Improvisation

Forests of sound!

This track completes the four-song EP I made in spring 2021. It comes third after All Vibrating and Obsession, and before Bloom. Now that all four tracks are out, I’ll release the EP at some point in the not-too-distant future. Paid subscribers will get it for free. The rest of you cretins will not. But I love you all so please share this newsletter with any freaks you think might appreciate it.

I think of this tune as an ‘album cut.’ This isn’t a daring single, and the more open and slow build in the first half functions as a nice break after the twisting emotional journey of Obsession.

That said, the final passage of Improvisation, following the middle crescendo, is a true personal favourite. It’s a forest of sound. Instruments sprout off in all directions — guitar, woodwind and brass intermingling with a freedom and chaos like thickets of trees and vines.¹

I love this sense of being overwhelmed by sound. Whereas a pop production will stack many layers but try to make them feel like one huge sound, this is like being surrounded by many more stimuli than you can take in at any one moment. I guess this connects to the idea of direct experience: the goal isn’t to create something that is understood but rather felt. A sonic expressionism. It might not sound the best coming out of your Bluetooth speaker, but it sounds great turned up loud on your headphones. Music to bathe in.²

Unsurprisingly, given the title, the lyrics are entirely improvised (as with Obsession). They’re mostly first-take ramblings, but they feel like they mean something, and the vocals add a nice texture.³ Still, for that reason, no lyrics transcription this week.

1. While it sounds very different, this sense of shaggy freedom is influenced by the feeling I get from listening to spiritual jazz. Though to me Pharoah Sanders is more sunrise vista than vine-filled forest.

2. Right before you drown…

3. Singing just to make feeling-sound is FUN.