SKU: 75715124438

Cheri Knight - American Rituals

Sale price$22.49 Regular price$24.99
Save 10%

Pay in installments of $6.25 with ShopPay, AfterPay and Klarna

Shipping Estimate
USA
  • USA
  • CAN

Ships within 48 hours · Estimated delivery Aug 13 - Aug 18

Promo Codes Available:

For Your Every Summer RSVP, with Code: SUMMER15

Description

Cheri Knight - American RitualsOn the outskirts of late 1970s Olympia, Washington, something stirs, sings, and breathes. Cheri Knight, a music composition student at the Evergreen State College, is developing her practice in a quaint but adequately equipped campus recording studio, amalgamating with the sonic timbre of the surrounding time, space, and place, while devoting to her own inner maxims. At once performative and meditative, electronic and organic, collaborative and self

On the outskirts of late 1970s Olympia, Washington, something stirs, sings, and breathes. Cheri Knight, a music composition student at the Evergreen State College, is developing her practice in a quaint but adequately equipped campus recording studio, amalgamating with the sonic timbre of the surrounding time, space, and place, while devoting to her own inner maxims. At once performative and meditative, electronic and organic, collaborative and self-contained, Cheri's early compositions are simultaneously complete and sketches of a ceremonial process at play. American Rituals captures the artist's environmental emergence, unearthing a unique compositional voice and signposting a regional sonic ethos. The path to Evergreen seems gently preordained for Cheri, a whisper in the trees. Growing up in a musical household in Western Massachusetts, she learned to play piano and clarinet, demurring from notated music but composing piano pieces in the minimalist mode of Erik Satie and folk songs inspired by Joni Mitchell. In high school, her class studied John Cage's work, an epiphanic moment for the young artist. The group also visited a studio outside Amherst where she encountered the modular limitlessness of a Moog synthesizer. Cheri studied philosophy and music at Whitman College in Washington, and then took a year to build a stone house with some friends in New Hampshire. She settled at Evergreen soon after, carrying with her a zeal for improvisation, creative investigation, and hands-on experimentation. The seven works anthologized on American Rituals are foremost an expression of Cheri's elemental approach to creating, rather than writing, music. Polyvocal chants, spoken-word collages, primal post-punk excursions and hymn-like incantations are bound together by a performative energy; a Cage-ian commitment to the present moment which harbors a meditative interior. The first piece Cheri made at Evergreen manifested when a multi-tracked mic test spontaneously evolved into a vocal ostinato. This experience of layering her own voice allowed Cheri to see images of the sounds she was making "in real time." In Cheri's music, language takes on a playful, fluxist, material quality as it is patterned in space. This word play is most evident in pieces like "Prime Numbers" and "Primary Colors, " which uses speech as an elemental material forming our changeable perception of the world. Channeled through the human voice, which is instrumentalized in every piece on American Rituals, language becomes a mutable force and a virtuosic apparatus. Spoken, sung, recited, incanted, chanted, instructed, whispered. It asks us to breathe, in and out. It tells us stories, reads us instructions, reminds us of water. Through rhythmically repeated speech patterns and flowing turns of phrase, the voice conveys ritualized patterns of everyday material becoming beautiful and strange, musical and memorable, conceptual and devotional. The musical output of Evergreen entering the 1980s should not be underestimated in it's contribution to the burgeoning Seattle-Olympia DIY axis, with pieces on American Rituals evidencing a contagious ethos and aesthetic. K. Leimer's Palace of Lights label first issued Cheri's "Primary Colors" and "Hear/Say" as part of it's 1982 compilation Regional Zeal, Mouth Music From Olympia Washington, while "Prime Numbers" and "Breathe" were included on the Steve Fiskproduced compilation Dub Communiqué the same year. But beyond catalog crossover and collaborative evolution, there is a shared sonic energy coursing through American Rituals which speaks to an absorption of place, of atmosphere, of weather. During a peer pilgrimage to the 1981 New Music America Festival in San Francisco, a change in weather was forecasted when Cheri met composer and theorist Pauline Oliveros. She spent part of her final year at Evergreen independently studying at the Zen Arts Center in Mount Tremper, New York, with Pauline and her partner, the performance artist Linda Montano. Aligning with both luminaries amplified the artistic and philosophical resonance of Cheri's work, bringing tenets of Buddhism and Living Art into both her artistic and life practice. Following these principles, Cheri's art eventually did become absorbed into life: living on a farm with goats in rural Massachusetts, writing songs, playing in bands, and eventually drifting away from music and into other things. But as is often the case, the path taken is never forgotten, only temporarily out of mind. With the help of old friends and new, the music of American Rituals was salvaged (not without hundreds of emails and phone calls) from master tapes stored in the collections of various peers and recording engineers from the extended Evergreen set, and is re-presented / represented now with care. Cheri Knight's American Rituals arrives in vinyl and digital formats July 15, 2022 from Freedom To Spend. A portion of the proceeds from this release will benefit Draft Gratitude, a draft horse rescue in Winchester, New Hampshire dedicated to saving the lives of senior working horses.

