The Old Church

Back in the saddle again, after some days away from home and studio. I started off by finishing a piece that's given me considerable grief — although mostly in a good way. Musical transitions are fun. I might do an entire album called "Transitions" one day!

The Old Church by pethu

It started out quite sensibly, with the "choral organ" chord progression in the first part. I was sure that would be the base for a whole piece, but suddenly it had become merely the intro for an electronica-style part going off at right angles to the first bit. Well, the church in question was a disused one, modern times encroaching on its space. So, slightly mad but still logical.

Then I got stuck. The only thing I knew for certain was that I needed a third part. I could not go back to something based on part one, beacuse the energy built upp in part 2 would be lost.

Tonight, after several weeks, I came up with these punchy harpsichord chords which sounded a bit repetitive but worth exploring. It turned into not quite an all-nighter, but certainly two-thirds-of-a-nighter.

I wasted a few hours trying to come up with a new, proper melody to put on top, until the solution presented itself — just bring in the choir again and throw lots of symphonic instruments on top, Alan Parsons/Andrew Powell-style, until the the old church "reappears", as it were.

In the process, I think I reached the highest track count in any of my songs yet. There's about 21 of them:

Choir Voices
Gravel Steps
Choral Layer:

• Positiv (Portable Pipe) Organ, holpijp register +
• Bolivian Pan Pipes +
• Novachord Marcato Strings

Metal Gate
Gongs
Synth Harp
Mandolin
Wind Noise
Synth Bass
Drums
Distorted Harp
Synth Blips Sequence
Overdrive Electro-Acoustic Guitar
Harpsichord
Tubular Bells
Timpani
Violins
Trumpets
Bubbly Synth Sequence
Xylophone
Tambourine