We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Pomelo

by Byron Au Yong

/
  • Streaming + Download

    Includes high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more. Paying supporters also get unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app.
    Purchasable with gift card

      name your price

     

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

about

Where are you now?
I am probably sitting.

If not, then perhaps I am picking pomelo.
Did your face light up?
Are you picking pomelo too?

Pomelo are the largest citrus.
Envision a supersized grapefruit.

Yoko Ono published a book called Grapefruit in 1964.
Each page is an instruction I find useful when I’m lost.
I look here to dream with a grounded absurdity:

“Imagine the clouds dripping.
Dig a hole in your garden to put them in.”

Grapefruit offers ways to liberate stuck minds.
Picking pomelo gets me out of a chair to reach into a tree.
Pomelo are citrus maxima, yet look small amidst the branches.

Similarly, the instructions are short and all-encompassing.
Likewise, these audio miniatures are brief and expansive.

I encourage you to get out of your chair.
Go where clouds float above.
And dance all around.

EPILOGUE
Grapefruit inspired Yoko Ono’s husband, John Lennon, yet he omitted her conceptual and lyric contributions. In 2017, after nearly 50 years, Ono finally received credit on the song “Imagine.”

Where do you find yourself during the dual pandemics of COVID-19 and systemic inequities?

Every morning, even the tiniest birds chirp. Their songs are bright and intricate. I imagine them telling the world to celebrate or mourn. These sounds are a reminder and a warning.

* * *

An acrostic where POMELO appears vertically and keywords from the instructions appear horizontally:

1. ____ oPen
2. __ tiptOe
3. ___ huMming
4. ____ pEaceful
5. __ circLes
6. ____ rOund

credits

released June 1, 2021

This work was commissioned by the Henry Art Gallery and Jack Straw Cultural Center for their sound works series called Sonolocations.

license

tags

about

Byron Au Yong Seattle, Washington

Byron Au Yong composes songs of dislocation, music for a changing world.

contact / help

Contact Byron Au Yong

Streaming and
Download help

Shipping and returns

Report this album or account

If you like Byron Au Yong, you may also like: