2021·Electronic·London, UK
Endless State Machine
The Drone Variations
AlbumAbout
Produced by Me (aged 36) and Me (aged 20), late at night in two repurposed box rooms, decades apart. 'The Drone Variations' is my tribute to the works of Brian Eno, Steve Reich and Pink Floyd, to be listened to late at night when time seems endless. It's also a message in a bottle from me to me. Seriously, the record was inspired by the sound of a guitar sample I had discarded in my 20s... the sound of my old Samick through a simple echo pedal as I fell in love with the sustain produced by the overloading feedback circuit in my delay pedal as it would saturate. Revisiting the recordings as a much older man (with many more synths), I became fascinated with applying these dusty test recordings to new contexts and new technologies... New pieces fell out as throughout February '21 I furiously cut-up, restructured, re-arranged and relayered the tones time after time. Though the recording has an unresolved quality to it reminiscent of Brian Eno's ambient work, there are no loops (well, aside from a synth in track 1). It's all guided from the sophoric trace state I found myself in when my 20-year old self picked up that guitar and, too broke to afford a real loop pedal, decided to see what sustain tones I could get out of my echo pedal. (PS- listen to the full length version on Bandcamp).
Favourite Moment
Usually it would be a creative moment. But, this time, it was the moment I put the drums and piano into 'Edwin's Favoured Cadence'. That, and playing the final mix back realising that 20-year-old me would never expect one single guitar recording to morph into something sustaining 40 stereo audio tracks on its aching back.
Advice
Break the rules. It's worth it just to punch the air when that piano stab kicks in.