Chocolate Genius Issues His Swansong

But not necessarily his final album...

By Blurt Staff

Swansongs marks the final chapter in an extended trilogy (as in, fourth; see also 1998's Black Music, 2001's Godmusic and Black Yankee Rock released in 2004) that's turned Chocolate Genius' first-person tales into truth-seeking therapy sessions. More than just an exploration of the letter "I", you know? Or as Chocolate Genius - aka Mark Anthony Thompson - puts it, "Gracefully embracing decay is the constant theme. Letting go. The curse of religion. The passion is the poison. That old dilemma-worship and penance; sparkle and fade; bass and trouble."

The album's due out August 31 on One Little Indian.

True to its title, Swansongs says goodbye to many people, places and things, including some rather important characters that left us several albums ago. Listen closely and you'll see their spectral trails, discovering how ghosts have been here since the beginning, starting with the solemn sleeve of Black Music, Thompson's first proper Chocolate Genius record.

"I'm sitting on the bed that my mother would die in right before we released the second offering, Godmusic," explains Thompson. "She sings vocals on the first song of that record ("Perfidia"). They were caught randomly when I was a kid, as she walked into my bedroom while I was learning how to record.

"Decades later, I am in Los Angeles trying to find her missing widower. On a piano that hasn't been tuned since the Watts Riots, I record 'Like a Nurse' and write four songs in that very same bedroom. A few days later, I find my father crashed into a pole on La Brea and Venice. It is the same intersection that I sang about in one of the first songs I'd ever written, 'Pinks & Greens'."

Thompson finished "Sit & Spin" on the final day of his father's life. The spare, piano-driven ballad is one of 11 chapters in the Swansongs cycle, a struggle with letting go that arrives two tracks after a voicemail collage that calls out from beyond the grave. As it turns out, the messages-all wrapped up in queasy ambient soundscapes-are simply the sound of Thompson's father trying to get a hold of him over the years.

"I used the recordings of my parents on both releases because they are priceless artifacts to me," explains Thompson, "and I wanted to lock them in the time capsule that each of these documents are. My children's children will be able to download a little piece of their history. An indulgent, guilty conceit and perhaps nothing more - but I love the recording of my mom singing and the humor and spirit of my folks shines on both offerings."

Swansongs is an album that ties up the loose ends of Thompson's never-ending story. Meanwhile, his Chocolate Genius guise shifts ever-so-subtly, as Thompson embraces a simple idea-to "record something I didn't have to apologize for...a complete listening experience."

"Reluctantly, the book of songs is done," says Thompson, who also dabbles in sound design and theatre/film scores (American Splendor, Twin Falls Idaho, the Obie-winning A Huey P. Newton Story). "I say reluctantly because I'll soon have to stare at a blank page again, and greet whatever is next. That's always the tricky part-by the time music is released,  the process usually inspires an entirely new workflow, or has you headed to the road, sofa, beach, airport or bar. At least that's been my syndrome. Though I write constantly, I release things sporadically at best, and sometimes as quietly as a cough. As Richard Ford says, 'When a tree falls in the forest, who cares but the monkeys?'"

Thompson was born in Panama, raised in California, and molded by New York's music scene. The creation of Chocolate Genius Inc. led to collaborations with Meshell Ndegeocello, Van Dyke Parks, Doveman, Cibo Matto, 2/3 of Medeski, Martin & Wood, and Thompson's only constant, Marc Ribot. He also took part in Bruce Springsteen's Seeger Sessions Tour in 2006. Swansongs is his first album since 2004's Black Yankee Rock.