This album is an attempt to redirect musical energy into community engagement, environmental awareness, and general human connection, understanding, and kindness.


Proceeds from this album will be split between the California Fire Foundation, the Ventana Wildlife Society and the Big Sur Land Trust.


This album is dedicated to the volunteer firefighters of Fire Station 61 in Berry Creek, Butte County, CA, to the men and women who have lost their lives to fire, and to all those who are called to fight fire.


In the wake of the continued unrest in this country, and especially in light of the most recent unjust decision rendered in Kentucky over the murder of Breonna Taylor, I realized in a very personal way that I have the unbelievable privilege of creating art in this world, and I wanted to release some more of my improvisatory experiments to some public good aside from any purely aesthetic considerations.


I am continuing to process the degree of racial injustice in this country, and I am committed to responding to the best of my abilities in this regard. If you are interested in one of my previous artistic responses, please check out "Protest Song" on YouTube, an audiovisual collaboration with photographer Leda Costa covering the CHOP protest movement in Seattle: www.youtube.com/watch?v=0MyKUDXCmNA


With Desert and Sea, I seek to personally react to the effects of climate change. My family and friends are firefighters. I cannot imagine what it is like to commit one's life to this job, as the worst that can happen to me in music is to play a sour note or something slightly out of time.


All tracks performed by

Domenic Salerni
violin, scordatura violin,
frame drum, hand clapping,
vocal drone


Photo Credit: Farkhad Khudyev, Monterey, CA 2014


I. New World Junun

This was my initial reaction to watching the 2015 Paul Thomas Anderson documentary “Junun.” The combination of styles and traditions and languages and religions in this collaboration was so inspiring, and directly informs the sound of the rest of this EP.

II. String Band March

As it seems during these times of isolation and unrest, some of us who feel compelled to engage do so by reinvesting in their artistic resources. One of these has been watching documentaries and films about musicians to get those inspirational juices flowing. “The Band’s Visit” is an award-winning Israeli film directed by Eran Kolirin that chronicles the visit of Egypt’s Alexandria Ceremonial Police Orchestra to a small town in Israel, and all of the ups and downs, mishaps and adventures, that happen in the span of a weekend.

III. Desert and Sea

Shortly after laying down “String Band March,” I realized that a desert is like a sea: a seemingly endless ocean of sand. Oases, islands, sandstorms, hurricanes, and the image became clear to me of fire combatted by water. This track is dedicated to all those brave people who risk their lives daily to combat both the forest fires that are part of a natural cycle, and the ones started by human folly and stupidity. I stayed with a former firefighter, Tom, for two summers in Bellingham, WA, and he told me of the sheer excitement and terror of being on this job. My cousin, Adin, not even 20, has seen more in his short years than I will in my whole life. I see you all, I send my love, and as it is said in Italian, “ce la faremo,” or, roughly, “we will carry on.”

IV. “Julus” by Shye Ben-Tzur, Jonny Greenwood, and the Rajasthan Express

“Julus” is the de facto theme song for PT Anderson’s documentary “Junun,” and one of many absolutely rocking tracks on the album of the same name. I am actually not sure who wrote it, as “Junun” was such a collaborative effort, so I dip my hat to the combined genius of Jonny Greenwood, Shye Ben-Tzur, The Rajasthan Express, Nigel Godrich, and the various and sundry singers and percussionists credited on the album. I made this arrangement in a New York hotel room in between video recording sessions with the Grammy Award-winning Attacca Quartet.

V. “Marsch 21” by Mats Edén

I got to know of Mats’ unbelievably deeply rooted traditional Swedish fiddle practice through the composer Gabriella Smith. Her arrangement of two tunes from his album “Anno 2010” led me, through social media during the pandemic, to become in contact with him. We began a very satisfying and educational musical correspondence, and he sent me this tune and I turned it around very quickly. I learned later that drums were banned by a Swedish king in either the 16th or 17th century! Poor king couldn’t keep the beat!

VI. Contemplation

This freely improvised meditation is a reflection of at least one wavelength of the many vibrations I have felt, and I am sure we all have in these times. I for one have grappled with notions of self-worth, artistry, community engagement, race relations, environmental concerns, how time flows or doesn’t, relevance, how to communicate effectively, who and where my loved ones are, and countless other branches of the tree that we most urgently need to name before it is defined for us: community, whether it be California, the West Coast, America, the world. We only have but this one life and but this one Earth, and we all need to be its worthy stewards. With gratitude for your service, I offer you perhaps some brief respite from your burden. “Once more, into the breach…”