“The time has come,” the Walrus said…
July 3rd, 2009
“…to talk of many things:
Of bass—and drums—and loud guitars—
Of violins and springs—
And why these tracks are very long—
And whether pigs have wings.”
“But wait a bit,” the Audience cried,
“Before we have our chat;
For some of us like country songs,
We’re not prepared for that!”
Ready or not, I have some audio clips from Perpetual Motion to share now.
(CDs are available to order now.)
Scroll down for clips from six tracks, embedded throughout this post.
The Scarab
Disc 1, track 1. One of the few…make that two…tracks on the album which follow a fairly compact traditional song structure.
Cassiopeia, 1572
Disc 1, track 3. The only feedback I’ve had from anyone on this track so far was that it was “like sinking into a warm bath of musical gorgeousness,” and I can’t argue with that! It began life as a bass guitar led instrumental, upon which I lavished copious amounts of atmospheric electric guitar and VCS3.
Many people seem to think that you can only use a VCS3 for sound effects. Granted, the one I use is heavily modified, but this primarily means you can tune it and it stays that way.
With only a little bit of imagination, the VCS3 can do all sorts of things (like the “flute” and the lower slightly brassy synth lead you will hear in this clip). The metallic sounding pad which swells up from time to time is a Prophet 5, but everything else synth-ish is played on the VCS3. Apart from the guitars, which do sound very much like synths sometimes.
Queen of Pentacles (extended version)
Disc 1, track 5. A clip from the nearly 25-minute track, which is made up of my song “Queen of Pentacles” with various improvised instrumental passages. I must brag a little bit here about the musicians who played on this, because the whole thing was recorded live. The only overdubs are vocals and my rhythm guitar in the intro. I had the idea to do it this way some time ago, and it has come out even better than I imagined.
“Pentacles” is also the first appearance of the wonderful Graham Clark on the album, joining John’s guitar with a blazing electric violin solo. I think the drumming was particularly creative on this one too, and helped keep it exciting for nearly half an hour. No small feat.
This clip begins mid-guitar-solo, after the slow-building intro, and first verse and chorus, and the over four-minute-long Prophet solo, and the clip ends somewhere during the violin and guitar passage in the middle. It was a very difficult choice which part to use, so I essentially chose a section at random!
Dreamcatcher
Disc 2, track 2. The other fairly short and conventionally-structured track on the album. This one features Graham Clark on acoustic violin, and me (and Andy too, in places) on acoustic guitars and another unusual application of VCS3 (because I couldn’t resist).
Helleborus
Disc 2, track 4. The best way to describe this is, “an improvisation for dirty Telecaster, electric violin, and VCS3, with an extremely enthusiastic rhythm section”. Merely a small taste of the over 11 minute track.
Perpetual Motion
Disc 2, track 5. The title track. Another sprawling and multi-layered composition, clocking in at over 20 minutes. No VCS3 here, but I turned my attention to acoustic guitars, electric slide guitar, and interesting uses of reverse reverb. As with “Cassiopeia”, Andy’s bass playing is a central focus for this one, and a unifying thread. “Perpetual Motion” also features some of John’s stunningly beautiful and unique Prophet 5 solos, which are not to be missed.
So, that’s all for now.
Order your copy for £26 + p&p:
http://music.carygrace.com/album/perpetual-motion
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