This is a reflection on the album I released in April of 2023. The album is all original music recorded sparatically with my friend who plays drums, Lucas Matheson. This reflection and statement is in preparation for my next compilation of songs to be released next month, ‘Many Faces’.

The project is a conceptualization of the idea of a band. I have no band. I have friends who I love to interact and record with; pulling ideas out of each other that we never thought were possible. Contrary to my previous album, ‘Sounds of 1100’, this album was more polished and structured than the bedroom recordings I released the summer prior. Every song is essentially meant to act as an interaction; between myself and the music, music I admire and look up to, and the environments I surround myself in. The album is simple. Only guitar, bass, a Wurlitzer electric piano, vocals, and drums until the synthy symphonic ‘Prelude for a Noble Man’ and the powerful driven drum machine of ‘Flower Pot’.

Art is important to me. Imagery is important to me. The cover of this album is an email collaboration between myself and my friend Ellen Modlin. I constructed a photoshopped layout of a finger painting I did in February and in response she drew over the top of the merged photoshopped layer in order to create the depth of a ‘one person band’ in other words ‘The No Man Band’.

This is my attempt to work with dry drum sounds and more improvisation. Simple is key in this one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xAa8Uwm9cA4

In an effort to exercise my practice and refine my sonic identity, I have arranged multiple pieces with an emphasis on improvisation for guitar. Modulation, distortion, and finding new ways to use the instrument as a means of expression is one of the key factors of my practice and I exercise these ideas in this series of compositions.

“Voice No. 1” is my first attempt, using only an acoustic guitar and shaker for the rhythm track. The lead track was recorded running a Stratocaster through a q-tron envelope filter by electro harmonic and then out of a mesa boogie California tweed amp with a little spring reverb.

“Voice No. 2” is the second attempt, and I strived to obtain more clear and emotional phrasing from the instrument. This was the first instance that I decided to implement the Roland tr-08 drum machine into this collection of works, using the drum machine as a relatively simple means of rhythm in order to keep time.

“Voice No. 3” utilised an acoustic guitar and an interpretation on Spanish style playing. There was also a looped water drop from my loose faucet I recorded and added spring reverb too.

“Voice No. 4” is the first of the collection to incorporate more intense tones within the improvisation. I ran my guitar directly into my audio interface through a boutique fuzz pedal I have, which created very brash clipping over the signal path. The inspiration for the rhythm guitar parts was derived from 60s French music, and a piece from John Frusciante titled, “Hope”.

“Voice No. 5” is another more rock based improvisation that uses delay in the lead tone of the instrument. It has an amazing weight to it, and combines both acoustic and electric elements.

“Voice No. 6” is the most recent voice related piece I recorded, and it is a tribute/cover of the riff from the Red Hot Chili Peppers song “Sikamicanico”. I used my broken wah pedal and a lot of fuzz to get the desired tone for this piece.

During a week long hiatus in November, I went to visit some family in Guantanamo, Cuba.

I avoided a cell signal the entire trip and spent my time catching up with friends and family, wiring, helping out on my great uncle’s farm, and learning new instruments and musical practices. The two that stuck with me were the Cuban Tres and the Cuatro instruments. Both are guitar style instruments that have unique tonal qualities used in Spanish style music, specifically Changüí.

Throughout the trip I also gathered footage in order to compile a video that also draws inspiration from various sound art practices.

This is the result.

For this piece, I improvised a chord progression on the guitar and layered the result with a total of 7 other guitar tracks. Using a variety of pedals and post effects I believe the result is fairly unique.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vq-_jWnJDvU

In an attempt to discover unique voices and characters in improvisation, I composed a simple rolling progression based around 1 single chord and 1 percussive instrument. Over it I improvised a guitar piece and in one take I heard someone playing I had not heard before. I used a Q-Tron pedal and El Capistan delay in order to form an uncontrollable tone, and I was delicate in making a part from it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIUBYkGI-vY

This piece is a bit more composed. You will be transported somewhere, and it will most likely be either a classic American Western or modern Tarantino film. I utilised organic sounds and live track by track recordings, all done by me and nothing is looped except for the kick drum.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhYUlYKGQt8

This is another improvised movement I completed this past week. Consisting of strings and a Moog Sub 25, it is supposed to evoke a sense of uneasiness and fear.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z20EAXUMdHE

This is an improvised movement I recorded last week in an attempt to expand my sound. I used a Moog Sub 25 and recorded it through a stereo reverb plugin directly into my DAW.

Wanting to create an environment that pushes both creativity and collaboration, my friends and I set up a studio in my parents house for three months over the summer. The end result was a 53 minute collection of songs, expressive clothing, and a plethora of film footage.

Working with my friends Lucas Mathison and James Terrazas, I took advantage of the creative environment we formed over the summer to record as many ideas as possible; creating my first album, “Sounds of 1100”. A total of 19 songs were recorded both in my room and a local studio I have grown familiar with, York Recording. At the same time my friends James and Lucas were both designing graphics and silhouettes for the tank tops, pants, and dresses Lucas would sew in the following moths, as well as playing on some of the tracks for my project.

I decided to utilise both strong guitar and synth parts through the album, as well as saxophone and the newly set up drum kit in my bedroom. Taking time to evolve songs originally made for acoustic guitar, I pushed my limits playing as many different instruments as possible. The point of making this album for me was to expand my perspective in constructing sound scapes within traditional music and to develop out of my comfort zone. Layering a palette of instrumentation to form songs in the genres of heavy rock, folk, alternative, as well as ambient and electronic music, I made sure to avoid repetition and crate a sense of identity in each track. The result that formed from this initiative is a library of what represents me as a musician, an artist, and a person.

(The art I used for the cover was created by hand by Iran Hernandez Castillo, a Cuban artist who is based in Havana).