Though often unseen
- (from 'Trilogy')

Maggie has been a familiar name around OTO over our 13 year history, lending her voice and talents to a series of unforgettable performances, including a session with Joëlle Leandre and Roger Turner, which remains one of our favourite archived live performances to this day. While she might be best known as an improviser, most notably in the Spontaneous Music Ensemble, Feminist Improvising Group and more recently with the likes of 'Les Diaboliques', her talents stretch into song, dance, poetry, performance and composition.

This release, modestly recorded on her computer after teaching herself how to use Garageband during lock-down, brings forth her doubts, anxieties, loves and desires in a 13-part musical journey. Webbed through piano ballads, playful improvised ditties, stories, poetry and multi-layered vocal arrangements, 'Creative Contradiction' feels like a long-overdue catch up with a close friend. There's reminiscing, there's laughter, there's tears, there's chatter that floats on and off topic, there's things shared you don't feel comfortable sharing with others. When the world around us makes these sorts of relationships difficult or rendered void, intimacy through art can feel like an act of generosity: a hand outstretched in the darkness. Thank you Maggie for gifting us just that.

1 - Trilogy [05:31]

2 - Impermanence [00:32]

3 - The Guest House [02:56]

4 - Noticing [00:59]

5 - Dynamite Dream [04:22]

6 - Questioning [05:26]

7 - Aug 5th 2020 [02:14]

8 - Hecate's House [06:42]

9 - A True Gift [00:47]

10 - Shadow and Light Source Both [03:42]

11 - Musings on the Breath [05:53]

12 - Vivid Black [05:09]

13 - Au Revoir [01:34]

1) TRILOGY
a) Hiding & Opening musical improvisation to a poem I wrote a year ago
b) Gush & Flow “ “ “ “ “ “ I wrote in the eighties
c) Rain: a song I wrote recently (inspired by mindfulness teacher Tara Brach who uses the letters R.A.I.N to mean Recognise, Allow, Investigate and Nurture for dealing with difficult emotions).

2) IMPERMANENCE - an improvisation

3) THE GUEST HOUSE a poem by RUMI with layers of improvised music as a setting. 

4) NOTICING - an improvisation

5) DYNAMITE DREAM a song I wrote in the seventies from an improvisation 

6) QUESTIONING 
a) Moods improvisation
b) "Was It?" - A song I wrote in the eighties. 

7) AUG 5TH 2020 - an improvsation

8) HECATE’S HOUSEHOLD - an improvisation and poem ‘For Hecate’ (written by me in the nineties) featuring the lockdown trio & household cat
Maggie Nicols, voice
Katerina Koblizek, voice and ‘Olitar'
Ludek Salac, guitar
Kyna, feline being

9) A TRUE GIFT - an improvisation

10) SHADOW AND LIGHT SOURCE BOTH Poem by Rumi, music by Maggie Nicols 

11) MUSINGS ON THE BREATH - a multi layered improvisation

12) VIVID BLACK - a song I wrote around 2002 

13) AU REVOIR
a) Reprise
b) Open & Protected