Dutch Lawn

I have always been interested in music, I remember getting bought a tiny Casio VL-Tone when they came out and thinking I was the fifth member of Kraftwerk or John Foxx Junior. My musical career however was never meant to be, even though I wrote plenty of songs and even did a couple of gigs which were thankfully in the days before people could film things and put them online for everyone to see – for eternity.

I think that the process for writing music is very similar to designing something and I approach both in the same way. Now they’re both 100% Mac-based activities so that’s the first big thing they have in common, but the creative process is also very similar. They’re both about adding and subtracting different elements in order to see what works, what is harmonious, what feels right, what is odd and shouldn’t work, but does, and perhaps most importantly, what can be left out.

I wanted 2012 to be the year that I got back into music so have made it so. Over Christmas I worked on a track with the working title of ‘Brittle’. It’s about 25 layers of music at the moment but it’s lacking lyrics and some vocals. That’s where the wonderful internet comes in and I can call upon the support of pop chums around the world! First up, Peter Coyle of The Lotus Eaters has sent over vocals by email from his home studio in France that I can cut up and drop in. This collaboration will be under the moniker of ‘Dutch Lawn’ which shall be explained to those wanting to know 🙂

I have no plans to do anything serious with this, but it’s a lovely diversion and the results will eventually make it to the public domain via a video that is being planned with brilliant film maker and co-conspirator John Scotland. Who knows where it will go, but I’m happy I’ve stuck to one of my new year’s resolutions at the very least.

  • Andrew C

    January 23, 2012

    Think you’re right about the parallels between art-forms – the thinking behind the creative processes is homologous and the ideas can transfer from one form to the other. Repetition, pattern, contrast, accident, tradition etc. all apply to both… and it’s this process that I enjoy – and it can be quite consuming.

    I’ve clumsily added some riffs over the top of this track but really need to get to grips with GarageBand – and get the full-size USB keys out rather than struggle with qwerty or tiny facsimile piano. What I’ve done seems to be taking it in an upbeat direction – I’ll do the dance mix!

    Has Peter added any more vocals/lyrics or are you still in need of a melodic line?

    Reply

  • Andrew

    January 24, 2012

    Peter is still working on the lyrics and vocal melodies, he’s going to send them to me in pieces and I can patch them in where they sound right. There may also be some ukelele parts coming too from Mark Jones which should be fun. I think the tempo needs to stay as it is, so a remix may well be the better option Andrew. Get a cheap USB/Midi keyboard http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B005F3H6QI and a book about GarageBand, we need to collaborate.

    Reply

  • Laura Smith

    January 25, 2012

    Sound great, Andrew! Can’t wait to get a listen to what you’ve been working on!

    Reply

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