Welcome to DARC. What can I tell you about this one? How much time have you got?! Well, here’s me in Winter 2021. Feeling my age these days. The latest grind to add itself is arthritis in my wrists. I can’t begin to describe how fabulous this isn’t. I had it very badly several times when mixing and tweaking stuff using a mouse. I'm a left-handed mouse user but I’ve noticed it in my right hand now too. Bugger and f**k. Still, it’s easily put at bay with regular soaks in hot water, voltarol and a special “does f.a.” copper bracelet. So I carries on regardless, so I does :-)
Onto DARC.
Papillon
It’s a light, positive, floaty tune. There’s a few like this on DARC, which in spite its title, doesn’t have that much gloom and doom to report for itself. If anything the last quarter here has been fine and I’ve felt quite positive in spite of the usual very little interest. I enjoy creating these melodies for anyone who likes hearing them. So there.
DARC
Does Anybody Really Care? Heh… let’s get straight to the point yeah?! I suppose there’s that element of self-pity about it, I mean here’s me 30 years or so into this stuff and if you opened a bucket containing all the shits people give it wouldn’t cover anyone’s rose-bed. Far more ominously though the same can be said for just about everything going on everywhere these days. Yeah reality does suck and maybe the world ain’t quite what it was before, but hey, at least we haven’t been invaded by alien arse spiders. As far as I'm aware.
Sylphs
Our windows have them.
Seriously, this is a nice, light chillout piece with an Air element feel about it. Like several pieces on DARC, it also feels fairly seasonal. Mind you, it has been cold and grotty here for several weeks, so I’ve had a head start.
Altitude
Hey I suppose Air is in favour here. A shorter track and one of several done this year which predominantly use legacy samples of my own to build it up. Sounds rather grungy all told, though I actually like it like that. I enjoyed playing with my lovely flanger as you can hear. Electronic musicians do tend to love their flangers.
Nascent
This kinda panned out like a slow bossanova thing. This darn tune was earworming me for days until I finally did it and realised it's just another tune! Final mix was a pain though. The original solo sound was based on a dulcimer. Sounded a bit meh to be honest, so now it’s back to good old synth :-)
Le Tuangeur
Begins effectively album 2 of DARC. A filmic, dramatic piece with a crappy title. There ya go! It’s French for Twanger by the way. No it isn’t ;-)
Croca De Luna
I guess this didn’t make it onto Caca De Luna then! D’ya know, I've had actual complaints about using that title. Apparently it’s an offensive Mexican term and apparently it is most unbecoming of me to use offensive Mexican terminology. So there. Just two words come to mind about this : John Lydon. You know the rest ;-)
Fireflies
Note some of the chords in several pieces on DARC sound slightly wonky. I suddenly remembered how much I love Impressionist music. So let’s have some nice new chord sequences along that vein. They do sound quite dreamy. Fireflies : I’ve seen these in Germany and you’ll hate me for this - it was on a Summer Solstice night in the Eifel-Ardennen. In a clearing hundreds of these things danced like gnats or just sat in juniper bushes. Gorgeous but you can’t take pictures of them, they just don’t seem to show up.
Fol-De-Rol & 2 Egg Butties
Yeah well this is f**ked up from the offset and if anyone can even find a genre for it I’d be interested to know! It’s fast and it’s beyond bonkers. It’s almost into barmy territory. I believe it be the start of the long road to insanity, although I’m not sure why I’m going back there again ;-)
Incant
And after that brief period of lunacy we return to the quiet, peaceful groove as before. Another melody which earwormed me until I created it. The use of some of these more variated impressionist chords seem to allow greater freedom for notes to wander around better! Also just opens things up to a wider range of moods and feelings. Quite dreamy actually.
Eau Flambe
Another piece constructed from legacy samples and phrases. Not the melody though, that’s new. A more traditional composition in terms of chord sequence and a fine way to end “album 2”. I had my flanger on it again. Sorry!
Swamp Ding
Onto “album 3”
I had really wanted a more elegant name for this piece, but nah, it’s not elegant! It just sounds that way at the start lol. It’s erm… I dunno, chilled reggae or something like that. It was a late night :-D And at least that drum line wasn’t nicked off a loop. I made that myself.
Lucent
More earworm music. These melodies really do drift into my head. And then they don’t bloody go unless I translate them to sound. Thing is it is actually a pleasurable experience trying to recreate in reality what you had previously imagined. It’s not a perfect science though and sometimes I can’t get it to sound quite the same. The dreaminess on these pieces is very close to the imagined versions though.
Snafufu
Another one which, from the offset sound like it’s going to be all floaty and dreamlike, but which then goes and spoils it all for you by turning slightly bonkers. It’s an earworm and it’s quite contagious. You have been warned.
Enchant.
it doesn’t though but it’s quite pleasant all the same! How else but another dreamy and somewhat more regular melodic chillout piece to end the whole thing. Got some nice analogue-sounding (but they’re not) percussion going on in the backdrop.
