WARNING: Post contains: a small, lo-fi, fragment of ‘Invocation’.
It is literally the very first time this music will ever have been heard.
By anybody.
Like, Ever.
Are you Ready? ;-)
Before we get to the music tho, I feel that I would be majorly remiss if I did say a MASSIVE ‘Thankyou’ to everybody who read the first post and commented or tweeted about it.
The response was incredibly gratifying and there were MANY guesses as to the source of the original cover photograph:
The most creative guesses BY FAR came from Ynav:
“Top left appears to be an image of a skeleton. In front of that image appears to be a human like male creature with wild hair. Top right an image of a big dog. Bottom left an image of a young lady.”
And Chris Ladbrook got very close with:
“…the lines are the strings from the cello?”
In the end, the absolute correct answer was given by Heather Zee on twitter:
It was indeed, a photo taken of the bridge of the cello that I used to record the piece. Well done Heather Zee! And big thanks to everybody else (the interaction went a long way to keeping me sane thru the mixing and mastering process.)
Speaking of the piece, are you ready for a little taste?
With the exceptions of one guitar line and one piano line, every single sound that you are hearing on this track was made by me with acoustic cello and voice, and has not been processed in any way. There are zero samples, zero electronic instruments and zero ‘autotuning’.
‘Invocation’ is as real as it gets.
I have a deep and powerful love for real music that springs from the present moment. Music that, as you listen to it, seems to slough the dross of life away, leaving something…lighter. Music that goes beyond a collection of sounds and becomes a fully immersive experience.
That love, is where this piece came from.
In the next few days I am going to post some video of me in the studio. This will be the first time I have played with video and video editing, so expect… something. ;-)
Until then, I’d love to hear your first impressions of ‘Invocation’. What did you think of it? What images did it call to mind? Where did it take you?
As always, hit me up in the comments box below.
#DoubleDownSoonNow #ViaConDios #AndLoveAlwaysLove
– J
My name is James Radcliffe and I am a 100% audience supported independent artist. If you like what I do (and can afford it) then please consider buying some of my music. Each purchase really makes a big difference to me and 10% of every sale goes to a charity which: houses, feeds, clothes, and educates orphaned children in Nepal.
Also, every month I send out a newsletter packed with Interesting and Exclusive Things. If you sign up today you’ll also get 3 FREE tracks of my music as a welcome gift.
And lastly, if you’d like to find out what I’m up to on a more day-to-day basis then here is my brain on Twitter:
I love music with a beat similar to “Friday on my mind”
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Cool. I don’t think I’ve heard that song. I just googled it – do you mean the ‘EasyBeats’ tune?
Thanks for stopping by, hope your day is going well,
– J
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Beautiful! I want more!! Can’t wait to hear it in its entirety. It stirred emotions deep within me. You are a true artist!:)
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That means so much to me. Thankyou.
I can’t wait to hear what you think of the whole piece! ;-)
Have a great day,
– J
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Oh no! Sorry for my previous comment. It should have been posted on one which is below your post in my Reader. Just don’t approve it please. :(
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No problem. ;-)
Thanks for stopping by,
– J
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Thank you. :D
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Anytime. ;-)
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Er, wow!! That is so rich and immersive…I love the way that its full of breath, you’ve really made the instruments sing. This would make an incredible piece to choreograph to…#justsaying ;)
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Hey there, ;-)
Thanks so much! That means a LOT to me.
If you wanted to choreograph something to it, that would be amazing…#JustSayingToo… ;-)
Hope you are well, and having a good night,
– J
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Wotcha! :)
You’re so welcome!
Heheh, glad to know that you’d welcome my physical interpretation of it! Hmmmm, only 4 days to go till I get my grubby paws on the full piece ;)
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I would actually Love that,
It’d be amazing. ;-)
– J
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Hehe! I’ll be keeping you posted, then :)
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I’ll look forward to it. ;-)
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Haha, I should have been bolder and just declare the cello ;)
The new piece sounds fantastic, can’t wait to hear it in it’s entirety
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Totally! You were SO CLOSE. ;-)
Thanks for the kind words, would be cool to hear your thoughts on the whole piece.
Hope you are well, and having a good night,
– J
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I am doing well indeed sir. I finally got around to picking up your album on Sunday, I figured it was only decent given I’ve been enjoying your blog for a good while now :) I don’t know what exactly it is that I was expecting, but what I got was very different, in a good way!!
I don’t really do album reviews per se, but your music gave me words, in that way that words like to come to me, so here you go:
Peaceful, yet haunting, tension builds then releases, enchanting the listener
Freedom and peace ebb and flow from & through the music
Lyrics are delivered almost subliminally
As though not to interfere with, but enhance, the carefully woven auditory tapestry
Delightfully delicate yet heavy in it’s intricate simplicity
It is an amazingly balanced journey of musical peace
Yes, I would say that peace is the over riding sense from it all. I’ll have you ready to play the next time I hit traffic on the way to work :)
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That is a fully incredible review. Thankyou very, very much.
I really love hearing what different people take away from it, I find it fascinating.
Hope you are having a great day, and thanks for taking the time to write this,
– J
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Oh God, James. I can’t even . . . where? Inward. And flung out across the entire solar system. And I must agree with your first commenter, Amanda, it conjures images of snake charmers, mystics and an ancient Eastern vibe.
It’s an invitation and an offering at once. I dig.
The blend of voice and music lies somewhere silkily threaded into the sliver of divine emptiness that pulls the heart to race and the breath to slow . . . perhaps one could pin it down precisely . . . if one could hear more . . . ;)
#Patience
#IKnowIKnow
She’s a beauty, angel, as are you. x
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Ahhhhhh, BEST COMMENT EVER! ;-)
I will roll around on the floor like a dog scratching my belly with your words.
Thankyou dear Allison,
Thankyou. x
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Ok that’s really fucking adorable, man. #VideoClip :) :)
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*grins*
Totally #VideoClip ;-)
x
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Wow. It’s beautiful! Takes me to Morocco! To the scalding desert and turbaned snake charmers. Reminds me of a book called ‘The Alchemist’ by Paolo Cohelo. Again, the desert, and mystics, and souls journeys. Love!!
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;-)
Thankyou so much. You are the very first person to comment about it – you are literally my first feedback.
You made me Smile.
– J
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Yay!!! 💜
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;-)
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Loving it – look forward to hearing more of this!
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Thankyou very, very much – that means worlds to me. I am so glad that you like it. ;-)
Hope you have a great night,
– J
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