For Such a Time as This (2020-21)
My most recent project, For Such a Time as This represents an ongoing dialogue between literature, history, the times we live in, and music. All the songs are still in their rough, acoustic versions. Read the post and lyrics for each song by clicking on the header before the audio track itself.
Let’s Away
Ballad for the Obdurate
Casting Off
God Who Hears
Desdichado
Photo by NARCIS LIVIU CATRINESCU on Pexels.com
Constellations: First Quarter (2019)
It all began one evening at Dunkin Donuts reading Jeremy Anderberg’s post “15 Constellations Every Man Should Know (And How to Find Them).” Having dabbled in literature-based songs for years, and inspired by musical artist Sleeping at Last, I turned my eyes to the heavens. My next musical project would focus on fifteen constellations, using the stories behind the constellations for inspiration. As Anderberg noted, the constellations are the ancient story-keepers once used as vital navigational tools and vivid spiritual reminders of life lessons and our place in the universe. In these songs, I hope to distill the essential truths from the mythologies behind these star formations, and recast them in song as melodic signposts for our contemporary journeys through life.
The first collection of five songs takes us from January through April, focusing on Orion, Taurus, Gemini, Canis Major, and Leo. Click on the images above to be directly linked to the post about the corresponding song (audio files to be added in the future).
Full Fathom Five (2012)
Digging back into the musical archives, here’s the link that I didn’t realize was still live at Bandcamp! The second song just recently was used on a Salvation Army podcast out of Australia! The first song is a Treebeard Brown standard, here performed with my two eldest sons shortly after the release of At the In Between through Tate Music Group (now defunct). Enjoy this four track walk down memory lane!
At the In Between (2012)
Here’s the album birthed out of the Chest Full of Straw basement recording of “A Father’s Love” that became the audition piece, if you will, for the now defunct record label, Tate Music Group. I still remember flying with my guitar to Mustang, OK to work on this project in September of 2011. Now that TMG no longer exists, you can’t find these songs anywhere except at the Bandcamp link below. Hopefully I’ll get this back on Amazon Music, iTunes, and Spotify in the future! Until then, enjoy it here.
https://progeny-anastasi.bandcamp.com/album/at-the-in-between
Chest Full of Straw (circa 2010)
While I’m digging up the roots of my musical tree, here’s a link to the still active NoiseTrade page for Witmer & Anastasi, a joint venture with my good friend and writing brother, James Witmer. James wrote the second and fourth songs on the album. The album title comes from a line in the song “The Love of the Cross.”
https://www.pastemagazine.com/noisetrade/music/WitmerAndAnastasi/chest-full-of-straw-demo-ep
the deepening ground 