Harmony

Harmony an anthem of social justice and peace has been featured on the Stanford University Soundtrack  and  has raised money for  foster care encouraging at  risk youths to direct their passions and energies into positive opportunities. Derived  from think-tanks  at  United  Nations conferences and travels  around the world,harmony is a true mosaic. Beneath the steady guitar rhythms one can faintly discern a drum beat supplemented by the strategically spliced audio of cheering youths recorded at numerous charity events. The energy and spirit of the song is fueled by audible hope for theencouragement of humanity.

 

Märchen

Märchen is a  song derived  from philology and mythos, inspired by the Grimm Fairytale world of  the metaphysical philosophy  of  action  and  anticipation. Taking  place in a dystopian desolation, the  sonic  structures  of the song unfold into an  effervescent  tonal  weft. The  first three minutes of the song were recorded blindfolded, whereas the last moments of the song wererecorded sighted. Whilst blindfolded, the song takes place within  the cerebral  mind-scape  but   later  filters   into  a  physical setting.  This principle is based upon theories of visual tonality: sight and visual cues imbuing and affecting music  through  a sighted performer. The lyrics, written first in German, translated into Gaelic back into German and then into English received only minor editing  after  the  final translation, lending idiosyncratic yet etherial  prose to the retelling of an ancient folktale.

 

Little Sailor

The melody of Little Sailor  was derived from four hours of recoding light  frequencies in  the moving shadows cast by water and oceanic life in an  aquarium  exhibit. The instrument in the trackis a prepared piano containing remnants of an old fishing boat and one of  the drum tracks was played underwater while additional  beats  and  tones  were created by tapping seashells. These are only some of the things which give Little Sailor an aquatic feel.Drawing from cornish and  gaelic prose tradition and celtic folklore the song little sailor was exhumed from depths of the sea  ringing  of siren  calls, “selkie” promises and aphrodite’s treasures.

 

Wanted

The song Wanted  encapsulates a memory: a moment in time. The sirens  and helicopters heard in the track I recorded on a mobile phone from a high-school art classroom  while  waiting to  be  evacuated by  officers. Our  entire Los Angeles street block was on lockdown due to a bomb planted in a next door bank vault. The bomb was deactivated but the  memories of those who experienced this and similar more devastating events, are not. Wanted is an ode to the complexities of survival, fear and  retribution. The wind sounds are taken from a recording of my heartbeat when recalling the occurrence while the lyrics speak to particular happenings of the night.

 

Growing Apart

Featuring  theremins and  the very same archaic synthesizers British Band Depeche Mode used in their  early  albums, Growing  Apart  is an ode to the yesteryear. The song  itself  was  recorded with my taking a step away  from the  microphone for every half  minute  of the song. The microphone sensitivity and my vocal dynamics increased with each step away,  allowing for  consistent volume control whilst providing heartfelt shifts in timbre and tonality matching  the  emotion of the song. An algorithm which converted pressure magnitude into sound  frequency was  employed to  create the melody through the analysis of pen-pressure frequencies used in vintage love  letters found at charity shops and thrift stores.