5th May 2011

Initial sessions for the next album have come along nicely. It’s nice to be working with samples again, and as soon as I opened up Fruityloops (yes, I’m going full on retro) I reverted almost immediately to Purlieu mode, which is interesting. This won’t be quite the same in overall sound, but melodically I think there will be definite comparisons. The more sinister, jarring edge to that record is definitely present, along with some influences from serialism and other 20th atonal music. The nearest comparisons to my own music so far are Parin Onia from Purlieu and Cwn Annwn from Safernoc, I think.

In more pressing matters, I will soon be getting copies of Since Every Hour Is Too Late in the post. It’ll be nice to have that released, as with my recent working with strings and piano for forthcoming material it seems more fitting, and the initial sessions for the album were recorded in October 2009 – although it was only completed four months ago. Either way, it and its accompanying EP will be the last new Second Thought material for quite some time (until next year at least), and will mark the last material from the 2009-2010 sessions (other than the shelved album, anyway). So an important milestone there.

I finally bought that Kerkville album. It’s absolutely beautiful. I highly recommend it.

16th April 2011

Sample collecting for album #6 has been coming along quite nicely – I’ve been listening out for interesting sounds everywhere in the last few days, and have so far taken snippets from various sources, everything from famous IDM to contemporary pop, one of my favourite symphonies, a computer game and a classic animated film. Some sounds are beginning to come together and it’s beginning to sit nicely in my mind. Some elements of Treatments may be making a re-appearance too.

Recent listening and all-round excellent music:

Sibelius – Symphonies 1-3
Xedh – Vinduskarm
Murcof – Cosmos
Christopher Bissonnette – Periphery
Nick Drake – Five Leaves Left

6th April 2011

If anything’s going to get me in the mood for making sample-based music, it’s the incredible research that appears midway down this thread. FSOL’s music becomes more dense and layered every time I listen to it. What amazes me is that the process – if not the attention to detail – is how I used to make music until the last few tracks I completed for Vacuum Road Songs, and purely by coincidence. I am going to begin collecting samples soon I think. Hopefully Since Every Hour will be out in the next couple of months and then I can move on to tentatively starting composing again in the summer.

1st April 2011

After a lot of consideration, I have decided that now is not the right time to release Aeolian Landform. This blog must get quite tedious with its constant ‘New album! Wait, no, actually, I’m not going to release it’ contradictions, I suppose it would be more sensible to say nothing about a release until it’s concrete and finalised. Either way, I just don’t feel comfortable releasing the album this year. With the direction I’m going to be taking in the future, and the releases of Safernoc and Since Every Hour Is Too Late, it feels very out of place and not at all representative of who I am as a person and a ‘musician’. Maybe it’ll re-appear one day in the future, or under a different name. I’d like to think so, as it is rather good.

I have been enjoying some slightly more avant-garde sounds lately. Nothing too far out (I did listen to Markus Schmickler’s Sator Rotas earlier, but it didn’t sit right with me at all), but the sample and field-recording manipulations of Xedh, Mystified, Christopher Bissonnette and M.Rosner have been ticking the right boxes since I’ve been in Brighton. I also really, really want to get ahold of Kerkville’s ‘Days’ album – but I suppose that must wait until I have money!

Since Every Hour Is Too Late news soon!

27th March 2011

This afternoon, I completed two pieces for a compilation album coming about later this year, based on scenes from imaginary films – the album is inspired by Eno’s Music For Films albums. I have decided the two short pieces will be the last Second Thought tracks I create using softsynths or Reason. It’s a nice way to finish off, as I’ve created two lovely tracks. Also, I may use synths if asked to do more soundtrack work in the future, so this leads nicely into that, leaving Second Thought to head back to the sounds and samples world again. Ideally I’d like to create something that straddles the border between experimental sound art and accessible electronic music. I suppose Purlieu comes into play there again. Either way, this is all a long way in the future, as you still have two VST/Reason created albums on their way first.

