7

So Rainier sent me seven songs he constructed around recordings I sent him... short, abstract, fluid and beautiful - actually everything he creates is beautiful... today I realised it's been weeks since he sent the files... weeks and weeks of pianos and guitars and drums and noise and noise... noise inside, noise outside... noisy structures...

Today was time to get off my backside and respond to Rainier's efforts... Nine minutes of abstract grace... all fluid, little structure - no guitars, lots of pianos... a good day

It's been a long time... since July - so I'm not good at this blogging lark... my mind is full of questions, where to plant the lavender, is Gwenllian's spirit still haunting me, what aspects of my life should I shrug off in a desire for progression, Sophia is wisdom, wisdom is black, like the darkness of chaos...

Motion.Silence.Echo is in temporary stasis - temporarily... Summer's Joy Rekindled will finally be released in time for - well, summer's joy to be rekindled... in the meantime, I have composed a soundtrack for the feature film GRASP and am putting the finishing touches to The Whispering Void this one is solo and possibly the most attractive of my solo recordings to date - piano's, strings, acoustic guitars, voice, depth, darkness, death... like I said 'attractive'! Did I ever tell you about my love of pianos? Another day...

Mr Schaf and the Dogwitch

Just a quickie to let you know the final chapter of Dan Schaffer's Dogwitch series is now available.



Check out Dan's livejournal here: http://danscahffer.livejournal.com/ and his website: http://www.danielschaffer.com

This guy is terrifyingly gifted - oh... and he's a nice bloke and he loves my music (yep, he's faultless!)

Faure and The Gild

Friday has swung around again - in a blur of activity. I finally pulled off Faure's Cantique de Jean Racine at choir rehearsal! It's a toughy - 5 flats in none stop quavers, the piano part never lets up - an incredible piece though, when the choir are on top form and my fingers are flying around the Bechstein it's quite breathtaking.

I've been lending my own voice this week, to a piece by The Gild (a new project by Tony Wakeford and Reeve Malka) nice little poem about the corruption of power and wealth. The vocals are recorded but I've not heard the music yet - so something to look forward to.

In other news Moon Tremors (from the forthcoming album Axis Vein) is now available on the Earth Monkey Productions 50:50 compilation



Also - the 'Slow Corrosion' ep is now available

Hurrah!

The Ghosts Are Whispering

Just a quick note about a new project I've been working on recently - another collaboration with Rainier Lericolais - he sent me a wealth of beautiful, unusual, eclectic sounds to piece together. Some of the sounds have a distinct Celtic aroma to them and recently I've been studying the history of this little town I live in. My studies inevitably led me to the story of Princess Gwenllian wife of Gruffudd ap Rhys. In 1136 she raised an army against the Norman's - She lost the battle and was beheaded in a field not far from where I live.

I live on a hill and every day I gaze out my windows at the castle, the town, the Gwendraeth Valley and Estuary, past Pembrey Mountain and forest.... I'm very very lucky to live here...



Sooo - with the history of this town in the back of my mind I began shaping Rainier's sounds, listening to the ghosts and sculpting their tales

We now have ten tracks which we're both happy with and are in the process of making decisions about releasing as an album - dealing with artwork decisions etc...

More news soon - but I have to say - I'm really pleased with this one!

Videos and Holidays

It's Friday - hooray! the end of a surprisingly busy week - preparing for the Slow Corrosion release, recovering from a week's holiday



yep - this...



...and this, is what I do in my spare time!

This week was also notable for us (Mark and I) shooting some footage for a promo video for Splinters from my next album Axis Vein. The video is being directed by Yokna Patofa in Japan. She asked us to shoot against a blue background, however it wasn't til we looked we realised we don't actually own anything blue - except an old rug for the kids to wipe their feet on as they walk through the door. So I found myself lipsynching in front of my grotty door mat gaffer taped to an old wardrobe - very glamorous! Still the completed video should be incredible, Yokna sent me some stills that look stunning.

Rethinks and Slow Corrosions

Ok so it's time to rethink this blog business - I've been pondering it for a while and I've come to the heady conclusion that just using it simply to archive my work is a pretty dry approach - let's face it my website and myspace pages are adequate for that purpose. So this one will still be about my work, but more of a diary type deal, something considerably more informal.

So what have I been up to? Good question! (even when I ask it myself!)

This morning I've been working on promo type stuff for the new Clutter vs Susan Matthews ep. It's coming out in a couple of weeks via Earth Monkey Productions. A very new experience for me. I'm so used to doing everything myself (music, producing, mixing, photography, sleeves, printing, manufacturing, promotion, distribution etc etc blah blah blah) it's a curious feeling sitting back and trusting someone else to take care of all that. Shaun Blezard (Mr Earth Monkey) is an absolute star though, so I feel relaxed about the whole situation.

For instance - here's his sleeve design:



see what I mean? the guy's a goodun

and come to think of it, so is the ep

four tracks of Clutter remixes of Matthews' sounds - the title track 'Slow Corrosion' will be up on myspace soon