Music fans who recognize the name Dorothy Moskowitz are almost certainly hip to the Los Angeles-based experimental-psychedelic outfit The United States of America and their one exceptional LP for Columbia from 1968. Well, in one of 2023’s most delightfully unexpected developments, Moskowitz and a group of collaborators monikered as the United States of Alchemy have just released a new CD Under an Endless Sky through the auspices of the Tompkins Square label. Rather than an extension of The United States of America, it’s a remarkable dose of gliding and glistening ambient-drone plus a half dozen shorter pieces, all with penetrating vocals by Moskowitz.
It’s inaccurate to describe The United States of America as the band of Dorothy Moskowitz. Indeed, it’s composer, multi-instrumentalist and singer Joseph Byrd who is sometimes cited as the group’s leader, though I tend to think of Byrd and Moskowitz as the ensemble’s dominant creative voices (she was notably the lead vocalist).
The United States of America was so ambitious that an early demise was basically preordained. They utilized a ring modulator (through which Moskowitz’s singing was processed) and other electronics (later an oscillator), contact microphones, an electric violin, a calliope, organ, bass and drums, but importantly, no guitar.
For all this, their record wasn’t a difficult listen, but it was so ahead of the game that it influenced few at the time. Amongst the US of A’s handful of contemporaries on the scene were The Red Crayola, The Silver Apples, Van Dyke Parks, Anthem of the Sun-era Grateful Dead, Forever Changes-era Love, and avant-classical composers Steve Reich, Terry Riley, and Moondog (the latter two also releasing records on Columbia).
After the US of A’s breakup, Moskowitz was a part of Country Joe McDonald’s All-Star Band, appearing on The Best of Country Joe: The Vanguard Years. Additionally, she was a voiceover artist in the 1970s, composed music for children, and was an elementary school music teacher in the ’80s and ’90s, and most recently, sang on two songs from Todd Tamanend Clark’s 2021 album Whirlwind of the Whispering Worlds.
Under an Endless Sky has its share of worthy collaborators, foremost being Italian avant-garde composer Francesco Paolo Paladino (his 1985 debut Doublings & Silences Volume I was reissued on vinyl in 2021), who brought along his countryman and longtime collaborator, the writer Luca Chino Ferrari, a name some might recognize from his biographies of Captain Beefheart, Nick Drake, Tim Buckley, Syd Barrett, and the Third Ear Band.
In short, Ferrari presented Moskowitz with lyrics that the pair honed to accompany Paladino’s compositions. The intention was lyrics that offered considerable philosophical weight as they “deal with complex themes of human existence” and acknowledge and question reality. This is fitting, given the scale of the recording’s title track, a nearly 24-minute piece that should please fans of Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith and Light in the Attic’s private press New Age comp I am the Center.
So it may seem like Moskowitz is no longer leading the way musically speaking (i.e., blazing a trail in the avant-garde), but it should be stressed that the music here possesses considerable depth, edge, and at times, startling power. Furthermore, there is no guitar, and no bass or drums either, as the music is generated by computers and occasionally keyboards, strings, woodwinds, and a little percussion.
If “Under an Endless Sky” is the disc’s centerpiece, the six shorter tracks that follow it are no less interesting. There are tones redolent of harp strings (that I suspect are computer based), as “Cut the Roots part 1” reminds me of Laurie Anderson and Dickie Landry performing in a video arcade. There are even spots that hit the ear like chamber-psych.
Upon repeated listens, it becomes pretty obvious that the main objective of Moskowitz, Paladino, and Ferrari for Under an Endless Sky was crafting a unified vision that pleased themselves. Having succeeded with flying colors, the results are worth sharing with everybody.
GRADED ON A CURVE:
A-
