Adumbrating the Elephant
Posts from the 2021 Song-A-Day Challenge
Well, isn’t this a surprise‽ Another day of intense procrastination, but as I sat down in front of the computer and put my hands on the synth, ready to delve further into the ambient world, the first line of the song popped into my head, mostly talking to myself. But all of a sudden the rest of the song popped in and I fired up the text editor. I would estimate that the entire lyrical … Continue reading
Today’s track is much more in line with what I thought I was going to write yesterday. It combines some of my favorite things: granular synthesis, treated pianos, and long tape-style delays. Obviously, this one is heavily inspired by Brian Eno’s Music for Airports, almost getting into pastiche territory. Not that that’s inherently a bad thing – my track Tyrell’s Balcony was a love letter to the Vangelis Blade Runner soundtrack, but it’s also something … Continue reading
While yesterday’s full-on song was a bit of a surprise for me, with lyrics and theme coming together rather quickly, today was closer to what I was expecting to run up against. I went into the studio around 8 or 9pm, but didn’t actually start writing anything until closer to 11. This was less about not having and idea, and more about just exploring lots of different sounds and noodling with no intent before deciding … Continue reading
As with previous years, don’t expect this post, or any of the ones that follow for the rest of the month, to deal with what the song is about. That’s up to you to decide. In many cases, even what I think they’re about changes over time. That said, this song does an excellent job of capturing my overall state of mind these days. Melodically, sonically, lyrically, it landed pretty squarely on target. It’s vaguely … Continue reading
Well, it’s February again, and that means Song-A-Day. After 2020’s sadly abbreviated participation, I’m not sure how things will go this year. On the one hand, I may have a large backlog of music in me, and there is certainly no topical shortage after the dumpster-fire of a year we’ve had. I’ve become far less comfortable directly saying what’s on my mind, though, as the world has become aggressively intolerant of anything that doesn’t reinforce … Continue reading