Integrity in December

The Integrity album is underway again after being postponed. It took a while to figure out exactly what I wanted to do with it and what I wanted it to be, but now that has all become clear. Integrity is mostly an instrumental album that features prominent instrumentalists on top of a sympho-electro backdrop. Among solo artists appearing on it are Jay Nemor and Roland Hartwell, but I’m hoping to get Kristinn Árnason and other top notch instrumentalists as well.

Integrity is similar to a collection of instrumentals works in the way that each track is carried by a different instrument. Two are sax oriented while another pair features the violin and another the classical guitar. Now I need to find myself woodwind and piano players with own recording facilities and the mission is complete.

Track list (in alphabetic order; link to raw audio)

01. Belzena: Vocals?

02. Circle: Flute required – help!

03. Fairy: Vocals (Karen Pálsdóttir?)

04. Far Away: Sax (Jay Nemor)

05. Hymn for Integrity: Piano required – help!

06. Jewel: Piano and flute required – help!

07. Sleeping Angel: Violin (Roland Hartwell)

08. Snow: Piano and flute required – help!

09. Vision: Classical guitar (Kristinn Árnason?)

10. Winter: Violin (Roland Hartwell)

11. Woman in White: Sax (Jay Nemor)

If you are an instrumentalist and want to participate, contact me soonest possible. I may skip Jewel, Circle or Hymn for Integrity (in which case the album name changes to Fairy) to make it a solid 10 track item.

Winter

Written way back in 1987, Winter began as a small piano part that looped repeatedly until fading back into the void from whence it was born. For some reason, a theme from Silent Night emerged on top. Initially I was going to wait with this until December but in light of events in Norway July 22 2011, I decided to make it available although it is unmastered.

The shock of Friday’s events are still registering and create an overwhelming numbness that cannot be shaken off. My thoughts are with you, Norway. Audio

Belzena

This track is dark and powerful like a slow-moving, unstoppable force. It has a trace of inevitability to it. An orchestral version of this track does exist but I felt that adding a beat an electronics might raise it a notch. I think that experiment turned out successfully.

The bells carrying the lead line are actually doubled with vocals pads; the entire work is pad actually rich. The strings are doubled with synth strings for added thickness. At good volume through headphones, the floating soundscape really kicks in (I’ve actually experienced a sense of falling into an abyss). I’m not at all sure that it will play well over speakers.

Whispers to the Galaxy

If you ever gazed up into the night sky, wondering what’s out there, this track does the same. Reaching up from below, it extends into the cold void, penetrating beyond our solar system, even our galaxy, to reach destinations so different our minds cannot even imagine them.

Whispers to the Galaxy flows forward like a mist, changing shape and appearance as it extends toward the edges of time. The finale is very different and represents the power and optimism – a sense of belonging to it all – felt by those that find their place in our wonderful plane of existence.

Pollitos

I was driving around for well over a year with this theme in my head before I finally decided to do something about it. It came out totally different. I had never envisioned this kind of jolly mood when I was drumming the beat out on the steering wheel and humming the bass line while the melodic line spun around inside my head.

It is a definite kiddy tune that we who refuse to grow up listen to when we’re sure no one is there to catch us.