Formed in 2007 by transgender vocalist/composer Elliott Miskovicz, A Stick And A Stone crafts dark, minimalist, choral-ridden song-spells laced with ambient field recordings and poetic imagery. After a decade of Miskovicz touring the underground circuit as a solo artist while recording with a steady flow of guest musicians, A Stick And A Stone expanded in 2015 to include core collaborators Billy Ray Boyer (Aradia), Stella Peach (Sweeping Exits), Myles Donovan (Disemballerina), and Sei Harris (Mind Parade). Performing as an openly trans and disabled artist, Miskovicz’s work sheds light on the unseen and unheard, calling out to mysterious forces with vital inquiries into surviving and restoring our often fractured world.
Versatile, the upcoming fourth album by A Stick And A Stone, explores the versatility of queer love with songs for friends and freedom fighters, woodlands and waterways, trans ancestors and survivors. Diverging from the heavy doom-shaded opus of their previous release, Versatile is a vivid experimental album home-recorded in remote forested hideouts. While the thread of A Stick And A Stone’s lush, ethereal vocals and minor-key fervency endures, off-kilter compositions of harp, layered strings, pump organ, found sounds, and crystal glass breathe new organic life into the band’s distinctive sound.
Written after Miskovicz’s relocation to living off-grid in the woods after a lifetime in the dense Philadelphia area, these 11 songs follow the journey of the sacrifices we make in the name of solace. When multiple health conditions began exacerbating in urban environments, it became imminently necessary for him to relocate to quieter landscapes. Although rural life was not always easy as a transgender gay male, his songwriting there evolved from a tool for coping with chaos into an expression of reverence for the ecosystems surrounding him.
Mastered by Kris Force of Amber Asylum, with evocative cover art by renowned queer metal artist Stephen Wilson, Versatile comes January 15th on cassette and digitally via Anima Recordings. Blast First Petite (UK) will issue the vinyls when the peak of the plague passes, and everything becomes viable again.
Album Credits:
Elliott Miskovicz – Vocals, Composition, Pump Organ, Piano, Marimba, Kalimba, Classical Guitar, Wood Flute, Percussive Branches, Bass Drum, Found Sound Excavation, Home Recording, Production.
Billy Ray Boyer – Viola
Stelleaux Peach – Violin, Cello
Myles Donovan – Viola, Lever Harp, Crystal Glass
Sei Harris – Cello
Darian Scatton – Pedal Harp, Harp Recording
David Fylstra – Mixing, Tape Manipulation, Percussion, Percussion Recording
Kris Force – Mastering
Stephen Wilson: Cover Art
For individual song credits, check Bandcamp.
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