Mulberry Harbour's music blog

Hustle here, hustle there

Fri, 30 Apr 2010 11:25:51 +0100

Tunng recently made the stubs of their song “Hustle” available via Soundcloud, so I decided to join in the fun and do a mix. I first saw Tunng at one of the excellent “Fistful of Folk” twisted folk festivals 2 or 3 years ago, and like many people was immediately grabbed by their harmonies, acoustic/classical guitar duets and electronic percussive backings. At times they created something of a wall of sound that you don’t normally associate with that genre, and they were without doubt the standout act.

Hustle (Mulberry Harbour remix) by mulberryharbour

.. and here’s the real deal in action, with the video for the single.

Zoetrope Dancer

Fri, 26 Feb 2010 14:52:11 +0000

This one’s something of an enigmatic piece with spiralling violins building measured, almost nonchalant crescendos over a bed of electronica that drifts in and out - until all are swept up in the climax. This is the second track on The Drift EP released last year, which is available as a creative commons free download. I was aiming for something hypnotic, with gradual transformations maintaining interest while also giving a sense of something elusive and always just-out-of-reach - much like a zoetrope.

Oddly enough, the synth lines in Jay-Z’s new track On to the Next One remind me of the repeated chords at the start of Zoetrope Dancer - though he’ll be relieved to hear I’m not planning on taking him to court.

Photo by lasimi

Roads

Wed, 13 Jan 2010 21:02:56 +0000

Wrapped up in your own thoughts, walking alone at night, wondering where you’re really going. Thoughts and memories that haunt and comfort.

Photo by Devangshah

The Drift

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 14:47:00 +0000

“Whats, what’s your, er, plan?”
“My plan? I haven’t got one”

Title track of my latest EP, this is an overtly symphonic piece in which I had a lot of fun working with the Miroslav orchestra brass and choir samples, and slipped in a snippet of dialogue recorded on a mobile phone while out and about.

A couple of people have commented that this track reminds them of Phillip Glass’s soundtrack to Koyaanisqatsi, which wasn’t the original intent but I’m not complaining about the comparison. It’s got some of that rousing feeling and was in fact party inspired by a film in the first place, though primarily for the piano playing - The Beat That My Heart Skipped / De battre mon cœur s'est arrêté

You can download this track for free here, along with the rest of The Drift EP

Small Pleasures

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 13:07:00 +0000

“Think big thoughts but relish small pleasures.”
- H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

I sampled the fragment of electric guitar on this instrumental from a song by Cuzco, a band I played in many moons ago. I cut short the opening riff, then slowed it down at a couple of points further on in the piece. That riff and the double bass rhythm became the basis for building up the rest of the track. This instrumental is the opening track of the Drift EP which you can download for free.

Photo by Sakura

Wisp

Sun, 30 Aug 2009 16:32:00 +0100

This piece is based on some morphing textures on an electric guitar, a simple looped acoustic guitar motif, and viola. This is the longer version of what was originally a 40 seconds intro track

Photo by cayusa

Blog archive

Wed, 12 Aug 2009 21:11:00 +0100

All my previous blog posts are here on typepad, at least until they can be imported into tumblr