[------ Foreground Fade -------]
The most recent thing I "finished". Mostly written in 2022. This started off as a small experiment, but whenever I wanted to sit down and write music I'd end up twiddling it around. I had a really hard time getting it to flow right. I don't think I fully succeeded, but with hindsight I think I succeeded well enough that I can still enjoy listening to it the whole way through. One of my friends described it as kind of being like the music equivalent of a Murakami novel. Take that as you will.
[-- download --][------ AmEmEmAmAmelie -------]
Back in 2020 I wanted to make something a bit stream of consiousness that uses a lot of sampling. My friend Amelie has an amazingly rich singing voice, so I'd been wanting to make something with her voice for a while. I'd also wanted to try making some breakbeats. I did both and I'm still pretty happy with the results. Has a kinda disjointed, dreamy feel where harsh angular percussion interacts with much softer instrumentation.
[------ 1 - Window ----------]
[-- download --][--------- 2 - Em -----------]
[-- download --][--------- 3 - Am -----------]
[-- download --][------- 4 - Crowd ----------]
[-- download --][--- Things We Already Have ---]
I started writing this back in 2017 as an attempt to focus on composition instead of fidelity. I was hoping doing this would allow me to write more detailed music more quickly. It didn't work. I had no end of issues with making the sounds fit well together and rewriting section after section. It was also the first large project I'd tackled since my health went to shit, so I had no idea how to wrangle myself to keep a consistent pace. As a result, it sat half abandoned a lot. I'm not sure I fully regard it as finished, but as I changed computers over the years it got harder and harder to keep all the VSTs working so I decided it was good enough. I really like a lot of it so I janked it into a form I could listen to, and have been doing so since. This collection covers a lot of emotional territory and has a lot of different musical ingredients. I think mostly in a good way.
[1 - Things We Already Have ---]
[-- download --][2 - Mist Ontology ---------]
[-- download --][3 - Metempsychotic Sleeve --]
[-- download --][4 - Three Moments Before Death]
[-- download --][------- Misc Tracks --------]
These are standalone tracks that were made by themselves between 2008 and 2020ish.
[-------- PS55 -------------]
I made this in about an hour as a way to test some samples I ganked from an 80s keyboard I found at the op shop. Sometimes short and simple comes out really good. 2020ish.
[-- download --][-- Two Minutes of Nothing --]
Another track made in one sitting, as a lot of these single tracks were. I made this as a way of trying to give up on making music as my health & sound sensitivity was making it very hard to work on longer projects and I felt deeply frustrated by this. After this track, I started making gif art but approaching it in a similar way to making music, but without the ear pain. As you've seen, I wasn't able to give up on music forever. 2014?
[-- download --][-- Falling Through Silent --]
This track took me the entirety of 2013 to finish and that was deeply frustrating. I was a bit fixated on only using relatively unadulterated recordings of live instruments, but the main challenge was how I felt like my flow would always be interrupted by weeks of rest and recovery from ear discomfort. I still really like how it turned out, but it felt like putting the amount of effort into music that I wanted to was unsustainable, so it led me to stop for several years.
[-- download --][-------- Bowers -----------]
Another single sitting track, because then recovery time didn't matter. I found a cool sound bowing my guitar. I really enjoyed recording this in free-time (ish), but it made layering really hard. I would like to do more like this now that I have a bit more skill and a sequencer that can handle complex timing nuances better.
[-- download --][-- A Weak Trill Clouds ----]
This was one of the last tracks I made in Ableton Live before moving to Reaper. At the time, Live had really bad support for different time signatures and features that made it easier to wrangle polyrhythms, and I hoped I'd be more comfortable using Reaper. That was true-ish, but I think I just don't feel comfortable in the DAW paradigm in general.
[-------- Slept ------------]
Not heaps to say about this one. 2012? Upbeat and fun.
[-- download --][------ Brim Silent --------]
2012. I wanted to write something with a simple repetitive melody that changed subtly as it progressed, like a lot of Aphex Twin's minimalist ambient stuff. Made in on sitting on no sleep because I just needed to do something. I've always really like how it turned out.
[-- download --][-------- Tense ------------]
A rare example of me singing. 2011? I was listening to a lot of Jun Maeda anime soundtracks and it comes through in the simple melancholy instrumentation here.
[-- download --][-------- Henri ------------]
Made for my Grandmother's funeral in 2011. Inspiration is very obvious.
[-- download --][--- Commodore Commode -----]
2010. An attempt at getting my head around melodic progression using an emulated two voice chiptune synth to keep things simple.
[-- download --][-------- Bo De ------------]
2010. This was the first piece of music I made after having the physical and emotional breakdown that trapped me throughout most of my 20s. It was very much a process of accepting the quiet depths from which I could never escape, and had no choice but to live in calmly forever.
[-- download --][--- Womb for Masons -------]
An early experiment I still like.
[-- download --][------ Entactogen Jams -----]
Back in 2008 I did visuals for a band with some friends. Sometimes I also did percussion, vocals, and synths. I was still really new to making music, but it was a great time. We snuck into Adelaide Uni after hours and recorded several improv jams. It's a good memory.