So I think this is the last post about this little musical adventure that has kept me busy since the beginning of the year…
The EP that I’ve put together is by no means a final version of the music that we dreamed up, workshopped, refined, recorded and performed for the 4 shows, but in a way it takes you to the same place that the whole performance would have if you saw it. Of course, those are still “good sounding” demos for the moment, and with time, an album will come out of this, but I felt like sharing.
So here goes.
Help yourselves, and spread the word if you feel so inclined.

I must thank Darren for giving me the opportunity to hop on the project. As always, there is much to learn with talented people like him, and I’m even happier about the friendship that we have made through the whole process.
The visuals are the work of Ling Wei and Bird, two Taiwanese artists who had some stunning designs for each scene. The drawings were all put together and animated by Lei.
And of course, the show was made possible through the support of the Esplanade and the wonderful people who work there. We are lucky to have a place like this in Singapore, a place that is not afraid to promote widely commercial acts as much as it champions relatively experimental productions.

More than usual, I owe a great deal to Luca and Dante, for constantly showing me what little boys dream of. It’s such a wonder to see the world through their eyes.
And J, as always, most things would just not be without you.

I hope you’ll enjoy the music. Having a place to share it is the whole reason why I started this website and it’s great to know it can be reached anywhere in the world. Mostly, it’s fun, and I never want to change that in the equation. Still, if you’d like to contribute to some of the recording or traveling costs, no amount is too small. And it is deeply appreciated.

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It’s time for a trip back to Europe (and Toronto…) next week. Music may come out of it. And most definitely, a life-changing decision will be taken as well. I’ll keep you posted.
Be well, and thank you always for listening.

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Funny how time works. Last week was mostly spent at the Recital Studio from morning until late evening, Monday through Thursday, setting up, rehearsing, improving, changing, improvising, performing, tearing down and packing up. And now that this show is over, it somehow feels like the whole process was a long-forgotten dream, a distant memory. Maybe it’s the nature of the music and the visuals, maybe it’s because you invest a lot into a project for months and then it’s gone…
But it was a great experience, and working with Darren has been an eye-opener. I’ve always treasured the friendships I make through music, and I can only hope something else with him will crystallize in the future. Of course, there are things we wish we had had more time to work on, but you have to know when to let go at some point, and give something to the audience.

“Returning home” was the last piece we added to the show, literally one day before the premiere. Darren wanted something dark, with a sense of foreboding, but also a hint at new beginnings. The piece goes towards the end, and the visuals at that point take us through a quick montage of the boy’s previous experiences, dreams and nightmares. That sort of ‘life flashing before your eyes’ moment.
So I tried to work with that, and at a subconscious level I must have had NIN’s “beside you in time” at the back of my mind, because the way Reznor places that song just before “right where it belongs” seems to fit that hopeless/hopeful dichotomy.
Clearly, the visuals add a lot to the dynamics of the piece, and if you watched the show, I hope you enjoyed that part. I think that’s what I liked the most.

Still, that is over.

What now?

I owe the Lard Brothers a remix, which I hope to finish in the next 2 weeks. It’s going to be released later in the year, along with other remixes of their songs by other friends and musicians in the local scene. That should be fun.
We have 2 dates in Manila! I’ve heard a lot of good things about gigging in the Philippines, and I’m looking forward to meeting friends there.
And in the slightly longer term, I suppose I have started working on the second album. I really want it to sound different, and this seems to be the natural direction the new stuff is taking, so we’ll see where it goes…

So I guess 2010 hasn’t treated me too badly yet…

Don’t miss next week’s special “the boy who sees with stones” EP!! it’s all happening right here…

As the concept suggests, there is no traditional seating plan for the show, and instead we have 80 tatami mats lying on the floor for the audience to comfortably watch the animation hanging over their heads.

