Trecka, Mark - Acknowledgement |

Recorded using only voice, piano, and handmade cassette loops, Acknowledgment was conceived of and is presented as an intertextual document reflecting on 15 years of dialogue between the personal and political. “Acknowledgment” according to Trecka is presented here not as some kind of moral high ground, but rather an elusive action that runs “somehow deeper than recognition.” How do we acknowledge our deep interdependence upon one another when faced with the ever increasing atomization of modern life? It is through Acknowledgment’s existence as an intertextual and intermedial piece of art that Trecka explores this fascia connecting us all, despite the designed invisibility of certain communities – stateless persons, incarcerated persons, houseless individuals. This record is about heavy things, but it is certainly not about the burden of interdependence or the void left by nature’s dispassion. Rather, it is about the utter joy that may be found through the acknowledgement of these things. Compassion – a word that gets close to acknowledgement’s aims – allows us to share in the pain and joy of our common existence. Although this album is sparse and some ways abstract, the intertextual elements provide excellent entry points into the work itself. Musically, Mark Trecka offers a few oblique references. Listen deeply to hear the clanging rhythm and idiosyncratic timing of John Cage’s Sonatas and Interludes, the minimalist drama of Haley Fohr or Nico’s The Marble Index the floating and commanding vocals of Mark Hollis, or Robert Wyatt’s hopeful but utterly wild solo work.