Just after lockdown in the UK I decided to get on with making another solo album. I put down around 8 tracks in total and then realised they were all terrible. Well, maybe not actually terrible, but no different from anything I’d done before, and all a bit ‘static’. They didn’t GO anywhere. So I deleted them all and decided to start again with a different idea.
I saw lots of people releasing ‘lockdown’ or ‘isolation’ music in response to the pandemic – all isolated drones or dour themes and decided I didn’t want any more misery in my life at this time. Music can do many things and I’ve often used it as a release from bad situations – orchestra rehearsals have often provided an escape from reality for me, but these are not possible at the moment. My last couple of albums have built on bad personal situations, of course. But this time I wanted a release.
So “Diversions” is what it says it is, a diversion from the current isolations; music for it’s own sake. As such there a few slightly different styles here, there are a couple of ‘techno-type’ tracks and some with definite rock drum beats. I’m not claiming to be actually producing real techno or real rock music here, just appropriating styles for my own purposes really.
The worry with this sort of approach is that is not ‘what I normally do’ so the (few) people who actually like what I normally do won’t like this, and that it’s not sufficiently good techno or rock to be liked by afficionados of those genres. But that’s not really the point. I did this for me more than for anyone else, but if someone else does also like it then that’s lovely.
Of course, I’m not really thinking that this is so far different from anything I’ve done before that it’s TOTALLY new, it’s not. There are steps leading up to ideas I’ve used here all over the place, even in those last two or three albums of mine, and certainly on the CSMA albums (though I had to do my own rhythmic work on this one), so in a way it’s really just another step on the ladder of musical progression. The next album will probably build on things I did here. Probably.
So, here is “Diversions” – see what you think.
Leave a comment