Circuitghost - new EP - When We Arrived - the conclusion to All That We Lost and That Which Remained

Elektronauts Our Music
#1

So this is my third and final EP in the sequence that started with All That We Lost, and then continued with That Which Remained.

While I wasn’t really planning to make three of these, I did secretly think when I released All That We Lost that it would be neat if I could make a trilogy, keep the work thematically close so that they might make up for a complete experience, and preferably use material between the three, to build a sense of coherence. I almost pulled it off.

The coherence is somewhat lacking by the fact that I switched some gear around that had a profound impact on the sound and recording of these pieces, and also because I learned a thing or two along the way that made the later sessions … well, better. Having said that, the approach to the music never changed, and that is what keeps these pieces together.

Free floating sequences, detached from each other but still in some kind of common orbit, make up the foundation. Each song could survive on just two loops, if it would come to that. Field recordings from over the seasons come and go, picked up with the Deluge because of the special character its limiter applies to the samples. Years ago, I owned a DFAM and some of the noise and kicks from that time, make up for the ambience and thumps you hear throughout all three EPs. All other sounds are from the Prophet 12, sequenced almost exclusively from the 1010 Blackbox and then recorded and processed. Much of the filtering and granular effects, pitching and stretching, comes from the Blackbox. Except when the Chase Bliss Mood enters, through which I resampled one or two pieces from every song, and then put it back, like a blanket around its own source. The Mood is all over these three bodies. I even ran drum loops through it. There’s a few sessions where only the wet output from a CXM 1978 act like a siren in the distance and the Generation Loss applies that idea of nostalgia to a simple lead, but that’s about it as far as external gear goes.

All three EP:s were summed and mixed on an SSL SiX, and this last one, When We Arrived, also mastered on an SSL Fusion. Everything recorded on a Zoom H1n+.

I did consider going back to the previous two EP:s and give them a workout with this latest kit. But decided not to. While part of a larger context, they’re their own story and it’s better to close this chapter now and move on.

I hope you like this one, and the other two, should you choose to explore those as well. I’ll see you around and take care now.

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#2

…i can hear many ghosts here, whispering from lot’s of unknown circuits…
decent work, good job…
warm greetings from wet 'n cold berlin…

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#3

Thank you for listening. Yeah, it did become kind of haunting, didn’t it? Wasn’t by intention, it just turned out that way.

#4

…when projects start to take their own, unintended direction, give birth to their own sonic dna, u’ll always end up with the best results… :wink:

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#5

For sure, the trick is to just go with it, accept that your old ideas aren’t relevant anymore and just follow this new thing, wherever it goes.

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#6

…THAT’s THE WAY…!

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#7

:fist_right: :heartpulse: :fist_left:

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#8

Naturally, I had to come over here and comment on the EP. I’m about halfway through the first listen and it’s fantastic. The mixing is right on. I hope it’s not cliche, but the word texture is coming to mind often. You also use terms like “warm” and “blanket” and I can feel/hear why. I’m also amazed at your restraint with the levels on the percussive elements (the “kicks” in particular). They are quieter, but not tooo quiet. A lesson I have been trying to apply to my own stuff. Rules were meant to be broken, right? How much influence would you say the Fusion had on the overall output? Subtle? Comprehensive?

One of these days, I’ll get over to your continent. :raised_hands:

2 Likes
#9

Thank you so much for saying, you’re so kind. And I really appreciate you taking the time to listen, and for your thoughts.

The percussive stuff were up until close to the end, fairly regular. Distinct kick, the kind of loops you could expect. But there was something about it that bothered me, I kind of missed the free form, not attached to rhythm of the first two EP:s before it. So I dialed back the kick, sampled all the drum loops through the Mood, applied substantial real time tweaks on the Mood loop and recorded like 128 bar versions of each loop. Then, threw out all the drums and replaced them with this, free running and not tied to the BPM.

The Fusion has a substantial impact on the overall sound, but not so much on the character. I didn’t insert the Fusion until all tracks were done and sounded all right on their own in the Blackbox. Then, I summed them through the SiX, applied the levels and panning and compression, worked the gain up until somewhere close to but never touching the SiX red, and then into the Fusion for final treatment. But it’s when it goes through the Fusion, it really opens up and reaches its final potential. The before and after is not pretty, despite it sounding decent even before the Fusion kicks in.

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#10

Man, the productivity! Will make sure to listen through in the morning :+1:

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#11

Given a quick listen. Love thematic releases like this. Going to listen to them all, a proper listen.

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#12

Thank you :pray:I hope you’ll like it. But I’d be okay with the fact that you didn’t, if you didn’t :grin:

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#13

That’s a triple thanks to you, friend :pray::pray::pray:

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#14

I’m going to complete the trilogy as soon as I can afford to do so (yeah, I’m that poor). I love your work and I must given an additional shout out to your album covers - so evocative! :yellow_heart:

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#15

Thank you so much for saying :slight_smile: I always appreciate your encouraging words.

I’m going to bundle all three pretty soon (more a matter of me figuring out how to do it), essentially selling all three for the price of two, if one wants to indulge in the entire body of work.

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#16

That was really enjoyable… I like your non intrusive use of percussion. It adds a lot without redirecting from the main focus of the loops

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#17

Thank you, I’m so glad you think that. I appreciate you listening :pray:

#18

Listened through now (twice) - really great work! This marriage between real world environments/ambience and subtle non-harsh harmonies is really soothing. I very much enjoyed this one and will surely be playing it as Friday morning backgrounds while starting to sum the week’s work.

For me not that haunting - more like…“free”. This wouldn’t be out of place in places like Cosmonova installations, IMO. Would boost any immersive experience.

Even though I loved the played down percussion overall, my favourite track is “Left behind” which, to me at least, have the rhythm section more prominent (not the main reason I like it best, that would be the contrast of the subtly moving bass and the upper harmonies).

Great, great work my friend! :happy:

#19

I really dig your sounds and the atmospheres you create. I find all the tracks great but track #3 is quite something!

Congrats! :clap:

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#20

Thank you for your lovely feedback and for listening, and for this mention in particular. I ran a regular drum loop through the Chase Bliss Mood here, and then sliced it up and sequenced the slices directly from the Blackbox, sometimes on the perfect eight and sometimes with a pause, to let the loop run its own course, unsynced to tempo. The pattern itself is a 26-step affair or something, so it drifts on and off from the 4/4 kick.

The bass line happened kind of by accident. I had it recorded to start at the first bar of each measure, but kind of slipped when I positioned it and it landed on the mid-8th instead. I liked how that turned out, so I just kept it there :slight_smile:

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