Spent all day yesterday working on the details for Neorenaissance; I need a full artwork list, all events dates, all people participating. I now must wait for the interested parties to get back to me.
Had a bad night of terrible anxiety due to computer problems - always my greatest source of angst. My screen went black a few times in the day, unexpected graphics driver crashes, then in the evening an awful grinding noise (from the graphics card fan) and a black screen. These are signs of a graphics card with electronic dementia. I ordered a new one from Amazon. Overnight, I vowed to install my emergency cheap space card, a GeForce 210 which is about 10 years old. It seems to work.
Too little work done today, perhaps due to the lack of sleep and the busy few days. I had a regular Covid-19 test as part of the O.N.S. study I'm participating in. I wrapped my father's birthday present and card.
I also revisited my music a little. The pianos in Always in the Morning are not my usual ones and sound a little dull and 'woody' - but they will do, and its good to have some variety. My pianos and strings are so distinctive now that it will probably help my overall timbre to have some variation. I've also worked on the Passive Aggressive vocals, but I dislike the production there.
Finally, work on Teenage Dream. This needs guitars, that would be a good thing to do on Thursday or perhaps tomorrow (though I'm going out in the day, so have reduced hours). This song ends with a few lines as a coda, a reminiscence; the whole song is about reminiscence, so a switch from youthful energy. Today I added this part and made it radically different in pace. I made the rhythm a sort of bossa-nova and added lots of strange instruments almost at random, even a recording of a tropical bird. I may use these as a basis for some live instruments... the album will benefit from more liveness. This section, musically is the same melody as appears just before the chorus, but there it was full of energy and vigour and now sounds morose and sad. I must enhance this effect while keeping the thematic link.
It's taking too long, too long, but it must be good. I've divided the tracks by theme and mood... I may possibly link them to unite the album, but grouping them all my mood is too easy and musically boring. Perhaps I can now write new work which combines or re-uses existing themes.