The reason I’ve decided to make this definitive turning point now is that Lucy and I are moving to a new city and hopefully things will start getting better with my life. That’s as good a time as any to change, especially when the ‘improvising with synths’ direction really does remind me of some darker times in the last twelve months. So, a new start, and a return to Second Thought as it should be. All good!

23rd March 2011

A quick change to update the ‘future of Second Thought’ position, as I feel like clarifying some stuff and getting some info out there! The follow-up to Safernoc situation is a bit confusing, after much assessment and re-arrangement of music. Either way, the album has two follow-ups, sort of. The first is Since Every Hour Is Too Late, the collection of works for strings, piano and synth which follow on from the neo-classical moments on Safernoc. That was due out in August, but will hopefully be out sooner – some time in the summer. The other record expands on the sounds introduced on Send More Bees, Night Train, Savernake, Moss and Aqueduct; the first half is ‘ambient dub’, and the second half focuses on synth work and Berlin School sequences. That will be out before the end of the year (I’m hoping September/October). They will both be on CDr + download format through Bandcamp.

Why say all this now and why get them out so soon? Some recent listening and experiences have given me chance to assess my music in a more considered way than I have before. In particular, I had the closest, most in depth listen to Lifeforms that I’ve had in years, and was staggered at how well the mixture of samples and synths works on that album. On top of that, there’s this from my friend Themis’s label Triple Bath. The piece comes entirely from guitar. Lastly, some trawling through my old work for various reasons has really shown the difference in my older, sample-based work and the very synthetic textures of Aeolian Landform. Much as I am proud of the album, it feels less personal and individual to me, and I really want to get back to working with audio, taking acoustic sounds, editing, filtering and changing them and making my own music from that. There’s also been a lot of emphasis on composition and performance lately, and I genuinely miss working with loops and samples in the way I used to. So once I start composing again, later in the year, I’ll be doing that again – starting from scratch, with new software to learn and a whole new range of samples to mess around with. In the meantime, I’d like to get these records all packaged up and out of the way, while letting everybody get the chance to hear them. Also, one potential show in July aside, any future live sets will probably be quite different in style to the dancey synth fest of my last couple (and the improv that will be heard some time in the future). I’ve had a lot of fun with synths, dance music and such lately, but I think it’s about time to get back to forging my own sound again.

Music I’m listening to and would recommend you listen to:

Roddy Woomble – The Impossible Song and Other Songs
4m33s – Time
Somnarium – Frost
Wire – Red Barked Trees
The Future Sound of London – Lifeforms

3rd March 2011

I have this unbeatable talent at stressing myself out, and at starting things with no real way of seeing them through. Lemony Nougat became a chore by the third release, I was so happy to see the end of it. I get this desire to work with musicians because I like their music, but end up offering releases out and suggesting a series of split CDr releases and all sorts, but realistically it was a silly idea and I’ve scrapped it. I’m spending too much time at the computer and on the internet at the moment anyway, the last thing I need is more reason to! I’m scaling down Jerky Oats for the foreseeable future – it originally started up as a way for me to release my own stuff on a whim/to keep control of my own releases, and to help friends out with their first release or two. I suggested, for example, that Jack release his album The Moment on the label instead of simply uploading it to last.fm, and then his Archive albums were a way of making his previous ten album back catalogue a little easier to navigate for those who’d discovered him through The Moment. Since then he’s moved on, had a successful release on Bump Foot and is now looking at possible physical distribution for his next album. This is what I wanted Jerky Oats to be – a way to help out some friends so when they start looking for labels and promoters and such they already have some releases behind them. Anyway, since then it’s begun to get bogged down with all sorts of stuff – none of it bad, of course, but just not what I wanted to do with the label. JOAT023 came out recently, and I already have up to JOAT033 lined up for release at some point, not to mention 10 and 18 which are still in the works. The last of those will be out next February! Twelve records is too much to upload/release and promote when I’m trying to get away from the computer and the internet. Stress stress stress. So yes, the five or six CDr splits have gone and releases after JOAT033 will be invite only special occasions! That, and the reworking of a future album last night have sorted things out in my head quite a lot. I really do have the next year sorted in my head and feel enormously happier.

