Brand new album: update and further details
June 15th, 2009
It’s been a while since I posted; I’ve been deeply involved in finishing up and mixing the new album and have not had time for much else. The mixes are very nearly finished now, and should be ready for mastering within a week or two, so I thought it was time to reveal a little bit more.
(Speaking of revelations, the photo at the top left, for anyone who is curious, is indeed me. In fact, it appears that I still have the headphones on after all this time…)
This album, as I may have mentioned elsewhere, features an almost entirely new line-up, with the exception of Andy Budge, who remains, as usual, to provide a steadfast foundation of mellifluous bass guitar. (Can bass guitar be mellifluous? Yes, I think in this case it can.)
A new collaborator, David Payne, added his distinctive drumming to complete the rhythm section. A perfect synchronicity of eccentric syncopation awaits your ears.
An enigmatic guest concocted some glorious Prophet 5 and guitar alchemy for the occasion (often playing the two instruments simultaneously—which is certainly something to see, if one can find him), only barely completing all his solos before spontaneously melting away into a scintillating cloud of rare, violet-tinged magic dust. Some reports say that he briefly reappeared somewhere in North America, but only long enough to ask Elvis for directions, and then blinked into existence for several microseconds somewhere in the vicinity of the Crab Nebula. I would not presume to speculate, as the man must maintain his mystique.
Jazz violinist, Graham Clark, contributed the beautiful swooping and dancing melodies of his unique instrumental style to three of the tracks on electric and acoustic violin. In the past, Graham has worked with Daevid Allen and Gong, among others.
Nearly all of the basic tracks were recorded live, in most cases as a single take with only minimal edits, to maintain a strong improvisational energy.
After the basic tracks were complete, I busied myself recording vocals and filling the arrangements out with more guitars and VCS3, but I took great care not to lose too much of the spare and spacious atmosphere in the process. I’m very pleased with the results!
Structurally, this will be a double CD album with ten tracks, and well over an hour in length. Stylistically it represents a departure from past albums, but I won’t go into any further detail about that until I have some preview audio to post…more to come soon.
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