Tryst

Released: January 2018

Equipment: Waldorf Blofeld synthesizer, Korg Volca synthesizers

Listen:

There was a three month gap before my next collection was complete and although I was following the same recording techniques as before I was taking a bit more time over each track. This was definitely improving the quality, in both musical & technical terms. Once again the majority of the tracks were produced purely on the Blofeld with only one featuring the Volcas.

Clearway was another of my 'busy pattern with slow accompaniment' pieces with a very bouncy central line. A new addition was adding a linking phrase of a few bars between each verse with a short repeating pattern, a sort of musical 'pause'. This idea would recur in several of my pieces in future. I was pleased to end up with a very driving feel without using drums.

Lifecycle also had a very active arpeggiator pattern with semi-random bleeps mixed with more percussive noises. The extended chord sequence rode over this and provided most of the song structure with alternating verses of fake piano and lush fills. Short melodic fragments recur, changing as the song progresses.
Unusually for me the piece developed a theme as I was composing it, the idea of a life path with the busy pattern as the body's mechanisms, the chord sequence as changing situations, and the melodies as the sense of self, continuing but always adapting & evolving. The middle eight represented a life-changing experience, something that throws everything out of its previous track.

Cloudfall came from an image of raindrops, dropping between leaves rather than directly from the sky. Another of my personal favourites.

Fuffy was the only track to feature the Volcas with Keys, Sample, & Bass being used. A simple pop tune, I enjoyed the slow build up and the drop into the middle eight. I made a mistake in the drum sequencing, leaving them out of sync with the song structure for the second half, but decided I liked it that way after all.

Exercise five used a slowly descending chord sequence as its base with piano triplets and held notes drifting in different directions. It's a slight piece but I find it strangely charming.

Timeslice contrasts the choppy arpeggiator pattern with gentle piano lines before bringing in the bombastic flourishes. The slowly descending middle eight provides a release before returning to the fray.