- 10inch
- Recommended
- Back In
Lia Kohl
Various Small Whistles and a Song
Dauw - Cat No: DAUW78LP
- updated:2026-03-13
Chicago-based cellist/sound artist Lia Kohl, whose name also appears on such notable labels as International Anthem, Drag City, and Moon Glyph, offers a witty set of sonic snapshots—16 tracks, each exactly one minute long—created as a response to Ed Ruscha's 1964 photo book "Various Small Fires and Milk."
Track List
-
1. Voting Line, Downtown Chicago
-
2. Penny Whistle Seller, Guangzhou
-
3. Sullivan’s Island Beach, Charleston
-
4. Basketball Court, feat. Macie Stewart
-
5. Walking Home, Los Angeles, feat. Patrick Shiroishi
-
6. My Kitchen, Chicago
-
7. Outside, Arrington, feat. Colin Held
-
8. Midewin National Tallgrass Prairie, Illinois, feat. Corey Smith, Ellie Mejía, and Anna Fox
-
9. Train, Antwerp to Amsterdam
-
10. Belzec Extermination Camp, feat. Jesse Perlstein
-
11. Home, Los Angeles, feat. claire rousay
-
12. Amtrak, Hudson Valley
-
13. Home, Portland, feat. Steve Rosborough
-
14. Walking Home, Chicago
-
15. Antwerp Central Train Station, Antwerp
-
16. Barcelona (6:13 am, January 1st)

Released on Dauw, the Ghent, Belgium label known for its handmade cassettes and records. Featuring guests drawn from her close-knit community—claire rousay, Macie Stewart, Patrick Shiroishi and others—this work is built from field recordings, synth, and cello, reflecting the spirit of "the astonishing celebration of the ordinary" she took from Ruscha's book. Field sounds gathered from collaborators are placed either layered with her own playing or left untouched. The structure of Ruscha's book—15 photographs of fires and one of a glass of milk—appears here with the fires as whistling and the milk as collective voices in song. A fascinating experimental piece assembled from the mundane and the humorous. Check out the tracklist as well. (Original Japanese text by Adachi)