My latest single Alduarthan is a tribute to an Oak tree friend I came to know, and is an ambient free flowing Druid medicine song that speaks of the connection of all things. The music intends to impart the feeling of union with all beings and for us to not see the things that separate us all, but the things that unite . That was the trees wishes in the inspiration of the music. Despite many times talking to the tree and asking for a vision around which I could weave, a meaning if you like almost as if I was hoping for something else – the consistent feedback was unity. Then I got to look at why I was hoping for something better than unity, what’s that all about ? I laughed at my own ego and then set to work.
As a musician and creator you can often spend so much time trying to make forms, and details. You can spend countless hours lavishing over format, presentation, technical brilliance (or lack of) and then there is the diamond of audience. If you want to share and make money, how will this be received and heard ? Even if you are someone that is focused and confident in your artistic vision and identity, these themes will crop up. A pressure many experience as writers block, or a creative brick wall that meets the resistances in your being.
So with this piece of music, I finally wanted to say goodbye to these creative fears and resistances and completely allow myself to create a medicinal soundscape that encompassed the intentions of unity that I felt to communicate. Even when you have spent years making music just how you feel, there are always more layers to unfold and transform. The beautiful craft of life and its artistry is a daily, moment to moment work is it not ? I find that beautiful not a chore or a insurmountable mission, so with Alduarthan for the first time it genuinely felt that I had let go sufficiently.
For the recording sessions, I would sit in the forest and manifest through that emotional sensation and reality of unity, that creates a landscape embodied by the physicality of the forest around me and allow whatever sounds came through. At no point during the initial stages of recording did I have anything for reference other than the initial very first track- so each sound would be played in this mind map if you like, where a loose memory of the other parts would be deposited. I liked this almost tangible reference point, that was sufficiently intangible and loose to not stifle the free flow. All the sounds were recorded on my old iPhone 5 with the inbuilt mic and a dodgy pair of Chinese made earbuds :). I wanted something raw and blemished almost, indeed for me I wanted to give people an experience of what a sound healing druid sat in a forest with an iPhone trying to make music might sound like.
I really enjoyed there being no drums or bass, or set pattern, I wasn’t interested in worrying about time maps and the rules that rhythms employ. That in of itself was so freeing, being classically trained prior to playing in bands and writing my own music, its hard to walk away from the low end and drum sounds and pulses, and I love rhythm so much, so the movements were as the wind in the trees. Sweeping and cascading and swelling. Allowing yourself to be vulnerable with your own journey of creation for me is a strength, and to watch the beauty revealed by the spaciousness that beckons with it, is a delight and a further source of inspiration.
So I hope you enjoy the music and feel that same or similar sense of unity as I did creating it. I am currently working on a druid medicine album that involves inter species composition and collaboration, incorporating sound directly recorded from trees and plants that picks up where this song ends if you like…
If you would like to support and donate to us, buy or stream this music please head here : https://themindorchestra.hearnow.com/
Buy original 24-Bit 3D audio – https://themindorchestra.bandcamp.com/track/alduarthan-2
