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Leaving Records presents Music For Living Spaces, the debut LP by non-binary Los Angeles-based artist Green-House. Olive Ardizoni helms the project, which made its debut with the charming 2019 EP Six Songs for Invisible Gardens. Music for Living Spaces represents an evolution of its predecessor’s minimalist compositions into songs that move with winsome melodies and emotional arcs. Though recorded during a pandemic, the transporting nature of Music For Livings Spaces offers a remedy for dreariness. Ardizoni states, “I’m trying to hit that part of the brain that’s affected by the emotional state that you’re in when you perceive something as cute.”  
  
Music For Living Spaces' first single “Sunflower Dance” sports a breezy, bucolic vibe. The track is intended to invoke the whimsical image of hamsters happily dancing in a field. Ardizoni brings an intentionality to these playful atmospheres. They state, “In our culture, we prioritize profound artistic expression through emotions like sadness or aggression, but cuteness, silliness or fun, are the things that we trivialize in our culture. We say that they’re childish and it gets invalidated.” The complex and radiant productions on Music for Living Spaces counter this view. Ardizoni continues, “Cuteness and joy are gateways to compassion. It’s the gateway to empathy and activating the network in your brain that boosts moral concern for other people in the world around you.” Despite its general sunniness, Music For Living Spaces does not solely rely on exuberant, colorful moods. “Royal Fern” is a sophisticated composition of voices calling and responding to each other in rippling waves, while towards the closing of the album we hear Ardizoni’s ethereal voice for the first time that carries a nuanced, contemplative aura that defies categorization.  
  
Music For Living Spaces is a step forward for Green-House. Ardizoni states, “The intention of this project is to facilitate the connection between humans and nature. Instead of perceiving nature as something that's separate from us, or outside of our homes, we can recognize nature as something that is within us and in everything we do in our daily lives. You don't need to have access to the great outdoors to feel connected to the environment.”

Credits:all music Olive Ardizoni 
art & design Michael Flanagan 
mastered by Matthew "Matthewdavid" McQueen

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A friend wrote me this poem after I sent him an early draft of the work. 

Rain, 
and a dog grew, green in Carpenter’s weed, 
from a crack 
in biscuit-crumb tarmac; 
a boy flowered on the 
lead, nose-bleed, skulking on, shrugging 
brambles in snug alley. 

Hazel branch flaps with 
the patter of squirrel, tickling 
leaves, 
prayer flags inciting wood- 
pigeon flight, fat chestnut gut: 
boy looks up 

from feet-planted soil, 
the diurnal roil of black and white, 
blow and boil, 
wet and wetter, 
rain, 

and the dog grew brown, 
and yarrow-flower withered to moss- 
speckled stone - and seagull-spat fortune - 
a carved pebble amongst 
carved pebbles 
henged in yews, 

and the dog, green, grew. 

- Lewis Coleman 

This work continues my obsessions with gathering found sounds into the studio. Capturing sounds that are connected to places and framing them as music. Using tape to create age and a sense of nostalgia. Using software to create serendipity, this reflects how I see nature, both chaotic and orderly. Treating everyday objects and sounds with reverence. In this sense my music is an offering to what already is. 

- Ishmael Cormack
  Credits:Objects: 
Toy keyboard 
Electric guitar 
Classical guitar 
Tape machine 
Dried seeds 
Laptop 
Piano - Recordings of St Andrews Church Grand Piano 
Credits: 
All sounds - Ishmael Cormack 

Mastering - Ian Hawgood (www.homenormal.com) 
Album Art - Glet Masa,  twitter.com/glet_masa 

Artists share of purchases & Royalties to go to Wildlife Trusts - Registered charity number 207238 (www.wildlifetrusts.org)​

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The Howard Hughes Suite is a modern-day cosmic cowboy. He stoically keeps a low profile and hunkers down in his home studio in the South West of England with his faithful instruments, away from the noise of crowded gig venues or the idle chatter between takes during session work, once his mainstay. From this isolated musical outpost he surveys Americana landscapes with a reassuringly classic, but distinctly widescreen, psychedelic pioneering spirit. 

On Smoke from a Future Fire, over the course of several seasons, solitary but not lonesome, surrounded by his trusty instruments, The Howard Hughes Suite had no particular place to go. Feeling restless he saddled up his digital workstation, unholstered his pedal steel and ambled beyond the acoustic flatlands, through cinematic ravines & across electronic streams just to see what was out there. 

Whilst roaming he flashed back to the pylon-free, buffalo-rich plains of Western lore, but also had visions to a future of rusting pickup trucks slowly succumbing to time and nature, which had long since adapted to the man-made climatic change that finally rid earth of its most disruptive species. Through sun-pinned eyes he looked beyond the dust to see the majesty of the southern deserts. Rising out of his saddle he looked over snow-capped distant mountain ranges to gaze at the tiniest creatures and smallest stones. He looked around and saw what was, what is and what could be. He saw no horrors, just the mind-blowing Interconnectedness of all things. Neither happy nor sad, but just content with being, he hit stop on the tape machine and decided to share his thoughts. 

This LP was originally released through The Howard Hughes Suite's personal Bandcamp page in 2020. Despite getting solid support from Americana diehards who had tracked it down, we couldn't help thinking it needed introducing to a wider audience. What you hear before you is a slightly re-edited version that has been lovingly remastered by none other than Ian Hawgood for increased aural pleasure. 

CreditsEquipment and instruments: 
(Ancient) Mac Pro (Running: OS X Snow Leopard). 
Pro Tools LE 8. 
Propellerhead Reason 4.0. 
Toontrack EZDrummer 2. 
Various iOS music apps. 
All music recording in the box. No outboard gear used apart from: Mbox Audio 2 and Boss GT5. 
MXL V67GS large-diaphragm solid-state condenser microphone. 
(Temperamental) Sho-Bud Maverick Pedal Steel. 
Tanglewood Electro Acoustic. TF2CE Series. 
Fender Stratocaster (Mexican). 
Fender Telecaster (Mexican). 
Martin Backpacker Steel String Acoustic. 
Tanglewood Electric Fretless Bass. 
Mandolin. 
No-name Spanish/classical acoustics. 
EBow. 

Artwork: 
Not only does The Howard Hughes Suite's passion run deep for the art and craft of music, he's also an avid photographer, with an idiosyncratic eye, and designs his own cover artwork. An exhibition of his photography, film and music is expected later in the year. 

About The Howard Hughes Suite: 
The Howard Hughes Suite grew up in a musical household and needed no encouragement to teach himself several musical instruments. With a drummer as a father, a love for the guitar greats, a fascination with the electronic pioneers, a history of playing live, years spent as a session musician, a love of the visual arts though photography and experience with soundtrack work, it was only a matter of time before all these musical ley lines converged into the rather special musical project you have before you. 

All music © The Howard Hughes Suite. 
Except for 'Opening Aunt Dora's Box in 6/8'. Composed by Rainer Ptacek. 

Mastering: Ian Hawgood (www.homenormal.com)

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