This episode features four pieces for your listening and contemplative pleasure.
The first piece is built up from that rock ’n’ roll sound of strumming the muted strings of the guitar for a percussive effect. Like that crazy sound in the pre-chorus of the Radiohead song Creep. Chuck chuck!
The second piece is a slow synthesizer sequence, with various oscillations creating a bell-like pulse over the top. Nothing like a sawtooth wave to bring those feelings of future nostalgia!
The third piece starts with a dark, muted march-like ostinato and transforms into something akin to a murmuration of starlings accompanied by a soft, jazzy guitar.
The fourth track is from 2005, from a session with Blake Helton and the great Hungarian guitar wizard Sándor Szabó. We prepared the strings of our guitars (Sándor played a giant, 18-string guitar and I played a normie classical guitar), and Blake placed cymbals and small gongs on his drums to create a beautiful, almost ritualistic moment. This was an exciting rediscovery, and I hope to surface other tracks in due time.
It has been a year, huh? I hope your family is well and that your holidays are filled with simple pleasures. See you next year.
Colin Bragg 