Wildflowers: Saturday, May 22 | 9pm

by Maggie Molloy
Namaqualand in South Africa is known for its superblooms. Photo by Martin Heigan.

April showers bring May flowers—and we’re celebrating the new blooms this weekend on Second Inversion!

On this Saturday’s episode: wildflowers. Join us for a musical bouquet of pieces inspired by rare blooms, exotic bulbs, and vibrant blossoms. From the delicate gardens of Pennsylvania to the superblooms of South Africa, we’ll hear musical flowers from all around the world.

To listen, tune in to KING FM on Saturday, May 22 at 9pm PT.

Musical Postcards: Saturday, May 15 | 9pm

by Maggie Molloy
The French cellist Vincent Segal and the Malian kora player Ballaké Sissoko are featured in this week’s episode.

The best trips are the ones you just can’t wait to write home about. You send a postcard saying, “You’ll never believe what I saw, did, touched, and tasted while I was exploring this new place…”

On this Saturday’s episode of Second Inversion, we’re exploring musical postcards. We’ll hear composers’ impressions of new and familiar places. From the Amazon jungle to the Arctic tundra and the rooftops of Bamako, Mali, we’ll hear musical snapshots from all around the world.

To listen, tune in to KING FM on Saturday, May 15 at 9pm PT.

Sonic Hypnosis: Saturday, April 17 | 9pm

by Maggie Molloy
Music from Dawn of Midi’s Dysnomia is included in this week’s episode.

You are getting sleepy—very, very sleepy…

When most of us think about hypnosis, the first image that comes to mind is a doctor swinging a pocket watch back and forth in front of the patient’s face, their eyes fixated on the watch as they slowly fall into a trance. And while that’s certainly an oversimplified image of hypnosis, it does get at some of the major characteristics: repetition, visual fixation, altered consciousness.

On this week’s episode of Second Inversion, we’re exploring sonic hypnosis. From aural illusions to mesmerizing trances, we’ll hear works that focus the mind and play with our perception of time.

To listen, tune in to KING FM on Saturday, April 17 at 9pm PT.

VIDEO PREMIERE: ‘William Wilson’ by Melia Watras

by Maggie Molloy
Violist/composer Melia Watras and violinist Michael Jinsoo Lim. Photo by Michelle Smith-Lewis.
Duality is a common theme in both literature and music: good and evil, light and dark, tension and release. Sometimes these dualities are represented by opposite characters—and sometimes, they are one and the same.
 
Doubles, doppelgängers, and duplicity drew the Seattle-based composer and violist Melia Watras to the works of Edgar Allan Poe, a writer whose poetry is quite musical in its own right. Her new piece William Wilson draws on excerpts from Poe’s short story of the same name: the twisted tale of a man and his dark shadow—two sides of the same coin.
 
Watras wrote the piece for her own kindred spirit: her husband Michael Jinsoo Lim, who sings and performs the piece on violin. We’re thrilled to premiere the music video for William Wilson, which appears on Watras’s brand new album of compositions Firefly Songs.
Music by Melia Watras, performance by Michael Jinsoo Lim, video by Michelle Smith-Lewis.

Watras’s new album Firefly Songs is a collection of original compositions exploring themes of community and personal folklore, with performances from some of her closest friends and collaborators. Firefly Songs is out now on Planet M records. For more details, click here.

Musical Postcards: Saturday, Jan. 16 | 9pm

by Maggie Molloy
The French cellist Vincent Segal and the Malian kora player Ballaké Sissoko are featured in this week’s episode.

Second Inversion is now airing in a NEW TIME SLOT: Saturdays at 9pm.

The best trips are the ones you can’t wait to write home about. You send a postcard saying, “You’ll never believe what I saw, did, touched, and tasted while I was exploring this new place…”

On this Saturday’s episode of Second Inversion, we’re exploring musical postcards. We’ll hear composers’ impressions of new and familiar places. From the Amazon jungle to the Arctic tundra and the rooftops of Bamako, Mali, we’ll hear musical snapshots from all around the world.

To listen, tune in to KING FM on Saturday, January 16 at 9pm PT.