BRIAN HARNETTY — MORT AND DOT — EPK

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PAST PRESS

“Reflective, vulnerable, melancholic and hypnotic, this is a record for times of solace, companionship and escape. 5/5 stars.”

— MOJO (UK)

“Harnetty frames Merton’s humane eloquence with discreet and dignified music… The monk’s voice remains vital and apt; the settings are just right.”

— The Wire (UK)

“Musically adept and emotionally and spiritually resonant. Brilliant. 4.5/5 stars.”

— Allmusic

“A meditation and refuge from the incessant noise of modernity, the record offers harmonious balance between distinct spiritual forces, at work both individually and in multi-layered conversation.”

— Aquarium Drunkard

“Working like a novelist, [Harnetty] has immersed himself in an archive of field recordings – slices of past lives – and now emerges to create a new text, breathing new life into old chunks of sound by radically recontextualising them.”

— Clive Bell, The Wire

“Brilliant, maddening, addictive....Harnetty has proved that one way to preserve history is to weave it into the moment and let it vanish in our midst while echoing forever its truths, aphorisms, superstitions, and lies. 4.5/5 STARS.”

— Allmusic

“I am so moved by this music and these visuals… A masterclass.”

— Foxy Digitalis

“The more I feel unable to figure it out, the more I like the work... Harnetty’s created modern art out of regional history.”

— Dusted

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

Over the past two decades, Columbus, Ohio based artist and composer Brian Harnetty has been lost in sound: archives, field recordings, turntables, tape machines, radios, orchestras, toy and junk instruments, and his own chamber ensemble have all been featured in his work. At the same time, he has used the practice of listening as a way to foster social change, and as a means to understand places and people from Appalachia and the Midwest.

After completing his studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London, Harnetty returned to his native Ohio to explore local and regional issues there, including family, place, labor, memory, energy use, extraction, and environmental justice. The result is music that goes both deep and wide: celebrating everyday and marginalized people, spending up to a decade collaborating with rural Appalachian communities, and helping these communities work toward social and environmental justice.

Harnetty’s recent work includes Words and Silences (2022), which is a portrait of monk and writer Thomas Merton. It explores archival recordings of Merton and reveals his intimate, interior voice. Words and Silences received much critical acclaim, including 5/5 stars from Mojo Magazine, and was on many “Best of 2022” lists, including The Wire, Allmusic, Mojo, and Aquarium Drunkard. Following that critical success, Harnetty released The Workbench (2024) and The House (2025), two intimate and personal works that serve as “family portraits.” The pieces are reflections on time, the life of Harnetty’s father Paul, and the childhood home where he grew up.

Mort and Dot (2026) is also part of this “family portrait” series. Here, Harnetty drew inspiration from his grandparents’ sheet music collection.

Harnetty’s maternal grandparents were named Mordecai Williams and Dorothy Nolan. They both grew up at the beginning of the 20th century (born in 1906 and 1910, respectively). Mordecai was from the village of Shawnee, in southeastern Appalachian Ohio. Dorothy grew up in Columbus, on the west side of town. They both loved music and learned to play the piano, and they both shared a fondness for popular Tin Pan Alley songs.

Eventually, the sheet music collection was passed down to Harnetty. He loved the artwork for each piece, as well as the fact that both Mordecai and Dorothy wrote their names on the covers of their favorite pieces (as “Mort” and “Dot”). He also loved playing through the music and imagining the lives they led as a young couple a century ago.

Performed on an old upright piano, these ten miniatures were composed based on fragments from the sheet music. Harnetty thought of the music as a kind of personal archive reflecting his grandparents' tastes, and as a physical record of their domestic lives. He also tailored the style of each piece to something he thought Mort and Dot might enjoy listening to. You could say their aesthetics — combined with Harnetty’s memories — helped shape the music, even though Mort and Dot are no longer with us.

For more information about this release, and to hear more exclusive tracks, visit Harnetty’s "Sound Is Magic" newsletter:

brianharnetty.substack.com

TRACKS:

Sweetheart
For You
River
Trees
Mystery
Garden
Parade
Bird House
Shadow
Dream

ALBUM COVER

MORE INFO

Label: Winesap Records
Release date: 5/01/2026
Format: Digital
Total Time: 21:00
Genre: Solo piano
Hometown: Columbus, Ohio
Influences: Michael Finnissy, Steve Reich, Pauline Oliveros, Moondog, Meredith Monk, Charles Ives, Sun Ra, Harry Partch, Frederic Rzewski