#1

Hello everyone! I’m sharing an album that has been a few years in the making.

I started it back in 2015, in a bid for distraction and as a kind of therapy to help me get through the illness, and then death, of a loved one. I had meant to put it out there earlier, but coming back to it was hard – I didn’t particularly want to revisit those times. Now, it doesn’t seem I have a choice; a similar situation is playing out again in my life. It seemed a good time to come back to this project.

Not that the backstory is all-important! I’m proud of the two tracks independent of this narrative, and thought that maybe some of you would like them, too. They’re on the minimal side of ambient; not a whole lot goes on in them, so maybe they’re better as background music for your day-to-day life.

Download codes available on request!

thanks for your time,
andrew

29 Likes
#2

oh nice. if you have a download code I would love to take a listen.

#3

Sent you one in a PM! :slight_smile:

1 Like
#4

I like the minimal, slowly unfolding nature of the tracks, my kind of listening.
Sorry to hear that you are having a hard time of things - hang in there.
I find that making music is what gets me through those times. Even when you think you are distracting yourself, sometimes you are actually processing your feelings indirectly, and that is pretty healthy in my opinion. Going back and listening may not be easy, but can be very cathartic - it gives you a handle on the feelings you might not otherwise have, something to hold on to as you face them. And sometimes it might help you manage steer the memory back into a place that reminds you of the good times with that person.

5 Likes
#5

Thank you, so much, for your kind and encouraging words. I think you’re right – it’s always more than just distraction, it helps make things make sense.

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#6

This is great. I really like december, but it’d all great.

#7

Thanks!!! Digging into your album, now :slight_smile:

#8

Listening now.

Some favorites that your piece reminds me of: Elaine Radigue’s Trilogie de la mort (partially informed by the deaths of her son and her spiritual master), and Irezumi’s Thirty. (informed by the loss of his brothers) It’s important and valuable to be able to process those emotions through music, and I often prefer when the work is being informed by personal experiences and becomes therapeutic in its creation.

3 Likes
#9

That is a very very flattering comparison – thank you! And thanks for bringing Irezumi into my world, because, damn. “Thirty” is the platonic ideal that my album was shooting for, and I have no idea how I didn’t know about it until now.

And you’re right. I think this is one of the things about being a musician I appreciate most: it really does help me process life.

2 Likes
#10

Would love to here any notes about how you created this album @zuliani

#11

Of course!! Both tracks have as their base a time-stretched sample from a synthesizer – I think an MS-20 mini – that was originally around a few seconds. “December” is filled out with some triangle wave, as well as some resonating filters from the MS-20.

The percussion in “January” is actually an electric guitar, time-stretched out of whack and pitched down. Some extra help with mastering that one came from my friend Andrew Lee, of Holy Hum, whose stuff is very worth checking out, too. Especially “Appendix C,” which played a big part in giving me the courage to compose longer songs.

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#12

Thanks, everyone, for all of the support! I am very touched.

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#13

I’d love to get a download code too.

#14

Please send me a download code as well, it sounds like something that would interest me. I’ve dealt with the loss of several close friends this year. I hope that you are getting along ok.

#15

very cool. Is the few seconds sample stretched the entire song? or is it slowed down and re chopped up. Very cruise on the amount its slowed down. I have listed to this 2x and im into it.

#16

Sure thing! I’ll send you one via PM.

#17

I’m sorry to hear that – my thoughts are with you. And so is a download code! Check your PMs :slight_smile:

#18

I think I ended up with like a week-long audio file and grabbed bits from here and there, but a lot of the moments of transition between “notes” are continuous bits from the stretched sample. There was something really exhilarating about discovering those while I was making it.

#19

im fascinated with the time stretching technique. Sorry for so many questions. What do you use to time stretch it? does the time stretching pitch it down?

1 Like
#20

I used paulstretch, which is incredible precisely because it doesn’t affect pitch. It’s a granular time stretch, with lots of tweakable parameters – a bit like a huge, virtual, MU Clouds. I really recommend checking it out!

2 Likes