Balloon

Posted on March 6, 2012 by

Balloon is the second song from the series, “The Walks”… well technically it’s the third, but the second song hasn’t been recorded yet. “The Walks” is a daydream and reflection on relationships – the good, the bad and the non-existant.

The music of this series all share a certain airiness/lightness to them, and I tried to stay within that vein for Balloon.


P.S. Listen with headphones to get the full experience.

Balloon

Sift my luck
In a trail left behind me
Let it run free
Shake me out of my body

Lift me up
You’re the one to remind me
That I hold
Birds and smoke inside me

Aim for the ground

Keep me here
Though I can’t seem to feign much
But you try
To build mesosphere around us

Close my eyes
There’s no time left to make trust
So I find
I’ve headed here without us

Aim for the ground

Beaming on forever
The stars never had a hold
I was only there for fear

Aim for the ground

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Love London “White Feather Fly”

Posted on February 24, 2012 by

Over five years ago, my friend, Mike Young and I completed an album for our band, Love London.

We began writing the music just before Mike left for London, England to do a program at LAMDA. While on separate continents, we continued to write songs, corresponding through email. When Mike returned to Toronto finished writing an album’s worth of songs and finally recorded everything.

We had plans to start performing and to send out demos…etc., but trips, school and conflicting schedules got in the way, so we never continued with Love London.

After all of those hours of work and the completion of a great album, it would be a shame if people didn’t get to hear it, so we’ve decided to make it available for free download.

Please download the album, enjoy the music and share the link with your friends:
http://lovelondon.bandcamp.com

Enjoy!

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Southeast Asia 2010

Posted on July 15, 2011 by

It’s been way too long since my last entry. Much has happened. School’s done. Working at TIFF.  I scored the music for my friend, Daniel McIntrye’s stunning short film, “Some Day My Prince Will Come” which was created by hand-processing 16mm and 16mm colour with custom processing.

Though much time has passed since my last entry, lots of things have been in the works. Soon, I hope to post a new song, new experiment, song with video and a cover. Hopefully I can find some time during the busy summer and lovely weather.

I did find some time over the last few weeks to compile and edit the hundred of film clips my friends and I took during our trip to Southeast Asia last summer. I made a 30 minute “documentary” for our own amusement. For that documentary, I decided one Sunday morning to quickly write some music for the opening and closing credits.

I cut down the “documentary” even further to create a short video montage of our trip set to the two pieces of music I wrote. We got some great shots (on a simple point-and-shoot camera) and I thought it would be fun to share.

One of my favourite parts of the trip was hearing the Asian folk music. While studying music in University, I always found our “Music of World Cultures” courses most interesting. I would like to, one day, take the time to really explore writing music using the thoughts and rules of another culture – this music was very western and quickly written.

I hope you enjoy the visuals & music! And I hope to post something new soon!

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On the Idle Hill of Summer

Posted on March 11, 2011 by

Two weeks ago, my good friend and talented film-maker, Daniel McIntrye, called me with some great news – he got a Canada Council grant for his next film project! From what I hear, it’s very difficult to get a Canada Council grant, so I’m very proud of him – and lucky me because I will be composing for the film! I’ve very excited!

Like the song in my last blog entry, this song was inspired by an A. E. Housman poem. “A Shropshire Lad” is a collection of 63 poems from the late 1800s. I can’t remember what about these poems caught my interest, but I’m enjoying interpreting them through music. The words are beautiful/dark/lyrical and deal with heartbreak, death and war.

“On the Idle Hill of Summer” has a lot of great imagery. Hopefully I was successful at capturing the imagery/atmosphere/emotion of the poem.

Playing guitar on the recording is my brother, Stephen. He’s always been my second pair of ears during the writing process and my guitar player if I’ve ever need one.

The music box was something I bought a few years ago at Dollarama. I have no idea what music it plays, but I stumbled across it after years of it being hidden in some drawer and it magically fit with the song!

Maybe I should go to Dollarama and buy a bunch of music boxes to make some music with….

XXXV
On the idle hill of summer,
Sleepy with the flow of streams,
Far I hear the steady drummer
Drumming like a noise in dreams.

Far and near and low and louder
On the roads of earth go by,
Dear to friends and food for powder,
Soldiers marching, all to die.

East and west on fields forgotten
Bleach the bones of comrades slain,
Lovely lads and dead and rotten;
None that go return again.

Far the calling bugles hollo,
High the screaming fife replies,
Gay the files of scarlet follow:
Woman bore me, I will rise.
A. E. Housman

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If Truth in Hearts That Perish

Posted on February 12, 2011 by

Last week my external hard drive started acting-up and I promised myself that if I could get it to connect just one last time, I’d copy over any irreplaceable files to my computer.

