Alex Silver
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halfvivid.bsky.social
Alex Silver
@halfvivid.bsky.social
Folk music experimentalist and French teacher. Portland, Maine area.

https://halfvividsongs.com
https://alexsilver.bandcamp.com/
Chico States has a new single out today through The Ugly Hug. I wrote the blurb for this album. Can't wait for you to hear the whole thing on Oct. 23.

uglyhug.com/2025/10/01/c...
October 1, 2025 at 10:16 PM
Who's responsible right now? Who's aware of the tangible world in North America?

It's probably not powers-that-be and it doesn't seem to be the task of public artists anymore... Poor people? Indigenous people? Road crews?
September 13, 2025 at 3:51 PM
If everyone is listing books that changed the patterns and movement of their physical bodies in 2025 so far:
September 11, 2025 at 9:09 AM
And here is my favorite photo-and-painting combo of geraniums. Anton Gojmir Kos.

#flowersky #centraleuropeanartists
September 5, 2025 at 10:33 AM
Vaxholm, Sweden on August 17. I talked about the geraniums in the windows so much they suggested I take this picture.

alexsilvertown.com/2025/08/30/p...
September 4, 2025 at 9:08 PM
Upcoming Chico States :) Band stoic, bassist squirrelly.

8/1 @ Blue w/ Lolabelle, El Malo—Portland, Maine
8/9 @ Prism Analog w/ Whip Appeal, Ruby Lou—Portland, Maine
9/26 @ Club Moss—Nobleboro, Maine
10/10 @ House Show w/ Lolabelle, Stephen—Bath, Maine
11/8 @ Hi-Fidelity w/ Vega—Portland, Maine
July 23, 2025 at 5:06 PM
Everyone deserves to have their gig printed with the grocery coupons.
June 18, 2025 at 2:08 PM
La Kermesse Festival in Biddeford is coming up next weekend! I'm playing Saturday afternoon outside. This is the 42nd festival and I'm there to pitch in to preserve and respect Franco-American heritage in Maine. Neil Young, Dylan, Cohen, George Harrison, my light-hearted stuff, and some en français.
June 13, 2025 at 12:23 PM
I'm also the bassist in Chico States, an alt-country band behind the songs of Americana madman and erudite traveler Joe Barresi. This is an exciting show for us. Seward is in the Burlington scene of Florry/Greg Freeman/Dear Life Records and we did a fav. show at the Trash Mountain of her new album.
June 7, 2025 at 11:40 AM
I'm excited to share I'll be playing at La Kermesse Franco-Americaine this year. The festival has served to preserve French Canadian heritage in Biddeford-Saco for over 40 years. A lot of my students know it simply as the local fair each summer. I'm playing Saturday, June 21st!
May 20, 2025 at 10:09 PM
Yesterday's version of Growing Up Maine @statetheatreme.bsky.social could not have been more moving.

It fulfilled one possibility of art: I felt understood for what I see in the classroom. Teachers and friends relish with me the profound things kids say, but here they were given musical power.
May 19, 2025 at 11:35 AM
Sometimes the world feels so abundant with the beautiful fruits of hard-working people. I've been listening to a lot from @ooyhrecords.bsky.social and Mali Obomsawin. Now, this morning I see she organized a film fest for Sunday in #PortlandME!

#wabanaki #film

www.pressherald.com/2025/05/16/w...
May 16, 2025 at 11:48 AM
Chico States show coming up on June 8th! Lily Seabird just put out the beautiful 'Trash Mountain' on @lameorecords.bsky.social. I learned that we played with her at the "Trash Mountain" of the title! I sat in a recliner serenely while she and friends played an hour of perfect Beatles on a piano.
May 12, 2025 at 9:37 PM
While taking Research Methods for my master's, we were asked to create a data visualization. I found this interesting study suggesting that the "mere presence" of your smartphone reduces cognitive capacity.

www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10....

#dumbphone #phonedumb #tech
April 30, 2025 at 11:28 PM
on.soundcloud.com/Vdz7q5BV37hK...

#sungword #WIPWednesday

10th recording in the song diary I started in December. I'm averaging about 3 per month—an invitation to observe the (aural) branching of a mind 🌱
April 30, 2025 at 11:20 AM
April 24, 2025 at 1:11 AM
As a kid, I liked pushing my head into the couch cushions. I love fiber. I look for music that feels like chewing on a piece of rope. It's great @danielbachman.bsky.social's work is called folk music. His "chopping up" of original material reminds me of Nick Dunston, except Dunston excavates jazz.
April 22, 2025 at 7:56 PM
This is the phone I take to the Atlantic Ocean or the grocery store. I forward all the calls from my supercomputer (iPhone) and any texts come from people who know the number: my partner, mom, dad.
April 22, 2025 at 2:30 PM
Since March, I've collected (and curated for quality) 33 articles, podcasts, and journalistic videos with "Maine" as a subject-matter, all originally created in French. Within Maine, @amjamboafrica.bsky.social publishes its own reporting.

Anyone know of similar projects in other states?

#langsky
April 21, 2025 at 10:13 AM
I can't really imagine improvising with another person in this way. The silence is impressively confident. I've aspired to using silence holistically like this, but it remains an abstract hope. Hearing this music makes me see how it might be done.

open.qobuz.com/album/761994...

#piano #jazz
April 18, 2025 at 7:37 PM