of insight, I began a film script, extending the dream tenfold. The script morphed into a novella-sized book, a series of songs, and finally, a “mind-movie” podcast, forming this labyrinthine, multi-medium story.

Figuring out how to transcend the traditional parameters of the album to create a more panoramic story-vision is something I’ve been unconsciously trying to do for some time. I’ve been pushing against the edges – toying with narrative, characters and visuals with Easterween and Niagara, a weird children’s book Daydreams for Night – but the scope of life behind Rialto felt too irrepressible and expansive to be boxed in an album. The book and podcast have kicked open the doors – allowing the album to lead or serve where it should.

In Rialto’s extended narrative, Klaus (loner, insomniac) is working a stint as a driver for a small town writer’s festival. Following a series of unsettling paranormal events, he finds himself agreeing to a strange request – to deliver a film reel in time for its premiere at a secluded movie house – the Rialto. The journey leads him through a circuit of strangely located, oracular movie houses, screening a mix of dreams, fantasies, memories and prophecies – numinous films of personal revelation. Inhabiting the movie houses are characters and spirits with ambiguous motivations, some helping and some hindering Klaus’s quest. It’s a Dantesque, deep cleanse pilgrimage to untangle bitterness, rediscover a lost clairvoyance, ancestry. A metaphysical noir. A hyperstition.

Rialto’s album stars seven singer-artists playing characters alongside mine: Tamara Lindeman (The Weather Station), Daniel Knox, Thom Gill (Owen Pallet, Beverly Glenn-Copeland), Ryan Driver (Jennifer Castle), Felicity Williams (Bahamas), Robin Dann (Bernice) and Martin Tielli (Rheostatics). All Toronto-based like me except Daniel (Chicago). Performed by the Venuti String Quartet with arrangements by Andrew Downing. Produced by Jean Martin (Tanya Tagaq).

Each of Rialto’s eight podcast episodes features a chapter from the book performed by a cast of twenty five – made up almost entirely of musicians – including the speaking voices of the aforementioned singers, as well as Meg Remy (U.S. Girls), Claudia Dey, Veda Hille, Devon Sproule, Luka Kuplowsky and others. Rialto is available as a 92-page e-Book (illustrations by David Ouimet) November 1 on Sud de Valeur Press. Premiere performances begin early 2022.

Tracklist:
1. Elevated Vision (03:01)
2. Van Leer (02:42)
3. Silver Film Canister (03:31)
4. Courier Pilgrim (04:09)
5. You Are What You Dream (03:49)
6. Lost Child Of The Railroad (04:19)
7. Real The Reel (02:59)
8. Sarcastic Fisherman (03:32)
9. Underground Cinema (02:25)
10. Mexico Maine (03:03)
11. My People (04:25)
12. Unloved (03:40)
13. Love's Magic (02:31)
14. Otlair (02:23)


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