Hospital Hymns by Gavin Castleton 2007

01. Hymn 1: Maternity Ward in G Major
02. Hymn 2: Women's Care in E Flat Major
03. Hymn 3: Dialysis in G Minor
04. Hymn 4: Rehab in D Major
05. Hymn 5: E.R. in E Flat Major

Explanation of Album Title: Hospital Hymns was inspired by a six month stint I worked as a temp in a Rhode Island hospital stockroom. My job was to restock the various units. It was remarkable to me how spiritually sterile the environment seemed, despite it being home to some of the most emotionally turbulent events in its inhabitants' lives. I was also interested in the contrast between the non-unionized stockroom workers and the more "presentable" doctors, nurses, and lab techs we kept well stocked. While writing more music for solo performance, I was surprised at how much the Mormon hymns of my youth had influenced my harmonic instincts. I decided to write a narrative across five "modern hymns," each employing some phrasing or melodic tendency from a hymn I'd grown up with. The fictional 76-year old narrator seemed a fitting gauge for the listeners' spirituality: Do you see him as a religious fanatic, completely out of touch with reality and even dangerous, or as a humble follower who can find beauty and God in the places that those who eschew him cannot: the darkest corners of a bustling white-washed building?

Explanation of Album Artwork: The cover of Hospital Hymns is a water color painting I did of the narrator haloed by flowers. The back cover of the promo copies had a floor plan for the hospital I worked in.

If you enjoy this recording, please please do support the man who's been distilling himself into these very sounds since 1995. Throw him a bone. Buy the record or just give him something.
   
http://www.gavincastleton.com/