Stayed up late to watch Justice League, a truly bad superhero film, worse even than the abysmal Batman and Robin. Zack Snyder is, simply, a terrible director, and after making each awful and badly critiqued film it seems that DC Comics hit their heads with tin trays and decide to re-employ the idiot. Joss Whedon, another director I abhore, is equally as bad. I won't waste time on dissecting the failures of this.
I had a slow start. I'm unable to sing much due to various constraints here but made a good start on The Exploratory Farmer, a strange song... but for me not experimental. It is about painting a scene with words and sound. Musically it has a melody based on a minor triad and staggered timing and as a result sounds rather atonal and bleak, which is the effect I was aiming for. My original tune gave me too little time to actually sing the words. The timing goes:
I rake
the mud
with fingers fro-zen
into fork pull back
to reveal
bone
bone
bone
un-der
the soil
There isn't quite time to sing 'fork' so I moved it up a little. All of it sounds odd, earthy, like van Gogh's "Potato Eater's soil", which is exactly what I was aiming for (the opera Written on Skin also came to mind). The chorus, by contrast, is warm and full of light and hope - it's actually taken from The Invisible Man later and works so well. This track, odd though it is, is a highlight.
Some of the higher vocal parts have a different timbre due to my voice. I can't sing these loudly here, but they need it. I will wait for the right moment.
I also worked on the production of Nick Drake, another song I'm happy with. About half of this album is finished. It's taken at least 5 months so far, but this is due to the huge amount of technical learning and experimentation. The writing was the easy part. I've learned to play guitar, re-recorded all of the guitar parts with new equipment and started the much longer process of proper vocal training. At the moment I'm enthused and happy with this project about isolation and alienation. As I get over its hill I will start to want to get it over with and look to new hills and ideas.
On we roll our rock!
Next are the easier tracks, I Care, The Invisible Man, The Problem of Suicide.
In other news our Jabberwocky video has gained over 100 views in under 24-hours, an excellent start. I expect this trend to continue for several reasons. I don't feel ready to promote my music or get it viewed or heard en-masse yet. I feel like I'm in training for the special things that are destined to come. At some point something will explode with popularity and I must then be ready, not before. My existing work is not yet ready, not nearly proving what I know I am capable of.
