Ambient / Experimental / Electronic
Chicago, Illinois, USA

“Sally Daley (1941-2020) was a synthesist who worked for decades as a musical director for Roman Catholic churches in the Chicago area. She also taught humanities at the City Colleges of Chicago. Daley released over 15 cassettes in the late '80s and early '90s, incorporating a range of influences from early music and classical to avant-garde and ambient. Her Preludes cassettes, which drew from Gregorian chants and early music were a popular seller at her local church and inspired multiple sequels and compilations. However, other albums featured twelve-tone compositions (Garden of Contrasts), quirky midi pop (Workout), electronic impressionism (Mirages) and religious-themed ambient music (My God and My All).

Daley was closely affiliated with the Creative Musicians Coalition (CMC), promoting many of her cassettes through their AfterTouch catalogs starting in the early '90s. By all accounts, she was a joyful, humorous person who loved cats. She was also deeply spiritual, belonging to a branch of the Franciscan order that vows poverty, chastity, and serving the poor. (Her label name Tau Spirit refers to the Greek letter T which was associated with Saint Francis of Assisi). Daley had been married earlier in life, but it was an unhappy one. She chose to be celibate after that, devoting her life to the church and teaching music. On her passing, many of her friends and former students fondly remembered their time with her.”

1990 Tau-Spirit Music Productions

“Composed in the wake of Daley's mother’s death, this album uses a mix of low drones, deep organ tones and windswept synth fields to convey an atmosphere of grief and reflection. Along with My God and My All, this is one of her most cohesive and consistent ambient works, though the awe of that album is replaced with a more somber mood and a nagging dissonance that looms like an approaching storm cloud.”

1990 Independent

1. My God & My All (A Seaside Meditation)
2. My God
3. Lament
4. Vi's Song

“My God and My All lives up to its title with an immersive and billowy synth trip into the eternal wonder of creation. While Daley went on to try many genres and styles over the decades, she has never sounded so engrossing and natural as she does on the majority of this album, channeling deep religious convictions into sumptuous waves of gratitude and awe. Unfortunately, she seldom returned to this milieu, which clearly suited her so well. As if to emphasize the point, Daley ends side two with a pair of western-hued pop tunes that awkwardly gallop and stride, pulling the listener out of this heavenly dream and back onto the open road.”

1992 Independent

“Written as music to be played before the Catholic Mass, these pieces are performed live rather than sequenced. The “Preludes” were composed after a group of parishioners at Sally’s church in Chicago complained that the organ played before Mass interfered with their private prayer. At first the Pastor told Sally not to play anything, but that did not sit well with her, so she suggested these Preludes. The music was accepted enthusiastically and some of the complainers actually called her and asked her to continue with them. The Preludes are not necessarily written for electronic instruments. Sally says that at her church they have used solo violin and flute as well as piano and organ. There are a total of 10 Preludes on the tape.”

1993 Tau-Spirit Music Productions

“Atonal, spectral synth music with little discernible structure, careening from one bizarre melody to the next, similar to EJ Gold or Sozra. The most palatable track here for me is the more ethereal album closer “Return to Earth,” so perhaps this listener isn’t quite ready for alien music just yet.”

1995 Independent

Salley Daley
Jeff Hall

1. Prelude 20 Call of the Spirit
2. Prelude 21
3. Rejoice!
4. Prelude 15
5. Prelude 22
6. A New Song
7. Under Egyptian Bondage
8. How Long Oh Lord
9. Prelude 24 A Vision of Heaven
10. Toccata
11. Second Comin'
12. Rejoice! (Reprise)

199? Tau-Spirit Music Productions

Valerie Simosko - Flute
Sally Daley - Piano

1. Prelude No. 1
2. Prelude No. 2 (“Air from Irish Sketches”)
3. Prelude No. 7
4. Prelude No. 8
5. Prelude No. 11
6. Prelude No. 15
7. Prelude No. 16 (“Dance for Joy: Medley of Carols”)
8. Prelude No. 21
9. Prelude No. 22
10. Prelude No. 27
11. Prelude No. 28

“These preludes are one church musician’s answer to pleasing her congregation. They are suitable for reflective listening of all types. Inspired by parishioners’ requests to enhance their private pre-Mass prayer time, Sally Daley decided to write and play some music for synthesizer. The people loved her music and she continued to write – 28 Preludes in all. Newly arranged for flute and piano, the pieces continue to garner praise from listeners”

• Read an essay Daley wrote for AfterTouch Volume Six, the newsletter for the CMC