This short piece incorporates sounds that I associate with country music and southern rock. The clean twangy tone of the guitar was achieved with a Stratocaster set to the middle pick-up, which gave it a little more warmth and depth. The rest of the sonic space is filled out with the bright jangle of steel string acoustic guitar, accented with the use of natural harmonics. I felt this style and timbre of instrumentation fit well with the subject matter it was underscoring, the Critical Assessment of protein Structure Prediction conference, as it bubbles inoffensively, giving a laid-back, but sure-footed feel. The aim of the piece was to instill a sense of calm and collection, rather than urgency – something I felt was apt for a scientific conference.
The piece featured here is a simple, and cheesy little jingle, meant to introduce the title slides of an academic lecture on Eastern European history. The theme is heavily influenced by educational videos of the 80’s and 90’s, with the inclusion of a synthesizer towards the tail end which re-iterates the main piano melody, but fuses with more modern instrumentation to feel more contemporary. Start-up sounds of Windows operating systems as well as other software from the Web 1.0 days can be heard in the repeating suspended chord arpeggio in the melody as well as the basic but harmonically satisfying descending chord progression.
Another piece that I wrote for the title slide of a lecture. This one is a bit longer, featuring a pulsating rhythm from an acoustic guitar, interspersed with the open chords most would associate with a calm and rustic backdrop. The lack of a pronounced melody and a constant rhythmic pulse helps this music fulfill a supporting role when it comes to the educational experience of the medium it is written for.
Whether looking at it from the perspective of a synth-pop dance number, or a backdrop to something totally Rad, the DNA of Phosphorescent is unmistakably rooted in the 1980’s. With the use of percussion and synthesizers specifically tailored to evoke a retro sound, this music was written with the intention to be taken in while gazing at the neon-overdriven artwork of Holly Johnson. Her study in three-dimensional rendering, ‘Emerge’, was made in collaboration with my skills as a composer. Both hers and my aesthetic sensibilities are on full display here, working towards creating a unified audio/visual experience.