On today’s episode of Absent Sounds, we’re featuring an interview with Toronto-based artist Moshe Fisher-Rozenberg the mind behind Memory Pearl. In his soothing and imaginative soundscapes, Moshe transforms everyday instruments into a captivating metropolises of sound. His opening set for Youth Lagoon in Toronto really set the mood for the rest of the night. Weadee caught up with him after his set at Axis Club to talk about the comfort of performing with friends who hold his work with care, the role of curiosity in shaping his latest album Cosmic Astral, and a lot more.
[Transcript is the direct interview, not the episode, and edited for clarity]
Absent Sounds: Welcome. This is an episode of Absent Sounds here on CJAM 99.1 FM reaching higher ground in Windsor and Detroit. We are live on the scene at Axis Club in Toronto and I'm here with Moshe from Memory Pearl. To start us off, one question that we always love asking to introduce the listeners to your is who are you? And if you could, one moment in time where you felt like you were yourself in the fullest, describe that for us.
Moshe Fisher-Rozenberg: I'm just a music obsessive person and I've done lots of things in music, and I feel very myself tonight actually. I had a little help for my friends. Usually I perform solo more or less. I'm a solo artist as Memory Pearl. But tonight because this is a Toronto show, I had some backup and I felt very free. So yeah, it felt great tonight.
Absent Sounds: Who was on stage with you?
Moshe Fisher-Rozenberg: I had Joseph Chaon on the saxophone. Total legend. Bram GieLan also. Everybody's legendary in my mind. Yeah, Bram Gielan playing the bass and percussion and just general electronic drumming and rain stick. I've been making music with Matt, the Rains stick player for, let me do the math here. 20/ 23 years. Usually he's singing and I'm drumming. And tonight I was synthing and he was rain sticking.
Absent Sounds: Okay. That's funny. That's a good, I like that rain sticking.
Moshe Fisher-Rozenberg: And then Joseph- we used to share like a practice space together. He used to be in a band, and my band used to share a practice space with them. And yeah, we just got friendly over the years. We just admire each other as musicians. And then Bram is Joseph's right-hand man. Bram will play bass on anything that Joseph touches. And then when I put out the first Memory Pearl record, Bram reached out to me and he said, great record. And I said, really? Play on the next one. And so he did.
Absent Sounds: Was there ever a time where you felt like you were struggling to enter into the role of musician? Or was that kind of something that you always embodied?
Moshe Fisher-Rozenberg: So when I was a youngster, I just wanted to play music and I just wanted to make music with my friends, and mostly as a drummer. In memory Pearl, I'm not touching the drums, but primarily I am a drum. And I remember writing music and loving it and then being like, oh man, we're gonna have to play a concert. Do we have to? It was just like, that wasn't my interest. I was just into the creative expression side of things and like the learning and the growing. And then I'm like, okay, I guess part of the gig is I have to do this in front of people. So that definitely took time. I got used to it in some ways. I still get like hell. Every time I have rituals I need to do, I have like aromas that I need to apply to my wrists and underneath my nose I have to meditate deeply before a gig. I have a crystal in my left pocket most of the time. Yeah, there's certain things I need to do just to feel like grounded and comfortable. And I do them.
Absent Sounds: Just do what makes you feel most comfortable? Yeah,
Moshe Fisher-Rozenberg: I think that's important. Yeah.
Absent Sounds: Even just the idea of feeling comfortable, I feel like there's, you're so intentional with your work. The cosmic reinterpret, as you mentioned, reinterprets music originally using, so what was your first?
Moshe Fisher-Rozenberg: So I'm a music centered Psychotherapist. That's like my day job. And when I was doing master's, I read a lot and part of the reading was I came across that history and I was fascinated by it, because there was a sequence of music that was swept under the rug because it was too much. And that's great. I love when that happens in life 'cause then, I'm just like every other human, I'm like, wait, now I have to hear it.
Absent Sounds: The curiosity.
Moshe Fisher-Rozenberg: Yeah. You have to. So that's when I came across it. Really just reading a textbook and then and then I like skimmed past it, but it peaked my curiosity and I was like, yeah, I want to I wanna work this into a concept. And as a solo artist, I always work with a concept. So far I've put out two, I always work with a concept because mostly I'm a collaborator. Like most of my history as a music person has been as a collaborator. And if I'm creating music just on my own, I feel like I like to have a concept because then it feels like I'm collaborating with a concept. I'm not starting with absolutely nothing. I can bounce off of something.
Absent Sounds: I always love this phrase that I guess it was, goes back to this other album that my sister and I love, which is that she mentions that grief as a co-creator in her work is, what would you say is. This album.
Moshe Fisher-Rozenberg: Yeah. That's interesting. In this album, yeah. I'm gonna take a true moment
Absent Sounds: problem. Take your time.
Moshe Fisher-Rozenberg: It's tough to answer because first of all, there are collaborators on this album. Like of course, yes. I started with Joseph, Bram. So yeah I don't know, I don't have a catchy like grief as the co-creator here. I have the people that also played on the record, other co-creators. You know what I'm saying? You could say curiosity and fascination or co-creators too for sure. Yeah. Because I'm just like, I'm always curious of where the music can go.
Absent Sounds: You also mentioned something that it was really confrontational. Do you think healing requires confrontation?
Moshe Fisher-Rozenberg: Yeah, if you consider that healing is different, is a different thing than feeling good. Feeling good doesn't require confrontation. Feeling soothed doesn't require confrontation, but I think true healing, that's a bit of a tricky word. True healing. You gotta work through stuff and that requires feeling uncomfortable.
