11/10/2023

Pauline Anna Strom’s Echoes, Spaces, Lines – Available Now

Echoes, Spaces, Lines collects three albums that musician, healer, and medium Pauline Anna Strom made between 1982 and 1984, restored from the original reels, remixed, remastered, and expanded with the unheard album, Oceans of Tears. It’s presented with Paula’s guidance; a project initiated before her passing at the end of 2020, abandoned while we grieved, and reinvigorated right around the one year anniversary of her departure. One of the most ambitious projects initiated for RVNG, and one of the most meaningful.

There was an early point in the long curve that was my correspondence with Paula where it felt this music would never be allowed the proper setting to be experienced and appreciated in a wider way. Honestly, Paula just didn’t seem to give a damn. In fact, those may have been her exact words, followed by her imperturbable laugh and a quick subject switch to something that probably was more important. She not only remained on track, if not ahead, of current events, but possessed an insatiable thirst for knowledge of everything from metaphysics to the fall of rome. She couldn’t be bothered by some dork obsessed with music she made decades ago.

But Paula was kind, and always had time. Sometimes a little time, sometimes a lot. As the tables began turning ever-so-slightly, I began receiving phone calls from Paula, instead of the other way around. But the calls never bothered me; they just brought great joy to speak with someone that I never knew I would know. Someone so clearly connected to otherworldly forces, as demonstrated in Paula’s music, but also someone with an infectious personality and, at times, a vulnerability. Someone that I wanted to care for and protect, and someone to look out for me as she traversed the inter-dimensional planes of her everyday life.

I guess these may have been lines that shouldn’t have been crossed by label or artist. But I stopped giving a damn about “reissuing” Paula’s music; that felt far off from the experience of befriending Paula, and even profane. I never stopped listening to Paula’s music along that curve though, and it only became more meaningful and potent as our friendship deepened. Perhaps Paula sensed this when she eventually expressed excitement to revisit her past work (on the condition that new work would be explored). Or perhaps we had just established a mutual trust.

It’s with that trust, and with Paula’s blessing, that Echoes, Spaces, Lines expands substantially from our 2017 anthology of her work, Trans-Millenia Music. And it’s not without an incredible group of people that this music will be experienced in a wider way.

Thank you, and happy b’day, to JAB (John Also Bennett), who has been instrumental in honoring / preserving Paula’s legacy, Jeremy Harris, for being our eyes and ears on the ground on the west coast, Paula’s friend near the end, and the caretaker of Little Soulstice and Ms Huff, Euan Hinshelwood, Suzanne Ciani, and Aubrey Trinnaman for their sympathetic spirit and help while we worked on this immense project in Stinson Beach, Marta Salogni for so, so much, including these glorious mixes, and channeling Paula’s vision with such love, Anne Taegart at Dubplates for the attentive ears, Karma Moffett for the generous, energetic artwork, and Will Work For Good and Double Vanity for the cohesive color and care in the design, packaging, and words

Thank you to Loretta, Paula’s sister whom I only had a vague idea while she was here and has since become like a family member. And most of all to Paula. My heart hurts without you in this world, but it glows with your gift of music and friendship. I hope you are feeling all of the love from afar, and from all around us.

📷 Photo by dear Aubrey Trinnaman