Photo by Mitchell Wojcik

By DCist Contributor Ahmad Zaghal

For the fourth installment of the local Call + Response series—in which talented visual artists in the D.C. area “respond” to work by emerging and acclaimed area writers— organizers Kira Wisniewski, Dillon Babington and Mike O’Brien added a twist—an audio component.

This time around, rootsy alt-punk band Restorations, from Philadelphia, were commissioned to record an instrumental piece. That track was then given to sixteen area writers; sixteen visual artists then produced their take on the written works. This year’s Call + Response exhibit will open this Saturday, October 11th at art collective Hole in the Sky, where Restorations will play the instrumental piece as the written works and visual art are displayed.

To have Restorations produce the foundation for this project was a perfect call. The track, which DCist is exclusively streaming below, gave writers a varied and massive piece to work with. “Alright Boys…” is a twelve-minute long, multi-part narrative suite open to interpretation. 7″ records of the track will be available at the show, along with copies of all the written works and visual representations. This way, attendees can take home these one-of-a-kind collaborations and give each set of work the time and attention it deserves.

Call + Response IV opens this Saturday at 7 p.m. at Hole in the Sky. $5 at the door.
You can preorder Restorations’ new album, LP3, from SideOneDummy Records. They’re also playing DC9 on October 25. Info here.

Disclosure: DCist Associate Editor Matt Cohen is one of the participating writers in Call + Response IV.