Continuing my journey of writing pieces that encapsulate the human experience, and the unscathed emotion that results from day to day activities and interactions, Sand dunes reflects with a more experimental edge to it. The motivation for this project came from a trip to the beach. Living by the coast gives me the freedom to retreat to the sea in times of longing, loss, hope, or romance, acting as a parental figure for any emotion I ever feel, an understanding set of arms, reading to hold you till you feel at piece. I always feel most inspired when I'm by the sea, both when sitting alone in the sand, watching the waves crash over and over again, or walking along, beach to beach, discussing any variety of topics with new or old friends. The beach seems to be a constant motif in my creative experience, and so this album started the development of this inspiration into my music.
To create a more tactile element for this album, I used field recordings of the beach in both inspiration, and actual recording, employing a new technique I had discovered days prior. Rather than recording my guitar within the stillness of my small bedroom, wearing headphones, and keeping the reverb to a minimum across each recording, I attempted to expand each string as far as I could. I created a digital amp and pedalboard that stretched the sounds I was playing, whilst playing the output into the microphone, using the feedback to distort the texture, and create a droning ambience across each song.
The first two tracks feature a written melody that explores and varies across its playtime. They were written independent of the new effects, but later layered on top to enhance its atmospheric impact. The third track is the most experimental, featuring no direct guitar melody at all, but rather using the new feedback technique and creating loud sounds from minor movements I made across my bedroom—opening cupboards, treading across my bed. The final track continues this abstract tone, but then I pick up the guitar and start experimenting with melody. The recording in the album is first take of the whole project, and actually captures the moment in which I discovered this new effect.