In more pressing matters, the discography section of my site is now split into individual pages and has sound clips for each album. Moreso, Purlieu and Vacuum Road Songs are now available through Bandcamp, meaning your purchase will give you immediate download in the format of your choice, plus a CD in the post – at no increase in price. How’s that for a bargain?! Note: the last two songs on Vacuum Road Songs currently refuse to upload so that’s a pain in the arse.

26th February 2011

Safernoc CDr release is officially ‘available’ – some promo copies, some for friends and some will be available from live shows in the future. With that, the Safernoc era is finally over, and what better way to mark the occasion than by revealing the artwork and tracklist for the next album! This one was half complete at the start of 2010 and has been touched up over time since then.

Since Every Hour Is Too Late

The Day You Left
Birdsongs for Lucy, I: Magpie
Birdsongs for Lucy, II: Goosander
Birdsongs for Lucy, III: Tawny Owl
Burbage Park, for Dad
Peter Pig
Glebe Road, 1998. Rain
Untitled for four pianos
Birdsongs for Lucy, IV: Stonechat
Mip and Bella, for Mum
May

This is a more personal album than before, as is obvious from the song titles alone. The album expands upon the neo-classical piano/string elements of Safernoc, with the album’s overall palette being little more than piano, strings and subdued synths, plus the occasional sample and field recording. The album features more strict compositions and less improvised pieces than any of my previous work too. The mood of the record is one of a hazy, wistful nostalgia; my dad’s photography of places close to my home town adds to this feeling, and many of the titles refer to aspects of my childhood, along with a series of pieces inspired by birds I wrote for my fiancée.

The record should be out in the summer, all being well, but I’ll post more news on that nearer the time. It feels good to be finally moving on to this album! Also, 60° South is finally in the albums section, in ‘fifth album’ position. Although some tweaks were made on Since Every Hour Is Too Late after 60° South’s release, it was conceived and mostly recorded before that album. 60° South actually expands on the synth ideas put forward on Since Every Hour Is Too Late, and is a very suitable bridge between that and what should follow it. But no more on that just yet!

25th February 2011

Finally, the time to take a break from music is here. All releases for the foreseeable future are complete, artwork is done, a release schedule has been planned out and I’m finally happy with things. Expect the Safernoc follow-up (and related EP) in the summer, then something around New Year, and hopefully another live recording in the future. It feels like I’ve finished another chapter in the Second Thought story, one which started with the recording of Treatments in late 2009. Of course, you won’t hear all of this for a while yet, so I won’t do too much of a ‘chapter closing’ rant just yet…

I’ve also been doing a bit of tidying and re-arranging of the discography (again), as some re-evaluations of last year’s work and a realisation that people coming to my music for the first time might be a bit confused have left me updating the ‘experimental series’ a little – that is now for drone, noise and other things which are most definitely unlike my main musical projects. Anybody who discovers me through Oncoming Storm or Thatcher With a Dick or… whatever, will be able to find related works in that section as it is now labelled as such. This leaves Canal Seven rightfully among the normal EPs (given that it contains work from the Twenty-Four and Safernoc sessions, this is only right), and 60 Degrees South will be appearing in the albums again later in the year (this will make sense at the time). It can still be bought direct from AmbientLive anyway. Despite all the annoying moving around, I think this does leave the discography more sensible in the long run.

Immediate future – Songs of the Emptying Race is coming out on Bump Foot on 13th or 20th March (confirmation soon), and the Live From Folkestone EP at the same time on Jerky Oats. Even more excitingly for me, Safernoc discs should be arriving today so the physical version will be around from the 28th. As of Monday, the Safernoc era will finally be over. This means I should be able to confirm stuff for the next album in the next few weeks. 🙂

19th February 2011

So, the remix album is complete, and you can find the full tracklist in the discography section. It’s nice to finally have this finished, some of the remixes date right back to the ‘Vacuum Road Songs remix album’ era circa 2004/2005, and many of them have been sitting around for the best part of a year in these parts. I’m going to send it out to a couple of labels pretty soon so I can get it out there and move on to pastures new. I’ll keep you updated!