Electronic Breeze is released on Lo Recordings on the 14th of October. (get it here) I wanted to share a bit of background on the making of the two durational environmental sound pieces that make up the release.
Image by Alma Haser
I’d been invited me to work on an environmental sound piece for an exhibition space at The Lowry in Manchester. The brief was simple, a 12 minute track, lush but minimal ambient inspired, maybe some wind chimes but no whale song or running water. I was also given mock up images of the space itself, a ‘pop up’ Maggie’s Centre designed by Ab Rogers.
I immediately cringed at the thought of wind chimes. Initially such a cliche of ambient/New Age music jarred with me and I wasn’t sure how I could work with that direction. Regardless of my concerns I started researching and found some that looked nice (By a company called Zaphir) and stated the notes of each metal tine. I wondered what I could with the idea of wind chimes to steer clear of the obvious.
I’d already decided that a 12 minute piece looping in a public space would get repetitive very quickly, so I began working towards something longer, possibly using a generative composition technique that would create a long evolving piece with controllable moments. My main instrument, the Buchla Electric Music Box synthesiser, lends itself to this approach.
Image by Dominic Goodman
Slowly a compositional idea started to form; I would create two pieces to be used at different times of the day, each using a different set of wind chimes, with subtle electronics that would loosely mirror those chimes.
I programmed the Buchla Synthesizer with the notes from each wind chime and created a generative self playing patch. If left alone this setup would play forever, randomly playing back those preprogrammed notes, never repeating itself. The ‘Source of Uncertainty' module (a key element of the Buchla modular synthesizer) providing an electronic 'breeze' to activate and modify the notes. My role as a performer involved directing how this breeze would affect certain properties of the electronic sound - the intensity, speed, pitch range, amplitude envelope (fast/slow attack, sustained or short), timbre and position in the stereo field. This material was recorded first.
Patch sheet and notes
I then added Kalimba via the Ciat Lombarde Cocoquantus, a cosmic lo-fi looping device. This added a dusty warm fuzzy character, sometimes happy to sit in the background, with occasional musical motifs peeking out and interacting with the Buchla electronics.
The wind chimes were added last. I let the Buchla electronics track guide the intensity and timing of the performance of these, continuing the idea of the electronic breeze running through these pieces.
At all times I was conscious of the space in which this music had to exist and how it would be experienced by the people using that space. It had to be quite contained - too dynamic and it would be a distraction, possibly even annoying. On the other hand I knew the space would be multi purpose, some people might be there to relax whilst others might use the space to work, and so I wanted it to have moments of calm contrasted with the occasional gentle flourishes, like little mind activators. I spent a lot of time getting this balance right both in the performance and the mixing, the latter requiring space and time to live with the material.
It’s taken some time to get to this point of release but I’m so glad I could share it via Lo Recordings working with my friend Alma Haser who created the stunning cover artwork mixing photography and paper sculpture.
Cover by Alma haser
Maggie’e Centres provide :
Free practical, emotional and social support to people with cancer and their family and friends, following the ideas about cancer care originally laid out by Maggie Keswick Jencks. Our Centres are places to find practical advice about benefits and eating well; places where qualified experts provide emotional support; places to meet other people; places where you can simply sit quietly with a cup of tea.
It was important that my music connected with the positive philosophies of Maggie Keswick Jencks, and contributed to a space that would be stimulating, elevating and inspiring.