Last Chance - The Movie - It's About Hope

I feel like a juggler who is about to get his hands on his favorite ball; it’s still up in the air, I can see it, I know what it feels like and I know what I’m going to do when I’ve got it.[display_podcast] Last Chance is a short animated movie that tells a distinct and valuable story in a unique and provocative way. In direct contrast to the current trend towards realistic animated images – Last Chance is aiming for a more vivid impressionistic look. As Sami Nikki, the Director says, “There’s a small but healthy dose of social commentary, overall wonkiness, crazy colors and hopefully good fun.” [flickr-gallery mode="photoset" photoset="72157617932289919"] Sami and I got together in February and March this year to develop a working audio track for the movie – it was the first “visual” work I had done in years and I absolutely loved doing it. The last couple of months have seen my focus turn elsewhere but it is about to come back to the movie. The piano track and overall structure is mapped out – now it’s time to look at the next level of imagery and to start building in additional voices.

The piece you’re listening to is a development on the Last Chance theme. When I’m working on a track and I have an idea of the final structure – I like to just riff on it – forget the structure and just play around with it. I often find that in doing so I get a different perspective, an insight sometimes into how the piece can develop.

I’m posting this today to mark my intent to start developing the music again – I can’t wait for people to see the imagery – it’s very cool!

---------------- Now playing: Zoë Radio via wmbr - 88.1 fm

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For a piece that was written for a wedding, it's ironic that there is only one voice playing at a time. This particular session was written to accompany the guests as they arrived in the hall and took their seats. It made sense to keep the voices separate, although connected in the middle, until after the vows! This is another session that I will take into the studio with a real string quartet / quintet.

When I was recording I was thinking about how beautiful, majestic and yet, delicate, the whole idea of marriage can be. I like to think that the idea of marriage is a good one - that you can meet another human being and create something amazing, just the two of you initially and then of course possibly more. I like to think that when people get married they're head over heels with optimism for the future and full of hope - I know I was.

I had never written music for a wedding before, I had no idea how to do it or what should be done and I fretted over it for months. With music to accompany the guests arriving, the arrival of the bride, the signing of the register and the exit from the hall, simplicity was the order of the day. Working on Victoria & Dan's wedding led to the development of the Anam Cara, a Celtic word meaning soul friend.

Lovers & Optimists Playlist

New Season - New Hope

I love the summer - the hot days, the beach, the kids out of school - but its not my favorite time.  That starts today - the back end of the year - the time when everything comes together - I'm very hopeful about what is ahead - which is where this piece came from. [display_podcast]

I still have one or two bits to finish off on the layout of the blog which I'll get to today - I do like today's T-Shirt:

Here's to an incredible week!