Posted by Rice in News-2023
This final segment 5 was completed on August 29, bringing the album to a close. It weaves new material, with themes from the first movement at a faster tempo.
The closing coda is a recapitulation of the ending theme from the center movement.
All the pieces are in place, and the whole is revealed.
Thanks for sharing in this “Experiencing”.
Posted by Rice in News-2023
Segment 2 presented a flow of an Abstract Expression to a Song about a Plum Tree. Segment 4 is a mirror image, offering a Song about the prolific, beautiful and exemplary Rosemary that graces the Rainbowland landscape, flowing into an Abstract Expression. Abstract-Song / Song-Abstract. Bridges of mirroring symmetry, framed in three movements of symmetry. The album structure is now revealed. Fun stuff.
Posted by Rice in News-2023
This is becoming most enjoyable, watching an album take shape. I am discovering and recognizing it as it happens, but the Muse is creating, and I am an instrument.
Again, the words are coming from Rupert Spira, either directly, paraphrased, or influenced. The mid-section of this segment is a resetting of a 1996 song called “The One”.
Truth, love and beauty reside at the source of experience. They are our Self.
Posted by Rice in News-2023
Feels like a vision for what will ultimately be a new album is starting to take shape.
Here is the second segment, Experiencing II. It comes in two parts. The first is an improvised layered musical abstract with a rhythmic speech-voice overlay. The second is a contrapuntal pop tune honoring the amazing Plum Tree that has graced the lower corner of Rainbowland these many years.
Enjoy!
Posted by Rice in News-2023
After David Crosby’s passing – a significant event in my life – I was listening to all things Croz. I got to the CSNY live album, 4-Way Street. Neil Young introduced a solo song by saying, “this one starts out slow and just kinda unravels from there…” I thought to myself, “yeah, I wanna do something like that.” Something that doesn’t go much of anywhere for a chunk of time, and yet when it comes on the iPod, I respond, “Oh good! I love this one.”
So here it is. “Experiencing”.
I’m much less frequent in the studio these days. When I’m there, the windows are shorter, and my work is slower. Still, there is much percolating within. This first chunk has been a slow joy and a lingering satisfaction. Is it part of a bigger project? No idea.
I am experiencing.
Doug
Posted by Rice in News-2021
This album has two concepts at play. The first, it’s conceived as a dance album. The defining attribute making it dance is the pulse. Each song begins with a pulse that continues to the end of the song. Whatever else might happen, the pulse is always steadily present. The second concept is that the lyrics are inspired by the myth reader, storyteller and visionary, Michael Meade. Many of the words are either paraphrased or directly transcribed from Michael’s Podcasts or You Tube videos. My initial introduction to his message was from a powerful video called “Climate Change and Mythic Imagination”, presented in August of 2021. Here is a quote from Michael’s book, Awakening the Soul:
“Despite what some might think, humans are not simply an accident of existence, or an experiment that has run its course. Rather, humans are a risk, taken by the forces of creation, in the interest of bringing conscious awareness and liberating insight into both the failures and the triumphs of existence.”
Thanks for your interest, and may we all, each in our own way, contribute to the weaving of a new world.
Love & Light,
Doug
Posted by Rice in News-2021
A while back, a dear friend made a suggestion to Cath that I consider doing an instrumental album. When Cath relayed the suggestion to me, I chuckled. “I’d be more likely to do a book of poetry than an instrumental album,” I responded. Still, a seed had been planted. This new album turns out to be a combination of both. Recited poems are alternated with instrumental interludes. The poetry, freed of lyrical parameters, is more expansive in its expression. The music, released of its responsibility to provide a setting to the lyrics, can be more complex in its content, and intricate in its arrangement and textures. On several occasions, the voice is included in the musical interludes, and functions as another instrument in the orchestration. This approach has been unique in my experience. I know of no other album taking such an approach. It has been quite an adventure, and now that it is complete, I am satisfied beyond imagination of expectancy. Hope you find the listen an enjoyable adventure as well.
Love & Light, Doug
7/18/21