Absent Sounds: What do you think your role is, or the work of your music is in facilitating certain soothing? In doing that for your audience or people that listen to it?
Moshe Fisher-Rozenberg: I have no idea. I feel like I'm not qualified to answer that, but I can say that my intention is I just want- I just hope that it inspires reflection. And introspection. And what's the opposite of introspection? There's gotta be a good word for that. Express. I dunno. I think it's something like that. Looking in and looking out. Yeah. I hope that the music like that and or just offer something.
Absent Sounds: I think that's a perfect kind of segue to just. A few questions that we had about the album itself too. So I'm gonna skip down to Relaxation Induction. I dunno if you've ever played virtual families- It's almost I guess like Sims, but it's an online game that we've played.
Moshe Fisher-Rozenberg: I never played Sims.
Absent Sounds: Okay, there you go. You shouldn't, don't play.
Moshe Fisher-Rozenberg: Oh, you know what? The video games I played were from when I had the first PlayStation or, what, the first DS or Super Nintendo. Other than that, I got nothing.
Absent Sounds: You're not a gamer girl.
Moshe Fisher-Rozenberg: No. Respect though.
Absent Sounds: We're just curious about what we're hearing. What are the sounds we're hearing in the background? Is it actual water- like the shifting?
Moshe Fisher-Rozenberg: Wait. In that song, honestly, I would have to hear it. I can listen to it on my phone [listens to song] That's the rain sticky. It's the rain stick. Rain stick. Yeah. And you know what I actually didn't use a I'm gonna call it an analog. I didn't use it. An analog software
Absent Sounds: There's another one where you have some vocals. I guess you wouldn’t necessarily say they're vocals, but Yeah. There's words in there. Most of the interviews that we've always done, feature artists that have words in their music for the most part. Do you think that the composition, having a voice, or having an “I” as a subject, most of your work doesn't have that voice or that “I”. Is that something that you necessarily are avoiding or is it just you feel like you're stepping into the light?
Moshe Fisher-Rozenberg: I don't know. There's plenty of vocal centered music that I am a part of and that I have been a part of. But this particular project, I guess I'm just more drawn to the instrumental vibe.
Absent Sounds: That's so interesting 'cause I even just wonder about the difference between you collaborating, because a lot of the work that you do is so collaborative. And I guess what I'm trying to say is- do you feel like there's this really personal aspect that you're pouring into and then it feels, is it hard for you to share that with other people or is there.
Moshe Fisher-Rozenberg: Yeah, I feel like you're talking about vulnerability. That kind of thing. I don't think that my music is that, I don't think that Memory Pearl music is particularly vulnerable. I think that it's very-what's the word? Like lush. There's a lot of layers and a lot of textures and things like that. It's not like this stripped down thing where it's like just my face and my soul. Yeah. But it is deeply personal and it is very different making music like constructing and writing just by myself because if there's like a momentum and sort of a stream of consciousness. It’s just the process is so cyclical and so forward moving and it's I don't even know what I'm doing. It just happening and I keep it rolling. I keep it rolling, whereas. In a collaborative environment, usually you're like articulating in words your idea or the change you wanna make. But here it's just like happening in such a fluid way. It's like pure expression of self.
Absent Sounds: So that's what you're saying, at the very start of the interview, how being on stage was really you tonight Memory Pearl: Yeah, for sure. I think because I've been doing this tour with Youth Lagoon and I've been doing it solo. And tonight I had an ensemble and that just felt I felt like I was being hugged by them on stage. They were just taking such good care of me and they were taking such good care of the music. So that was part of it. And then also, I've been away from home and this is a hometown show and I love this city and I love. My home and it's just feeling real cozy.
Absent Sounds: Cozy spots in the city. What's your favorite place to hang out?
Moshe Fisher-Rozenberg: I love Toronto Island. Especially in the off season, so like season that isn't the summer. 'cause in the summer it can be a little bit annoying, which is just how it goes. It's like going to an amusement park or something. It's awesome, but it's also a little bit annoying. Yeah. But like in the winter, it's like the shining out there. Okay. It's gorgeous.
Absent Sounds: I haven't been there in the winter after.
Moshe Fisher-Rozenberg: Yeah, I used to go there a lot because my partner had an art studio out there so I'd have a destination. But if you're just going in the winter and you've got nowhere to warm up, it would not be fun. Yeah. I think Toronto Island is so cozy to me.
Absent Sounds: Okay. I like that. This is a little bit of a out, but my favorite spot is. Taylor Creek Park. It's east End all the way near, I don't wanna say the DVP, but it connects with the DVP almost intersects there, but that there's a big trail over there. It's lovely. It's really. Quiet.
Moshe Fisher-Rozenberg: Is it like a bike trail or There's bike trail. I've ridden that. Okay. It's so cool. Yeah. It's so cool. Like it felt like a dream. Yeah. The last question I'll ask is okay. Sorry to end it off. When you listen back to the old interviews, I always feel really sentimental. Like even just me listening to people talking. What's an energy that you hope to carry into the last half of the year?
Moshe Fisher-Rozenberg: An energy that I hope I'm coming across?
Absent Sounds: Or just I guess something you'd like to carry in good wishes.
Moshe Fisher-Rozenberg: For myself. Oh, okay. It's like that moment in RuPaul's Drag Race where they look at the photo of them as a kid and they're like, what would you say? Tell this young, would you? The young person?
Absent Sounds: This is the moment.
Moshe Fisher-Rozenberg: This is the moment. Yeah, let me think here. Just that it's nice to connect with a total stranger and. And to appreciate people for what they do.
Absent Sounds: Thank you for talking!