Weathersongs – Richard Garrett (Sunday Dance Music)
www.sundaydance.co.uk
Many composers, myself included, have attempted to utilise outside influences such as random number series or sacred geometry to structure and govern, if not actually generate, music. In my experience the closer things get to allowing such sources to actually dictate and create the music, the worse it sounds. I’ve heard music governed by all sorts (no, not the liquorice ones, but now I come to think it…). Stellar emissions, fractals, Mandelbrot sets, crystal formations, even the inner workings of the human body have been used. But sadly I found few of them very satisfying musically, and nor have I experienced any of the imbued magical effects (organic, mystical or otherwise) that are often claimed by those who have invested heavily of their time in pursuing such hope-filled ventures.
So it was with some trepidation that I gave Weathersongs, Vol 1: Days in Wales a spin. Thankfully this isn’t another ‘loverly trip to Bangor’ (oh, that rich tapestry that was the 70s pop charts!), but yes it is evident that quite a lot of stereotypical rain did fall on Wales (as one would expect) during the 14 days chosen to provide the source data outputted from the computers of an electronic weather station in the foothills of Cadair Idris.
Obviously a tremendous amount of editing has taken place, and much thought and skill gone into the musical arrangements and choice of instrumentation. Temperature and humidity provide bass drones, the wind a lead voice that ebbs and flows, with rain adding random percussive events typically rendered by the use of synthesized bells or celeste sounds. When deciphered by Mr Garrett’s sophisticated algorithmic software the weather of Wales produces quite a range of possibilities musically: from the ambient electronica of a cool spring morning, to the wild, free jazz of a westerly gale in autumn. While dispassionate and disquietingly eerie at times this music transfixes with its unique spell, both calming and restless – not unlike the forces of nature at its core. .