Tracks for Movement charts a course of scores composed for film and dance by New York City’s Vorhees between 2011 - 2018. Vorhees, born Dana Wachs, displays the same emotional aptitude in sound and patient exploration of mood in her solo output as she does in these nine selected compositions.
Minimalism and ambient practices guide these forms, revealing a foundation from which Vorhees casts actors through physical space by powers of repeating, unraveling, and slow rapture. Collected and mastered for the first time and sequenced in chronological order, the songs in Tracks For Movement frame the majesty of Vorhees’ sound outside of their original context, affording a new perspective and appreciation for her work across mediums.
Wachs’ pieces for dance include “Visions of Beauty” (Visions of Beauty, Heather Kravas, 2018); “Of Fossil and Of Facings” (Are We a Fossil, and of Facings?, Molly Poerstal, 2016); “Welcome To The Green Surround” (The Green Surround, Heather Kravas, 2011); “Die In,” “Sacred Heart,” “LOV,” “Road” (Still Life, Morgan Thorson, 2015).
They beckon body echos, a sway or a shake or a slide, gestures born from and bearing joy and the energy of release. Dana composed each piece in the same room as the dancers and choreographers, mirroring and contrasting their work as she created her own. Inspired directly by their movement, Dana worked to find a balance between action and atmosphere, respecting the energy in the room to reveal depths all present could tap.
Her compositions for film -“Tennis. Anyone?”, “The Bath” (Sugar, Kimi Howl Lee, 2017) - expose, color and underscore narrative peaks and troughs with sensitivity, showcasing an emotional intuition of sound manipulation that comes from decades of performing, composing, and engineering music in live and studio environments.
Dana Wachs, live sound engineer for Deerhunter, Cat Power, Jon Hopkins and many others, has written music under her Vorhees moniker for close to a decade, only recently committing her music to wide release. Her first solo record, Black Horse Pike, met the world in 2017. Her second release with Styles Upon Styles, Tracks for Movement, is only available on digital platforms, an unlimited space for uninterrupted, repeated listenings allowing for your own movement to come to form. A small gesture in the early hours or extended explorations of places new or old, Tracks For Movement casts an encouraging glow for your paths, however they unfold.
