I almost left off the posts for the last two tracks! Yikes!!! Here they are:
Collaborator: Jamie Taylor
Book: Hinds’ Feet on High Places by Hannah Hurnard
29 February, 2012
Jamie had told me about this book before. I was interested, yet had not looked it up. His quotes from the text brought some strong emotions with them…
One of the main characters, Much-Afraid, considers “…the possibility of following Shepherd no longer, of turning back.” The passage goes on to speak of the sense of fear, of “looking into an abyss of horror” she felt in the absence of Shepherd. She cries out for Him and He comes, in love, to get her. Through tears she begs, “…don’t let me leave You. Don’t let anything turn me back.”
This track is more “compositional,” in a sense, than the others on the album. I gathered inspiration from Steve Reich’s piece “Clapping Music,” in which two people clap rhythms: one remains the same the whole time, the other shifts throughout the piece until it returns to its beginning position.
The kick drum in this piece is constant (Shepherd); the deep snare moves back a sixteenth note every hit, thus giving the piece an irregular rhythm.
The textures shift from harmonic with birds chirping to angular and glitch-filled, with a pounding bass.
Much-Afraid wrestles her way through until once again she is safe in the arms of Shepherd…
Collaborator: Lisa Salasin
Books: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
29 February, 2012
One day remained in this project. One day. Lisa gave me her book ideas that afternoon. After an interesting evening of severe weather, I sat down at my netbook to work on her track…
Pride and Prejudice and Eat, Pray, Love…how do these equate? Good question…
Both books (one non-fiction, the other a memoir) have elements of frustration and the desire to “come through on the other side in a better place,” yet there exists in both a sense of gratitude for having experienced the journey. In spite of “hasty choices and chaotic passions,” the protagonists in both tales experience a level of growth and maturity that would not have been in their lives had they not engaged their respective paths.
As for the track itself it is straight-up dance floor! Lisa and I share an affinity for dance/club/house music. Matter of fact, Lisa organized and co-sponsored the first rave I DJ’ed. I wanted to communicate a sense of celebration and freedom.
To quote St. Paul, “…let us strip off and throw aside every encumbrance and that sin which so readily clings to and entangles us…” (Hebrews 12:1, AMP)
To quote Kool & the Gang, “Let’s all celebrate and have a good time!”
Blessings,
R+
