Overcasts contains four short stories and an essay written by Kyle Bates of Drowse between 2019 and 2023. The stories trace the boundary between solitude and self-isolation. Reclusive, occasionally semi-autobiographical characters wander through movie theaters, lakesides, churches, and unfamiliar cities. They drift in substances, thoughts of family and death, and reflections on artists such as Low, Tsai Ming-liang, Max Neuhaus, Louise Glück, and more. These ruminations are frequently punctured by sublimely eerie events.
The essay, initially written as a graduate thesis while Bates studied at the renowned Center for Contemporary Music at Mills College, continues the theme of being alone. It addresses works by experimental electronic composers Pauline Oliveros, Maryanne Amacher, and Éliane Radigue, examining the various forms of memory at play in self-recording. While often bleak, together these writings reveal an always curious experience of the world through slippery contours of self.
Overcasts includes the stories “Cloud Light Over Obsidian” and “Second Self” that were originally only available with limited editions of the Drowse records Wane into It and Light Mirror.
Available as a printed 166 page perfect bound paperback or a digital PDF file. Also available for Amazon Kindle.