I am 48 weeks deep in 52 week project in which I write, record and release a song each week for a year. The realisation hit me just a couple of hours ago that I only have 4 more songs to create before I’ve completed the project.
Wow. I feel like I’ve only just started, like I’m barely half-way.
Here is a link to the entire playlist:
https://soundcloud.com/mysterioso/sets/song-a-week-for-a-year
It’s been a while since I did much to publicise my work, but I’m here today to remedy that. In the last nine weeks I’ve released nine more pieces of work, some of which I’ve pushed off into the world with those little shivers I only get when what I’ve created seems somehow more than the sum of its parts.
These are my current favourites: soundcloud.com/mysterios… soundcloud.com/mysterios… soundcloud.com/mysterios… soundcloud.com/mysterios… soundcloud.com/mysterios…
And here is a playlist for the Great Song A Week For A Year Playlist so far: soundcloud.com/mysterios…
My current project, a Song A Week For A Year number 24 - ‘That’s the Message’ on #SoundCloud soundcloud.com/mysterios… This piece started off inspired by Black Heart Procession, but then traveled through Gravenhurst and latter day Nick Cave. Once again, it’s a bit dark. I started work on the lyrics before I’d completed all the instrumental parts and for once I had the time to come up with a text I’m happy with. The downside of this being that I ran out of time to work on the drum programming. Swings and roundabouts! Becca Allen joined in on backing vocals and autoharp.
Here is the continuing playlist for the project so far: soundcloud.com/mysterios…
Life continues with its own ruthless pace and the following is the latest fruit: soundcloud.com/mysterios…
And to follow on, here’s the complete corpus so far: soundcloud.com/mysterios…
I decided to play around with a couple of synths, a bit of MIDI, a handmade BEW pedal and see what happened. This is the result. In the process I taught myself a couple of new things about recording too. I got to the end of the lyrics and realised I really ought to have rewritten the first verse but time was not on my side. So have at thee. Guest vocals by Becca Allen.
Entry number 4 in the ongoing compendium is a lovely floaty piece of acoustic art-pop. Should I feel a bit self-conscious in calling it art-pop? Nope! No prizes for guessing my references for the voice parts.
SAWFAY number 3. I tried to use as few guitars and as many basses as possible and this is the result. I’m quite enjoying only using acoustic guitars in these compositions, especially for the lead or harmonic sections. I’m still a bit shy about singing though.
OK, 2nd week. I completely forgot to post this here at the time -the 7th of November.
Initially I had a problem with my mix, the whole piece was overdriven once I’d exported it from my DAW. Eventually I discovered that somehow SoundForge is boosting the gain of everything it opens, even the preview feature in the File Open dialog. This piece is perhaps a wee homage to both Tortoise and David Bedford.
So I think I’m going to do a thing. Like really commit to something. I’m gonna make a piece of music once a week for the next 53 weeks.
This is my first piece. I’m keeping it rough and ready. This is only the beginning. soundcloud.com/mysterios…
Drum loops from Siggi Baldursson.
Meaty glorious guitar solo in the coda by Stevie McKnight: steven-mcknight1 Other guitars & percussion by me.