Compositional Processess ess (ess)
As the finishing touches go on if you go... and the Requiem single is about to be launched. As Absinthe Music sits on the shelf awaiting artwork, it's only natural that I'd begin writing a new project. This new direction was originally going to be a whole new band, but things with Steve didn't work out the way I'd hoped, so I began writing riffs and basslines myself to get things started. And a lot of good has come from this.
Choosing to make an EP has really help to focus things. Needing to move away from the if you go... sound, relying less on electronics and moving towards a more organic, band sound, committing to only 5 tracks is easier than trying to wipe the slate clean and commit to composing an entirely new full length set.
The way things are working thus far is: I begun deconstrution of two of my earlier, ambient works, Like Sunrise, and Taking Photos Of Sunsets (from new music to fall asleep to...), and reconstructed grooves and melody from analysis of their harmonic structure. Using these as starting points for jams with the band, the music can progress towards it's own end result. (At the moment I plan to call this one Just Before The Dawn.
For the title track of the EP, A death in the afternoon, I'm doing the same thing with Absinthe Music. This is proving much trickier, as the original is huge and the harmony is already an experiment of microscopic expansion. So far I have developed about 5 sections, each in a different time signature (something I'm still on the fence about). I plan to base a large chunk of it in 11/8, and have a middle section that uses the reverse vibraphone samples and cymbal wash loops i made for last years spoken word tour as a sonic background texture.
Pluto is an all new track I've written from messing with the baritone guitar and reverse delays. It's getting quite heavy. The title is inspired by Edgar Poe's The Black Cat. The plan is to create a steaming ahead rock jam with a spoken recitation of the story sampled in the background. Henry Manetta has agreed to do the dialogue.
Calaveras is another all new track. I've wanted to try something that focuses on my love of flamenco/tango/mariachi music for a while now. At this stage it is mostly just a pile of rhythmic patterns and a few sketches of melody. I really hope I can get this to work.
So that's 4 of 5 tracks well on the way. There's some other little ideas floating about, and I have an arrangement of Camille Saint-Saens' Le Cygne planned for this same project (probably live only, we'll see), as well as a couple of if you go... tracks that we'll rearrange to suit the new sound.
Later this week I'll be jamming with Adam Spiegl, who plays bass in Adam Rudegeair's Trio, and funk/pop act Neon Bogart (amongst others), to get the ball rolling on band arrangements. Once I feel I have the right bassist, we can start turning these sketches into full blown pieces. I'll definitely write more about this as it comes together.
Until then, thanks for reading.
j.
Choosing to make an EP has really help to focus things. Needing to move away from the if you go... sound, relying less on electronics and moving towards a more organic, band sound, committing to only 5 tracks is easier than trying to wipe the slate clean and commit to composing an entirely new full length set.
The way things are working thus far is: I begun deconstrution of two of my earlier, ambient works, Like Sunrise, and Taking Photos Of Sunsets (from new music to fall asleep to...), and reconstructed grooves and melody from analysis of their harmonic structure. Using these as starting points for jams with the band, the music can progress towards it's own end result. (At the moment I plan to call this one Just Before The Dawn.
For the title track of the EP, A death in the afternoon, I'm doing the same thing with Absinthe Music. This is proving much trickier, as the original is huge and the harmony is already an experiment of microscopic expansion. So far I have developed about 5 sections, each in a different time signature (something I'm still on the fence about). I plan to base a large chunk of it in 11/8, and have a middle section that uses the reverse vibraphone samples and cymbal wash loops i made for last years spoken word tour as a sonic background texture.
Pluto is an all new track I've written from messing with the baritone guitar and reverse delays. It's getting quite heavy. The title is inspired by Edgar Poe's The Black Cat. The plan is to create a steaming ahead rock jam with a spoken recitation of the story sampled in the background. Henry Manetta has agreed to do the dialogue.
Calaveras is another all new track. I've wanted to try something that focuses on my love of flamenco/tango/mariachi music for a while now. At this stage it is mostly just a pile of rhythmic patterns and a few sketches of melody. I really hope I can get this to work.
So that's 4 of 5 tracks well on the way. There's some other little ideas floating about, and I have an arrangement of Camille Saint-Saens' Le Cygne planned for this same project (probably live only, we'll see), as well as a couple of if you go... tracks that we'll rearrange to suit the new sound.
Later this week I'll be jamming with Adam Spiegl, who plays bass in Adam Rudegeair's Trio, and funk/pop act Neon Bogart (amongst others), to get the ball rolling on band arrangements. Once I feel I have the right bassist, we can start turning these sketches into full blown pieces. I'll definitely write more about this as it comes together.
Until then, thanks for reading.
j.
posted by j. at 2:51 PM
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