Telephone game turned into Telephono project

Omaha musician David Matysiak began 15 new songs knowing that somebody else could completely change his initial idea—and that was the point.

Matysiak, a resident at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Art and lead singer for the band Coyote Bones, began Telephono as an audio experiment to put musicians from around the world into productive contact with one another. He would begin a song and send it to the next person in the chain (usually around four people long). Each subsequent musician would manipulate and reinterpret the audio file before passing it on down the line.

Sound familiar? The project takes its cue from the children's game Telephone, in which a whispered secret is passed around a circle and almost always gets back to the teller changed—sometimes on purpose, sometimes on accident. Communication, it teaches, is a complicated endeavor.

With Telephono, Matysiak looked to take this idea into a creative direction. And as the titles suggest ("Mazzy Star married our hearts that night in 7th grade when we first french kissed" is one, to give a taste), the project is not an empty exercise in Internet philandering and crossed wires, but rather a hopeful look at the potential of cooperation across terrestrial and sonic boundaries.

Those involved ranged from local Omaha musicians Matysiak knew well—like oft-collaborator Nick White from Tilly and the Wall or Eli Mardock from Eagle Seagull—to various artists worldwide, including  such disparate locations of Italy, Sweden and Denmark. Other contributors included Tim Kasher of Cursive, Bob Nanna of Braid and Hey Mercedes, Ludvig Rylander of The Concretes, Jason Lowenstein of Sebadoh and Jonas Bjerre of Mew.

In the end, Telephono yielded 40 unique song files spread over the 15 musical projects. Box sets contain five vinyl records' worth of 12 sets of these creations, with art by Georgia's own Jordan Noel. The listening/release party will be held on July 17 at the Bemis Center in Omaha.

Related links:
Telephono.org
CoyoteBones.com
Omaha.com: "Omaha musician plays it forward"

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