Take a listen to Piano sol melancholia I composed in my studio. ‘Piano sol melancholia’ was recorded as a piece of music therapy. I suffer from occasional bouts of depression, mainly due to the state of the world and our Brexit-obsessed government. I find that music composition heals and out of low points can come great things.
The name of the piece signifies piano (literally) and a solo approach. The melancholic aspect of the piece describes the mood which produced the piece. What started as a simple set of chords evolved into the idea that the piece would never quite repeat itself, having an unusual number of bars and no formal structure apart from a motif at the beginning and the end.
I had intended to leave the piece more or less untouched by other instrumentation, but after a week I decided to add some guitars.
These are played on an e-bow, which produces a violin-type effect (energy bow). These then ‘suggested’ the addition of some strings to precede the guitars. I find that working from the end backwards is sometimes a productive way of doing things.
Compared with a composition of songs where an idea comes to me instantly, this incremental approach is an interesting way to build creativity slowly rather than the instant rush of blood to the head. It owes more to Robert Fripp, Brian Eno, Bill Nelson, and others than my normal approach to rock and pop music songwriting.
Even though I say so myself, I think the piece is quite beautiful. I think this goes to show that ‘without darkness, there can be no light’.
