January
1,2004 Craig is shown here recording tracks
for an upcoming release of a new long-form ambient work. The session had been
interrupted earlier for 2 days by a sudden blizzard which enveloped Dancing
Astronaut Studio in far-northern California in a heavy blanket of snow. In
the photo you can see oak branches that were knocked down by the weight of the
snow.
Craig was forced to leave the earlier session so he wouldn't be trapped, but we took a chance on the line power and left the analog sequencers running for the intervening 2 days. When we returned, they had evolved into a completely different pattern set, with which we then began recording again. After many more hours in the studio, the resulting untitled music grew to over an hour in length as the complete structure revealed itself. This new work is similar to Vostok in vision and scope, but relies on completely different instrumentation and recording discipline. Fans of music that slowly transforms and which can be enjoyed by setting a CD player to infinite repeat will enjoy this new work. The rough mix is complete, but we continue to tweak it up as of this writing. Look for it soon.
The other interesting thing about this snapshot is that when I took it, I looked out the window and noticed a deer just outside the fence line looking in at us. I took an apple and went outside to give it to the buck, and took my camera as well, of course. Craig and I viewed the buck's interest as an auspicious sign that this unusual recording session was moving in the right direction. Skip
