Drifting Strangers
TOR
4001
1. Shimmering Eclipse
Solomente
2. 
Invisible
Lament
Fusion Illusion
3. Behind the Curtain
Warped Prism
4. Perpetual Mirage
Rhyming Reason
5. Continuity Restrained
6. My
Mistress' Maid
Devoted to Blue
7. Dawn at Midnight (12:08 a.m.)
8. Almost Make a Living
9. Attitudinal Etude
Kill Creek Road
Coup de Gras
10. Soliloquy
(coda)
11. ...
* Sound Samples are in Real Audio
About This CD
Song notes
I have great admiration for artists that
compose entire albums as a whole – those who consciously fit songs
together as an entire piece. This CD reflects that admiration with such
an attempt – a CD that someone can listen to in one sitting from
start to finish and feel the continuity from each song to the next. Although
there is such intentional structure in this CD, much of it was improvised
between the three of us. Below are a few thoughts on each song
-- John Culbertson
1. Shimmering Eclipse
Neil improvised the bass line on top of the crescendo. I’ve always
loved a melodic bass line that drives a progression. The tonal center
is D major, but you can here a lot of other tones emerge from the different
layers.
Solomente
I’ve been playing this little guitar piece for many years, and it
served as the primary motivation for me to begin recording this CD --
slow and hypnotic.
2. Invisible Lament
When I was first writing this piece, I couldn’t imagine rhythmically
what Terrie could do with it. The pattern she plays with the kick-drum
and high-hat really does pull the different instruments together.
Fusion Illusion
This was the first part of the CD that we recorded, and it proved to be
the most difficult. We couldn’t identify a specific direction for
the piece to go. We tried different approaches and decided that each of
us should bring a different genre to it (Jazz, funk, rock, etc.); hence,
“Fusion Illusion.”
3. Behind the Curtain
I’ve always admired the composer Ligeti, and this piece was inspired
by his work. I bounced guitar slide upon guitar slide to get the descending
dissonance.
Warped Prism
I used a subtle volume pedal to create the pulse-like hypnotic rhythm
of this bass-line. I bring the guitar slides in again to create an abstract
background melody.
4. Perpetual Mirage
One thing that I’ve admired from many early classical composers
is their simplicity of the initial melody, and how they build upon that
with various layers and parts. This is an attempt to capture that with
guitar, bass, piano, and strings.
Rhyming Reason
I’ve always found compositions interesting that create a tonal center
around one note. When I wrote this I couldn’t envision what the
bass-line would be. Again, Neil captures it perfectly, and Terrie’s
drum-line in the bridge really builds the bluesy crescendo.
5. Continuity Restrained
This piece was written to serve as a bridge for the CD – capturing
both the synthetic and organic. As with track 3, the melody sounds like
a synth, but it’s actually layered guitars with a tremolo, volume
pedal and chorus effect. The synth fills out the rest.
6. My Mistress’ Maid
I originally recorded this on a Fender Rhodes, but it didn’t quite
capture the feel that I wanted. Piano works a lot better, giving it a
more somber feel.
Devoted to Blue
Major chords can have a very solemn and emotional feel to them –
sometimes more powerful than minor and diminished chords. I paired these
chords with mostly 5ths and octaves for the melody – this gives
it a very angular, almost cube-like feel to the piece.
7. Dawn at Midnight (12:08
a.m.)
We recorded this at 12:00 at night. The entire solo was improvised over
the chromatic descent. Again, sometimes melodies can come from the strangest
places, and I wanted to write something melodic over a chromatic chord
progression. This was what came out in those early hours of the morning.
Terrie’s drum fills really push the piano’s dynamics.
8. Almost Make a Living
This piece was mostly improvised with the bulk of the solo in one take.
Terrie’s double-kick adds a lot to the intensity of the piece, as
does Neil’s bass during the crescendos.
9. Attitudinal Etude
I use a lot of these runs when warming up and decided to throw it together
for an instrumental. Terrie and Neil pieced together some excellent fills
for this little etude.
Kill Creek Road
Before recording this CD, Neil, Terrie, and I played together in a different
band. Neil was always bugging me to play slide.
Coup de Gras
I love crescendos that take you to different unexpected places, but also
capture an abstract feel for where the song should go. As with part 2
of Track 6, the major chords bring out an interesting emotion when paired
with minor scales.
10. Soliloquy (coda)
This was the first song recorded for the CD. From each melodic part of
this composition, I decided to write an entire album with this piece as
the center-point.
11. …
Return of the chromatic! Midnight represents a lot of different things
to people -- The beginning and the end…
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