Inspired by the music of a multitude of movie soundtracks, as well as a resurgence in the popular awareness of the synthesizer sounds of a couple of decades ago, Hurricane, I is my effort to step away from more-or-less typical songwriting and structure, and move more towards the moods and textures of television and movie backing tracks.
Back around 1999, I discovered through a friend the simple atmospherics of Brian Eno’s Another Green World and Before and After Science, which began to reshape how I thought about songwriting. Almost twenty years later, I’m finally giving form to some of those early aspirations. Supplying creative support and inspiration to this effort are the sounds of the movie Interstellar created by Hans Zimmer, the soundtrack of the movie Captive, created by The Edge, the “found sounds” of The Caretaker and William Basinski’s Disintegration Loops. On the more pop side of the coin, I drew from the canon of past masters of synth and organic integration Depeche Mode, New Order and Joy Division. And helping to ignite the desire to pursue the instrumental path was last year’s sci-fi masterpiece Stranger Things and its excellent theme “song” and soundtrack. The title Hurricane, I (“I” rhymes with “eye”) is a reference both to life on the southeastern coast and the anticipation, fear and sense of loss that accompany life changing events like (or more tragic than) the occasional hurricane passing over one’s town, but it is also a reference to my own part in the reality of the violence and evil and destruction that is sadly a part of this life. I truly am the hurricane, and if I want to lay blame at anyone’s door for the evils that persist in this life, then my door is the first and only one with which I should concern myself .
One or two of these “pieces” (I hesitate to call them songs, though that would sound less pretentious) have been forged over the period of several years. Most were written in the wake of Hurricane Matthew in 2016. Some finally came into being over the last couple of weeks.
In any case, I offer these to you all, who have supported my efforts in the past. The price is set to “free”, but (as always) it is nice to be rewarded materially for one’s efforts. Even so, I leave the reward up to the listener.
The official release will be 11/04/17.
Find it on my bandcamp.com page:
https://championleader.bandcamp.com/
I suggest that you listen to this collection of songs by allowing it to play in the background, at a modest volume. While they will stand up to scrutiny, most of them are meant to function as mood pieces that occasionally grab your attention. A couple have a catchier quality to them, and you might find yourself humming along with them.In addition to these ten tracks, I am working on a couple of stand-alone songs, as well as a complete album of proper songs (the kind with words) that are only waiting for an opportune time to be released. Keep your eyes “skinned”.