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#47 - Future Harmonies

by The Owl & The Littlemouse

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1.
All the sound (drums and Alien sample aside) made from the one bass riff, heavily manipulated, effected, pitched and layered, inspired by Pyramid Song and Amon Tobin. This track was a lot of fun to put together, and especially once I started hearing the extra harmonies and spaced out hypnotising sounds come into it later on. I spent days listening back to this, trying to be sure if the rhythm actually fits the bassline, and when you listen to the full thing, the drums fade in so you are already in the middle of a loop surrounded by swirly noises. You can get into that groove, then the bass comes in and turns everything upside down. It took me a long time to reconcile in my mind that it does fit, but it still surprises me with the timing change every time I listen to it, so, I hope that is fun and interesting for you.
2.
Hummingbird 06:21
A basically simple, fun and strange song, that grows and grows! The initial voice sample was from a 3 second section I chopped and stretched to fit a rhythm. All sounds other than drums are made from that clip. There are things I did initially with this, that made the final mixing a lot more difficult than they maybe should have been, and I spent so long on this one that I no longer really know what it sounds like, (and I don't really know what I am doing with mixing, I still have a hell of a long way to go), but, I still think it is a nice little piece, so I hope you will check out its full jaunt. Inspired I guess by the more minimal, weird, earlier sounds of Autechre and Aphex Twin, but I know it doesn't actually sound like those uberlords of electronica!
3.
Charades 05:22
Accordion noise glitch grind? This is the first time I've ever worked with a song using accordion, I have to admit! It actually has some pretty cool tones for drones, and works alright with distortion and blastbeats around it as well! Definitely an experimental bit of fun here! Mix wise I couldn't get this to quite match what I had in my head, and maybe if Igorrr had got a hold of this, it would have been something monstrously large and even more chaotic. I was definitely inspired by his style for this either way, and it makes me laugh listening back to this that it got created. The sample at the start is just too perfect as well! #srsbsnss #seriousmusician
4.
The first half of this is manic glitchy noisy piano that reminds me of 1920s silent film car chases put through distortion pedals, then it breaks down into a drifty soundtrack for space travel and calmer meditative moments. There are about 60 layers of sounds on the second part, so definitely one to immerse into with headphones.
5.
Escalation 05:10
So, I guess this is as close to a 'radio friendly unit shifter' as I might ever make, and, obviously, it's not really, but, I had the likes of Pertubator, Orbital, Carpenter Brut and co in mind with this. I know that this is a heavily memed quote, of course, (and deservedly so, it's a favourite part of a movie for me anyway), but it fit so perfectly into the middle of this song, after how things built up in the first half and especially with what follows it, that once I imagined it / placed it on there and listened to it the first time, there was no way I could remove it. Really proud of this as a 'nice song', that was build up from three snippets of a keyboard jam by The Littlemouse.
6.
This is made using piano and accordion (both stretched, layered and made into drone tones) and vocals. I love the vocal pattern on this, and instantly it conjured up thoughts of orthodox monk chants. I had to make this build up as massive as I could, but still keep it simple. I hope the swirling, building sounds will remind you of the mighty works of Godspeed You Black Emperor, Mono, Mogwai, as that is where I was aiming (of course, not in the same league as them!). Another track that has many dozens of layers in the swirls, so, I hope you will complete this journey with your headphones on. The darker you can make the room and more focused you can be, I promise it will be worth the trust you put in the sounds.

about

Story as of April 2021: I live in Leeds, England. My girlfriend Blanka (The Littlemouse) lives in Czech. It has been difficult to see each other since the first lockdown in March 2020, and right at this moment, it is impossible due to their border being closed, but it hasn't halted us being able to still make music together.

She sent me some riff ideas (using piano, keyboard, bass and accordion), improvised jams, along with some nice vocal parts, recorded with her phone, and then I structured, added drums, samples and mixed it over the course of a couple of months.

The album title was chosen for a few reasons; hoping for the harmonious future in the world, for individuals and collectively, and personally for ourselves in our time together. It can be difficult, but you just have to be even more positive when times are difficult and looking negative, otherwise you won't make it through. I am saving to moving there (the world permitting) at the end of 2021, to make up for time lost during this crazy universal situation.

Story as of November 2021: I have since left Leeds and moved to the Czech Republic to be with 'The Littlemouse'.... then, cut to January 2022, and we are now married!

credits

released April 16, 2021

Various parts have been inspired by Pyramid Song, Amon Tobin, Orbital, Autechre, Aphex Twin, Igorrr, Mogwai, Godspeed, Mono, Carpenter Brut, Perturbator, 1920s silent film music, plus there are some fun film samples to spot during the course of it. Obviously I'm not in the same league as any of them, but that's where I was aiming at times when putting together this experimental / progressive / electronic / drone / ambient / glitch / noise album.

Piano, bass, vocals, accordion and keyboards recorded on phone by
The Littlemouse in Orlová, Czech Republic 17.1.21 to 7.2.21

Sound manipulations, drums, song structures and mixing by
The Owl in Leeds, England 4.2.21 to 15.4.21

Cover art by Andrea Vápeníková
Spaceman, Treeman and Birds art by Dan Nguyen - danchay.art
(See individual tracks / included in the download).
These pictures drawn on the Klub Futra walls, Orlová, Czech Republic

Piano & accordion picture by The Littlemouse
Pizza made by The Owl and The Littlemouse
Layout by The Owl

Thank you for taking a listen to our sounds.
We hope you enjoy the Future Harmonies journey.

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Album on YouTube: www.youtube.com/watch?v=X0ZoTCXbtH0

Up to date Bandcamp codes here:
dlcm.app/the-owl/owl047-future-harmonies

license

all rights reserved

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about

The Owl Orlová, Czechia

A/V experiments since first DIY tape in 1994

Many bands and projects until The Owl was born in 2018

The Owls were formed in December 2021.

Welcome to the rest of the journey.

Codes: dlcm.app/the-owl

Caffeine support: ko-fi.com/theowlripper

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