Clay Chords of Throwing

Liner Notes and Listening Room

0716 Clay Chord of Throwing

And so we enter the final phase of this theoretical process of re-engaging in music and making it a habit. While the Song Studies were built around devoting two days around each piece, the Clay Chords are unbounded. Again, there was no "end" in mind, just trusting myself to know when it would be.

I got the idea of writing an American family's experience from, well, I don't actually know. It just popped into my head. I ended up thinking of my own family - even asking my mom when she realized she wanted to be a florist. Instead of take my family as a rote model, I just reference them, with names and broad strokes. The florist, the carpenter, the firefighter - the very different siblings. After sketching out the story as a paragraph, I spent time verifying the generational gaps and periods of significance, I am happy that very little liberty was taken to journey with this family through time.

I wrote the end of the song first, but realized there needed to be a bit more for the lyrical content, so I approached the beginning. In my mind this has an essence of a loose ode to Fairport Convention's "Tam Lin" in that the count of chord strikes changes as the song progresses.

The "chorus" section seemed hopeless as I was building it. I don't know why I continued on this path with octaves and various, almost psychadelic, tones and sounds. When I decided to gather some actual clips of speeches, I realized though that the backdrop was purpose built as a home for them. Christabel Pankhurst is, admittedly, a British suffragette, however her and her mother did produce speeches in the US after their success in the UK. I will say it's incredibly difficult to find audible recordings of suffragettes - not just due to the era, but also it seems like there was less recording done in favor of women's rights.

Finally, for the end, I wanted a special lead line, something familiar and alien. This synth part, to my ears, carries the connotations of electric guitars and steel drums. I like that hybrid quite a bit and find it works suitably well for the flavor of the lead line.


0723 Clay Chord of Throwing

Ah, yes, this one. I think I challenged myself perhaps too much here. You see we lost a cat this spring, and her friend is quite old and packing her bags, so to speak. Each night I am not sure if she will mew at me - wondering where I was during the day... or if I had already heard that admonishment for the last time. To celebrate her, I created this song, starting with her purring.

I built some sounds around this from various drums and then decided I wanted to capture some various parts of her - the former grace in movement, the animal anger that suddenly rages, the sweet quiet, the playful kitten with blue eyes - and then, perhaps, allow a space for myself to reminisce on how she augmented my life.

On paper, that sounds pretty sentimental, but when trying to execute this with some honor became difficult. The synth line of her playfulness, for instance, I spent well over 4 hours on just 20 seconds - trying to find each note landing in the right place with the right velocity. The angry guitar riff that suddenly appears - like a cat's anger - was also hard to integrate without being "noisey." Especially as it fades out into a passive acceptance - and ultimately her purrs again.

Perhaps the hardest part of writing a song for a cat is that she will never really be able to tell me if she likes it or hates it.


0731 Clay Chord of Throwing

After the intesity of trying to honor the last song, I wanted to find something a little more straight forward. I began playing with some synths - at this point it was not about inspiration, but almost an urgent need to move on from the weight of the last piece. As I as playing around with it, I accidentally slowed it down and realized that all the digital events move to the new bpm of the song (yes, this was an accident, and yes, I should have known this).

I then added some guitar with delay and found that the time synch on the delay also extends the field of that delay - again, obviously. In the end this may have been a Song Study, or even a Sound Sketch - but with a little more thought I decided that a one night experiment still deserves a place here.


0802 Clay Chord of Throwing

The pendulum moves so much back and forth. Just as it works with experimentation, it also swings across emotional intent. I was watching a documentary on National Geographic about Katrina. In this documentary a gentleman is recounting some deeply felt and meaningful points about what has lead to the situation that Katrina became - his name is Malik Rahim - and his points are felt by me, intensly. As the documentary continues, it's apparent that there is a problem in the retelling of events. The predominately black voices on the ground are being filtered through predominately white journalists and authority representatives. No doubt, this leads to Kanye's statements that come soon. But it also feeds a sense of white savior complex. In the worst moments, we see that situations remain dire, while Geraldo is patting the backs of people who saved the day without realizing it was barely dawn.

Mr. Rahim's words also speak of accepting blame, each of our role in the shared ownership of burden. I hear this too, but I have recast the sentiment in a way that aligns more closely with me, I think. The idea that we have a shared oath as a part of coming into existence and that we have unspoken responsibilities within that. This is the premise of the preamble. While the concepts of being "drunk on prosperity" (Mr. Rahim's phrase - credit where due) and the premature celebrations led to the chorus with a spite for false empathy - a plague we see today in leftist virtue signaling and right leaning "thoughts and prayers." Our responsibility demands, at least, small action.

The music itself begins a premise I will hopefully develop further - sharing an ethos with what is "Upon Apparent Parting" - this idea is that the music can tell the story with few words, and a chorus acting as an agnostic catcheistic koan. Here we feel the storm upon us, and the waves as they build and pressure the levees to crumble. I will probably discuss the specifics of the form more - when I complete more.


0806 Clay Chord of Throwing

Again, I was left in an emotional shamble from the previous song. I can keep this short. I just needed another drink of fresh water from experimentation to move me along. When this was completed in a couple nights I did make the realization - it was time. Time to let go of the Clay Chords. To finish them out with one last effort, and then allow myself the time each piece needs in its sphere. I hope the net result offers a chance to build some more branches of creation - experiments, heavy emotional investments, pop songs, folky throwbacks, and more. And then allow each of these to tell a bigger story in the concept of an album, and not abide them to sit without names in a calendar order.


0808 Clay Chord of Throwing

To finish this out, I wanted to do something that had been on my mind a while - a Ghost Story. Poor Harold is indeed that, with building and swelling music and theatrical pacing. There isn't much to discuss here - no deeper meaning, except that I like horror movies. No technical miracles - except that it's hard to mix 20 tracks of stuff well, especially when you hear something missing and need to add the 21st. Nope, just a ghost story to remind that this process is now a ghost itself.