Shipping Notes
  • Free Standard Shipping on $100+ Orders to the USA.
  • Except Preorder products are shipped in 48 hours.
  • Delivery to the USA:
  1. Standard Shipping : 3-10 business days
  • If time is of the essence, please consider selecting expedited delivery for faster service.
Exchange/Return Notes
  • We offer a 30-day return/exchange service after receiving.
  • Final sale items are not eligible for returns or exchanges.
  • To process your return/exchange, please contact us at [email protected]
  • Please click here for more details>>> Return & Exchange Policy
SKU: 75715124438

Discover Niche Categories That Outsell

Top-Converting Item to Boost Your Average Order

4.4 ★★★★★
Based on 12 reviews
Sort
Highest Rating
Newest First
Oldest First
Product Reviews
C
Caffeinated Hermit
Grantham, US
★★★★★ 5
Great play sneaker for outside
Size: 1 Little Kid, Color: Fuchsia
These sneakers fit my daughter’s feet perfectly and she loves the color. I trust the Saucony brand as I’ve owned several pairs. They are well made and this pair is an excellent option for play sneakers. My kids are outside a lot and I need a sneaker that can handle running, climbing and occasionally getting wet. There is generous breathable mesh and the shoes dry quickly. My daughter has slightly wider feet and these fit comfortably. I also appreciate that they are Velcro so can be put on or taken off quickly because we all know kids are impatient when it comes to playtime.
WAS THIS REVIEW HELPFUL?YesReportShare
Reviewed in the United States on May 19, 2026
E
EmilySue
Lowell, US
★★★★★ 5
Great everyday sneaker
Size: 1 Little Kid, Color: Fuchsia
I bought these for my kid and honestly didn’t expect to like them as much as I do, but they’ve been great so far. They’re lightweight, easy to get on, look cute, fit well, and actually seem comfortable enough that there’s been zero complaining (which is saying a lot). The grip on the bottom is solid, and they’ve held up really well with everyday wear, running around, playground, all of it. I also like that they’re breathable, so no sweaty feet at the end of the day. They’re not the most “fancy” sneaker out there, but for the price, the quality feels really fair. If anything, I wish they came in even more color options because we’d probably buy another pair. Overall, really good everyday shoe. If you just need something reliable, comfortable, and kid-proof, these definitely do the job.
WAS THIS REVIEW HELPFUL?YesReportShare
Reviewed in the United States on April 21, 2026
S
Samara Dawson
Waukegan, US
★★★★★ 5
You've Found Your Daughter's Match! Superior Sneakers for Girls!
Size: 1 Little Kid, Color: Fuchsia, Size: 1 Little Kid, Color: Fuchsia
Super-cute, stylish sneakers meet cushiony comfort at a very reasonable price. These sneakers have it all! The bed and sole of these sneakers provide significant shock-absorption making them ideal for serious athletics or a long day out at the theme park. Our daughter went from a Keds-type sneaker to these and she was beaming 😁! In addition to their comfort and ppearance is the fact that they fasten and unfasten with ease. Any child can put them on and take them off. The laces stretch and the Velcro is highly adjustable. Everything has been constructed with integrity. They are, also, washable so you can continue to maintain their crisp, vibrant colors and keep them looking new. They fit true-to-size and can accodimate somewhat wide feet as well. There are only positive things to say about these 5+ stars!
WAS THIS REVIEW HELPFUL?YesReportShare
Reviewed in the United States on April 11, 2026
V
Verified Purchase
Valerie Jacobson
Whiting, US
★★★★★ 5
Nice to have a wider shoe! Nice color and seems to be good quality so far!
The fit ran a little bit small compared to Nike brand. Size chart at a shoe store I felt he needed a 1.5 (with room to grow still), ended up ordering a 2.5 which may have been a tiny big but works for his feet to grow. Love that it's wider. Cute color
WAS THIS REVIEW HELPFUL?YesReportShare
Reviewed in the United States on January 18, 2026
S
Verified Purchase
Seaton18
Whiting, US
★★★★★ 5
Cute, durable kids' shoe at a great value
Size: 11.5 Big Kid, Color: Navy/Citron
These worked out great for our 5 year old with flat feet - he absolutely loves them, says they are very comfortable and help him "run FAST!" The colors look super cute, I'm very pleased with the durability over several months (particularly, the hook & loop closure has held up better than other brands we've tried...), and they seem to offer great support while not being too heavy. Highly recommend, and will buy again.
WAS THIS REVIEW HELPFUL?YesReportShare
Reviewed in the United States on August 26, 2025

recommand products