I didn’t expect that we would have so much stuff on our side, but it’s great to be able to have one piano each. The Esplanade people are really nice about their resources, and I am so happy with the sound of their Yamaha U5. We have taken out the front panel and patched them up with contact mics. It also opens up the possibility for pulling some strings. I understand the appeal of a prepared piano now!

Yesterday we had a dry run, and also a preview show with some Esplanade people and sponsors and guests. As we were still trying to iron things out on the animation side, I’m not sure they knew when the show was over (there is a part towards the end that is supposed to be in total darkness, so when the show really ended, I think the audience were still unsure about curtain call…)

It’s been tiring working on this project, but i’m quite happy with the way the whole soundtrack came out. Hope you’ll like it too.

I often dream in music. What I remember of it when I wake up is usually a clear yet fragmented succession of chords, or impressions. The music in my dreams is actually vivid and tangible, something that should have been recorded somewhere in the universal library of forgotten ideas and unfinished thoughts. A place like Dream’s Library in The Sandman, only with phantom LP’s instead of books.
The music doesn’t always make a whole lot of sense on a rational level, but it does have an internal logic, as dreams do. And if I would be hard pressed to recall a melody, I can definitely conjure up some sounds that would be pretty close to their oneiric equivalent.

I’ve been toying with this track for about a week now. It has gone through several revisions, and while it is still mostly a demo, I do feel that the sound is as close as it gets to what I was trying to achieve. Things are distant, and yet you can touch them; you are running in a vast empty land but you find yourself in a familiar room; you have never seen this person before, and yet you know you’ve always loved her…

I don’t believe in over-analysing dreams, and I’m not one to relentlessly look for clues and freudian symbols, because you kill their primeval magic in doing so, but I truly believe that dreams can be an unexpected source of inspiration. The trick is in recreating these apparently disconnected vignettes into a narrative that anyone else could relate to.
Michel Gondry is a master of the trade, and I suppose his universe has been a major influence in this project. At least, as far as I’m concerned. It only makes sense that I keep thinking of Bjork’s Post as I listen to the track.

I think this is one of the weirdest pieces of music I’ve come up with so far. In a good way, I hope…

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The show is in less than 10 days. We have most of the music figured out at this point. Not yet sequenced, but we know where we’re going! I can’t wait to put everything together once the 2 animators arrive tomorrow. Next stop, Sunday practice with visuals. Then, it’s time to pack everything and set up the Recital studio. Exciting!

It’s been 5 months since we’ve released Then we saw the Stars again, and as most artists will tell you, you’ve got to be ready to move on to something else fast, or face the sophomore slump. And of course, there lies the trick: do you try and get the word out as much as you can and promote your current stuff, or do you follow suit, and come up with a new offering, because after all, it’s just a debut album? Is there a popular critical mass to be reached before you can decide what the next step should be, or do you keep pressing on?
Play it and they will come?

Either way, it’s been hard to really find the time to make music for long stretches of time. Somehow there is always music flowing somewhere in my head, but it’s more a question of whether I’ll have the chance to sit down and get some sketches done. I can’t blame the kids for this, of course, but whatever free time we get is usually after 10:00 PM, after a long day of work…which might explain why I’m more attracted to simpler songs at the moment. In a way constraints are good, they make you challenge yourself, find new ways to consider your musical ideas, strip things down a bit.

The following is one of the recent exchanges I’ve had with Darren. We’ve been sketching most of the music for the show, and we have come up with half a dozen scenes already. A lot of the music is based on some live loops, which we complement with improvised playing, on all sorts of instruments.
woolgathering - amberhaze

We’ve set up a routine of late: I send a demo, and Darren adds textural sounds and treated melodies on top of the original structure.
While it could seem contrived at first, it’s surprising to see how much our soundscapes complement each other. We hear, and see, things differently, and that’s what creates the magic of this little project.
woolgathering - sonicbrat/amberhaze

We have only really jammed once besides our little postal service method, but we’ll go in full gear from next week onwards. In fact, I am really looking forward to tomorrow’s session! Who knows, maybe something new will come out of it?

Keep posted!