Mulberry Harbour

“Think big thoughts but relish small pleasures.”
- H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

I sampled the fragment of electric guitar on this instrumental from a song by Cuzco, a band I played in many moons ago. I cut short the opening riff, then slowed it down at a couple of points further on in the piece. That riff and the double bass rhythm became the basis for building up the rest of the track. This instrumental is the opening track of the Drift EP which you can download for free.

This piece is based on some morphing textures on an electric guitar, a simple looped acoustic guitar motif, and viola. This is the longer version of what was originally a 40 seconds intro track

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Photo by cayusa

The wheel spins, the blade sharpens and the suspense grows...

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Photo by danielycp
 

It may not be the longest tunnel on the network, but it often feels like it. The back tunnel exit from King's Cross was one I used to avoid, having been bitten once or twice by taking the wrong turning and ending up suffering the endless incline to the exit on Pentonville Road. But in time I've came to love it, and while working in the area for a year I started entering and exiting that way by choice every day of the week, even though it was less direct.

There were several reasons for this. Firstly, the experience of walking the tunnel - it was so tranquil and uncongested, certainly compared to the main exit where you have to cross all the streams of different poeple from different lines. A re-modelling of the main entrance did little to improve that. I also enjoyed seeing the odd tourist who'd chosen the wrong entrance/exit, pulling a suitcase along wondering where on earth they were going, where all the people had gone, and when it was going to end.

Then there's the aesthetic, reminiscent of the interior of space stations in programmes from the 70s, like Space:1999. The Flaming Lips could have come here and filmed the whole of Christmas on Mars. This aspect of the tunnel may not be around for much longer, sadly, as brighter lighting is being put in and the old yellow lining gradually replaced and painted with bright whites and blues.

Then finally, the architecture and the lack of human traffic combine to great acoustic effect. Tube announcements reverberate the length of the tunnel, bouncing off the walls. The clicking of a pair of heels will be amplified and distorted, and chatter gets passed along the walls like in the whispering gallery of a church. I took to having my mobile phone at the ready as I walked the tunnel, recording these sounds, and they now form the background and some of the rhythm of this new track.

Photo by Matt Brown

I found myself playing the guitar part of this piece a lot during a time of personal loss and grief. That may be enough to put you off right away - and if you're enjoying the brightness of spring then it's probably best to move on now - but if you're heavyhearted and want something to reflect on, then this is for you.

Sometimes you just need to languish in it a bit, going round and round, until gradually you find some sense of comfort.

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Photo by haikus59

This one's a short and restrained nocturnal instrumental with classical guitar, piano and oboe.

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Photo by crystalflickr

One of the most haunting and arresting books I've read in a long while was Cormac McCarthy's The Road, a novel punctuated with the recurring phrase "he glassed the blacktop", as the Father and boy undertake their tense journey of survival. The blacktop is their only means to escape, holds the hope of delivering them to safety, while also harbouring threats which demand constant vigilance and mistrust. And so they persevere day after day, pushing on into the unknown, the Father striving to remain optimistic and maintain his son's belief and security.

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Photo by marktaylor7 

This is a folky, pastoral instrumental inspired by the recent return to Anglesey - and memories of Welsh collie Bryn - mentioned in my post about Red Wharf Bay.

As a child going to Anglesey to see my grandparents each summer, the car journey from Liverpool always seemed impossibly long until we crossed the Menai bridge, connecting Anglesey with North Wales, and I knew that we had nearly arrived - and my excitement and anticipation could finally bubble over. My grandparents' old sheepdog Bryn evidently experienced similar emotions regarding the bridge - whenever he was in the car with us, he would acknowledge it with a celebratory bark - and so we came to refer to it as "Bryn's bridge".

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Photo by benlove79

Last summer I visited Benllech in Anglesey for the first time in many years. I used to go there as a kid to visit my grandparents, who retired there, and going down to the beach brought back lots of happy memories. We walked along Benllech beach to Red Wharf Bay, which as a child seemed an enormous distance away, but now is just a pleasant ten minute stroll to a wide inlet with sandbanks, beached fishing boats, and a decent pub overlooking the bay. I always liked the name, and associate it closely with my grandparents' Welsh collie Bryn, who when he wasn't trying to round up gulls used to slip off out of sight, and would invariably be tracked down hours later somewhere in the bay. It's a beautiful spot that inspired something uplifting and celebratory.

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Photo by icyblue

 Sometimes phrases that are very familiar to others manage to bi-pass your radar for years and years, slipping by unheard, unread or never spoken in your presence or direction. I only recently heard the phrase "In a brown study",  which is odd as I'm sure there have been plenty of opportunities for someone to use it around me, as I slip off into another introspective daydream - and as always happens with a new word or phrase, once it's out the bag you can't stop coming across it in the following weeks, jumping out at you left, right and centre, making you wonder how you ever avoided exposure to it in the first place.

So when this short track was in progress, there was no question of what it should end up being called.

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photo by TheeErin