WE ARE THE WOODEN HOUSES - IMPROVISATIONS

TOR44 2014.

01. Improvisation I
02. Improvisation II


The first finished We Are The Wooden Houses project of several started this year.

In 2005, I attended and performed at a wake for a friend of a friend. At the wake, my friend was presented with a guitar that belonged to the deceased. Perhaps unprepared for the heaviness,  I was given the guitar to look after. He left the county shortly after and the guitar resided in my attic for nearly ten years. On the 18th of April this year, I decided to retrieve the guitar from my attic, clean it up and re-string it. Once I had done this, I had it connected through several effects boxes and amped up. Instead of playing the instrument, I allowed it to build up noise through resonance and feedback and recordeded the sound.

The result of this guitar 'séance' is 'Improvisation II'. The next day, out of the blue and having not spoke for months, my friend called and asked if he could collect the guitar.

The second recording was the first piece of music I made after a rather heavy personal episode. 'Improvisation I' was recorded on the 19th of August this year.

Both pieces of music explore my interest in sound, feeling and the seemingly endless way in which music can be made on electric guitars.

Both tracks were reviewed months later, as Alastair and I decided what to do with our ever growing stash of music. We decided to work on these two tracks quickly, re-structuring and re-mixing. Only using sounds recorded at the original improvised sessions, both these tracks were re-composed into something new.

As always, the download over at Bandcamp is free.

- Stephen.