Grief ties Schilke to music, home

childhood home in Ledyard in the early fall of 2016 and expected to be there a short time before returning to Montreal.

But the process slowed, in part because when President Trump was elected, Canada was inundated with immigration requests, Schilke says.

“What I was told was supposed to be just a few months turned into a few more months and then eventually a year and then another year,” he says.

Schilke recalls that he ended up feeling stuck in Connecticut. He had left a life, a group of friends and even a music studio he had built in Montreal.

Schilke says that’s part “of what the album is about, being torn between Montreal and Connecticut but also the entire journey.”

The album has “layers of concepts and narratives” as well, including those having to do with his father and his father’s death.

His father, Peter, had multiple sclerosis and died in 2018. Schilke says his father passed away “tragically and suddenly on a family vacation. It was unexpected,” but he declined to specify what happened.

While he was conflicted in certain aspects of being back in Ledyard starting in 2016, he says, “I realized I was really happy to be home because my dad was sick.”

He says he was lucky to be able to live with his parents; he got to know them as friends. And, he adds, his parents “allowed me to sort of go on this sabbatical. I was still working, but I was able to create this creative space and really be able to dive into discovering my craft.”

Schilke stops at one point while discussing his father and says, “When I start talking about my dad, I get choked up.

He goes on: “When people have somebody close to them that passes away, it really forces you to collect your values, morals … It can make you feel really weak at times but also really strong. It puts things into perspective, and that gave me the strength to do something I felt like I had never done before.”

The description he wrote for “Synthesis” on the record label website includes (in stylized lower case), “his debut album synthesis is greatly inspired by the interconnected patterns and pathways of nature, and how they help create meaning out of the chaotic process of grief. it explores the search for reason we are sent on when confronted with losing a loved one …”

Reconsidering things

Schilke says his father, who retired from the Navy and then worked as an engineer, was laid back but a hard worker, and very funny. “He was always able to make anybody laugh in any situation,” he says.

His father did get to hear some of the “Synthesis” songs and particularly loved the ones that had to do with the fires they built and the yard work they did together.

Schilke continued writing songs that ended up on “Synthesis” after his father died.

“I was simultaneously writing about my healing process while grieving,” he says.

Schilke eventually got his permanent residency to enable him to move back to Montreal in 2018. He did relocate there after his father’s death but, after three months, returned to Connecticut.

A variety of factors played into that decision, from not being able to find a job there, to his changing feelings about Montreal and the constant worry about immigration, to the fact that he felt he was needed in Connecticut and should be close to his family. (Erik’s mother, Laura, still lives in Ledyard.) Schilke had thought about living between Connecticut and Canada, but the pandemic has prevented that.

Surrounded by music

Schilke grew up a musical family. His parents had always been very artistic, and they wanted their kids to do music as one of the activities during their free time. Schilke’s grandmother loves music and always wished she could play and perform; she paid for all her grandchildren to take piano lessons.

Erik, who has two older brothers and a younger sister, ended up choosing the stand-up bass as his primary instrument. That grew in part from the simple fact that his brother played guitar and needed a bass player. But Erik ended up loving the instrument.

“I think it’s a gorgeous instrument. I was attracted to the upright bass because of all the sounds, the gritty sounds that you could make and how many different ways you could manipulate the strings with the bow and mimic different instruments. You could make it sound like a violin, you could make it sound like a cello, you could make it sound like, I don’t know, like an animal roaring in the really deep side of the bass,” he says.

Schilke was involved in all sorts of music groups — from concert band to jazz band to chamber choir — at Ledyard High School, before graduating in 2008.

He says that making music is very therapeutic.

“For me, it allows me to escape from reality and kind of build my own reality or universe of sounds, my own world. … It can be very cathartic. The days where I have a really good music session, I always just feel my best,” he says.

In addition to making his own music, Schilke enjoys collaborating with other artists and doing sound design and producing music.

Discussing how he ended up releasing “Synthesis” on Hymen Records, Schilke says, “I had listened to some artists on their label, and I loved their music, so when I decided it was time to release something, I reached out to them. And fortunately, they liked (my) music, too.”

Schilke says he feels proud of “Synthesis” and that he took that leap of faith and did the album.

“Being me, having my personality, being really OCD and very anxious and having a lot of self-doubt … this was a huge accomplishment,” he says, noting that he could have released multiple albums since high school but didn’t think that material was good enough.

This album, he says, “is a huge first step.”

New London restaurant owner Joshua Feldman was sentenced to four years of probation on Wednesday for drug distribution.

Feldman, the 47-year-old co-owner of Noble restaurant on Bank Street, is one of the 26 New London-area defendants indicted in 2019 on federal drug trafficking charges. He pleaded guilty in June 2019 to conspiracy to distribute and possession with intent to distribute 50 to 100 grams of cocaine.

Feldman appeared virtually Wednesday before Senior U.S. Judge for the District of Connecticut Vanessa L. Bryant, who sentenced him and ordered him to serve 100 hours of community service in the first year of probation, preferably in offering food services to individuals suffering from addiction.

Under federal sentencing guidelines, Feldman faced 10 to 16 months in prison, a minimum term of three years of supervised release and a fine of up to $55,000. His attorney, Robert Golger, asked the judge not to sentence Feldman to time in prison.

Golger said he saw a transformation in his client, who he said “has a lot to live for” and had “stabilized his life” since the time of his arrest.

Feldman, he said, addressed his own substance abuse issues, sought counseling, completed the Court Support program and was focused on running his business and being a good parent to his children.

Golger said his client “met the standard the court looks to” for making an effort “to turn his life around.”

Feldman’s case was nolled in the New London District Court last month, meaning the state will not be prosecuting him on narcotics distribution charges, since he was facing consequences for the same offense in federal court. If he doesn’t get into any legal trouble in the next 13 months, his case will be dismissed on the state level.