gate variations by toledo the horse
Cover illustration by Matt Atkins
https://www.instagram.com/matt____kins/
at some point in late 2022-early 2023 i made a brief recording with my phone of a squeaky gate while walking my dog. it made a fantastic sound. it seemed like an opportunity. this album is the result. i wanted to create something sparse and relatively optimistic. a simple opening for whatever opportunities might waltz through. what could that opening be? who gets to waltz through and who is left to stack boxes and peak over? who gets to decide? how many variations could there be? in this case, at least six.
what initially began and was (mostly) completed in 2023 as an attempt to openly think about the possibilities of access to various spaces, has taken on an increasingly necessary and defiant air. to rest and sink into these variations became acts of resistance. to search these barriers for weaknesses in their armor became an act of defiance. to try to use them as tools of their own undoing. to rest and take space to plot a next move. a chance to help the rust with its work.
one morning i recorded a squeaky gate, and this is what i was able to help waltz through.
