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 Back To Ampersand Index PAGE 9 - November Frontlines (Track 3) - This track is an arrangement of the traditional, Amazing Grace. The acoustic guitar part was the first thing written for the album, in Quetico in 2002. In a sense, the spark which started this entire record was hearing somebody say "amazing grease" while cleaning the camping cookware, which gave me the idea to start playing this song, and in turn, inspired the other compositions written that afternoon. The track starts directly at the beginning of the form with clips taken from the Mellotron MKII "Moving Bass: Cello and Violins" fills that I edited in a way so that they form a makeshift string arrangement. After constructing them, I ran them out of and back into the computer through a cable that I purposely cut in half and touched the frayed wires extruding from each piece together to make it sound like a faulty connection or a dirty analog mixer: november_mellotron1.mp3 Behind it is one main track of electric guitar (playing the acoustic guitar composition) that is run through the real-time reverse effect I used for the solo in Sinking of the Zenobia (but without the electric piano). There is also a conglomeration of many other reversed or heavily delayed guitars that sort of functions as a pad sound: november_reverseelectric1.mp3 Sometimes I suddenly feel the need to add a specific non-musical sound to a composition in order to recreate what I hear in my head. At around 0:05, a recording of nondescript room noise enters: november_ambience1.mp3 I put a number of Moog synth sounds in the background, to give it this dark 1970s sort of mood. At 0:15, one of them plays the melody to &hearts. Here are a number of the different Moog synthesizer channels soloed up: november_moogstuff1.mp3 At 0:30, a clean version of the StereoNucleosis "30 dBs Below Zero" metal sheets performance comes in: november_sheets1.mp3 The distorted reversed acoustic guitar on the left switches from material taken from The Park to the acoustic part coming later in the song: november_reverseacoustic1.mp3 The title of this track is a reference to the day between November 2 and November 8 on every even-numbered year, which serves as the Federal Election Day in the United States. With that in mind, pay some attention to which sounds are panned right or left throughout the track. Back To Index |