It connected!

While exploring the drive, I found some music from 7 years ago that I never finished. The audio files were reconstructed samples of (mostly piano) music that I had previously recorded.

Listening to them took me back and I noticed how much my writing process has changed. There was one track that I was especially excited to finish, but there was a problem – I didn’t have the original workable file.

To finish the song I took samples of the music (that was created from samples) and layered new parts over them to bring the song new life. It felt oddly nostalgic working with music that I started so many years ago. I feel like I’m a different person now. I completed the song from a completely different perspective.


To accompany the song, I found a poem by A.E. Housman called, ‘If Truth in Hearts That Perish’:

If truth in hearts that perish
Could move the powers on high,
I think the love I bear you
Should make you not to die.

Sure, sure, if stedfast meaning,
If single thought could save,
The world might end to-morrow,
You should not see the grave.

This long and sure-set liking,
This boundless will to please,
–Oh, you should live for ever,
If there were help in these.

But now, since all is idle,
To this lost heart be kind,
Ere to a town you journey
Where friends are ill to find.

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Aluminated

Posted on January 22, 2011 by

I few weeks ago, I saw my dad packing his car with boxes of donation items.

As I replay the scene in my head, I realize it could have been right out of TLC’s Hoarders. I frantically looked through the boxes as my Dad tried to move them into his car. I saw the pots. Pots are GREAT to make sounds with – especially the large aluminum ones. I NEEDED to keep them. “Yeah – I know we have new pots, but pots can have other uses too. I’m want to use them to make music!”. My Dad gave have me an unimpressed look and argued that he was going to get rid of the pots.

I kept the pots.

There are so many everyday objects that can make amazing sounds. The more I played around with the two aluminum pots, the more sounds I discovered.

For my Aluminum Pots Experiment, I used the following:
1. The pots and lids
2. A piece of fishing wire
3. A fork
4. My hands

My favourite discovery was the sound it made when I played the fishing wire. I tied the ends of the fishing wire to the handles of the pot, and while I held the wire (suspending the pot), I plucked and “bowed” the wire with a fork! It created a really interesting sound and the pot naturally has an amazing metallic reverb effect. I also was able to create (what almost resembled) a distorted amp sound by lightly hitting the outside of the pot while a fork lay inside. Other than those sounds, I just played around with hitting and scratching the pots.

No effects were used with this recording. It’s all the raw audio that was recorded into the mic.

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Headway [Part 1]

Posted on January 15, 2011 by

If you listened to my previous entry, Floating, you may have noticed some brass sounding instruments during the final two minutes of the song. Those weren’t brass instruments.

I knew that I wanted to include a trumpet or horn sound at the end of the song, but since I didn’t have access to either of those instruments, I searched the internet for some alternative options. After some quick searching, I found a bunch of “human trumpet” videos posted on youtube. The videos ranged from jazz trumpet solos to trumpet sounds used in beat-boxing. The idea of human brass instruments should have come to mind before I even began searching because I knew Björk featured a human trombone player on her album, “Medulla”. I’ve listened to that album a countless number of times.

Trying to make a trumpet or trombone sound with your mouth isn’t terribly difficult, however, pitch control and keeping a long steady tone can be tough – especially for the higher notes.

As a follow-up to my experience using “the human trumpet” on Floating, I decided to create a “human trumpet” quartet piece. I knew, right away, what visuals I would compose to.

The video footage used in Headway [Part 1] was taken during my trip to Southeast Asia this past summer. My friends and I were traveling from mainland Thailand to Ko Pha-ngan on a ferry and rainy season was really starting to hit Thailand. The sky was dark and the rain pored for a long while. Once the rain stopped and the sky began to clear, I saw one of the most beautiful sights. It was that calm after the storm. A beautiful golden haze exposing a lightly drawn landscape far in the distance. There is a sharp contrast between the peaceful centre and the stormy clouds/waves. My attempt with the music was to slowly draw you away from the stormy boat into the peaceful image in the centre, and at the end, take you back to the boat. Even though you can become consumed with the peaceful image of the golden haze, in reality, you are still a seemingly immeasurable distance away from it with heavy storm clouds overhead.

Headway [Part 1]

I guess I would call this piece a semi-improvisation. It’s an improvisation that I recorded, edited and then re-performed. There’s not much structure to it. When I finished Headway, it felt like it was an introduction. Like it was leading to something something more. As a result, I decided to make Headway the first of a two-part series.

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