Empty Tomb

Empty Tomb
Artwork by David V. D'andrea.
Single by Al Cisneros
Released	October 2 2014
Recorded	2013 - 2014
Genre	Dub, Experimental
Length	6:29
Label	Samaritan Press
Producer	Al Cisneros
Al Cisneros single chronology
Toward Nazareth (2014)	Empty Tomb (2014)	Lantern of The Soul (2014)

Empty Tomb (Also known as Empty Tomb / Sepulcher Dub) is the fifth solo release by Al Cisneros, notably released via Samaritan Press in October 2014. It is a full collaboration between Cisneros and artist David V. D'andrea. It would also be the debut release from Samaritan Press and notably the only solo release thus far to feature vocals by Cisneros.

Background

The plans for Samaritan Press' first music release date back to 2013. D'andrea states in his blog that working with Cisneros was important as the creative relationship established with Om led to what he personally felt was some of his best work. Later that year Samaritan Press would offer a pre-order campaign to help fund the release, with three tiers of signed Om posters ($60, $150, $300) with the first tier being a single poster and the top tier being eight posters spanning from Pilgrimage 2008 to Temple of Dendur: Metropolitan Museum of Art 2013. Portions of the initial sales of Empty Tomb would also go to a charity of Cisneros' choosing.

In a blog post reflecting on the release, David V. D'andrea explains the process:

“	“Plans for Samaritan Press 001 began in early 2013, shortly after the imprint was founded. Releasing the first official catalog number with Al was important to me, as the creative relationship we’ve built with OM has made for some of my best and most fulfilling work. Al’s intention in music and words deeply resonates with me as an artist and friend. My interpretation focused on the story of Elijah, as mentioned in the lyrics:” “And rise Elijah. From death through the ghost field. The empty tomb electric. From sepulcher flows the stream. As siddhas roam the mountain. Jonah.” The depiction of Elijah (back cover) is fairly traditional with some slight twists. To me, Elijah is representative of a contemplative life and the song evokes a specific period of isolation as described in the biblical narrative.He is crouched in a cave on Mt Horeb. Ravens gather with bits of God’s nourishment. I feel that those who live hand-to-mouth must believe in a sort of providence as illustrated in the story. I included a skull atop the tree stump as a symbol of rebirth, a trust in God and nature.The image of the raven (insert) is a further elaboration on the scene. This time I imagined the tree full grown, having enveloped the human spirit/skull. The chipboard sleeve was printed on my Chandler & Price press (circa 1910). The press is powered by pumping a foot pedal (treadle) to rotate a large flywheel which powers the press to print with a “clamshell” type of motion. Though an edition of 1000, the jackets were printed in two passes.The dust sleeves were also printed on the C&P.This called for many, many hours of printing and contemplation and,as a good friend once pointed out, manually powering a sort of wheel of dharma (dhammachakra) to imprint the image. The image is physically pressed into paper as the grooves of the record are imprinted into the vinyl, an overall archaic and laborious process, which embeds an intention and energy in the object. I hope that the final object conveys the reverence for music and art that Samaritan Press represents. The main insert is a 3 color screen print along with various other ephemera that I include with mailorder copies.The matrix labels were hand stamped and the jackets were then manually folded and numbered. I want to thank everybody who has purchased the release so far. Your interest and support has been extremely encouraging and a sure sign that I will continue the series of music releases. I have a few proposals out there and I’m certain that the next release will be very exciting. More details to come.”	”
	— David V. D'andrea, Samaritan Press

Samaritan Press 001 was printed in an edition of 1000 using manual techniques. Stumptown record sleeves printed in-house on a Chandler & Price "Old Style" Press (1910), inserts screen printed at Diesel Fuel and Monolith Press, and labels were hand stamped. The first 100 copies were part of the special "patch" edition, given as a reward for the pre-order campaign to fund the 7". Empty Tomb was officially released on 2 October 2014 when Om and D'andrea embarked on an East Coast tour that year with Watter while it would be officially released online on 16 October 2014.

Various bloggers and reviewers would heavily praise the music and artistic merit of the release, such as Doodlehound, Mugwumb and Telegraph Mastering among others.

Al Cisneros - Empty Tomb

Al Cisneros - Sepulcher Dub

Tracklist

• A. Empty Tomb (3:15)
• B. Sepulcher Dub (3:14)

Personnel

• Al Cisneros - All Instruments, Vocals, Writing, Recording
• David V. D'andrea - Artwork
• Adam Gonsalves - Lacquer Cut
• Kevin Drake - Mastering

External Links

• Empty Tomb on Discogs
• Empty Tomb on Samaritan Press
• Making of via Samaritan Press' Vimeo Page
• 2018 Blog Post on Empty Tomb