Hubert's track by track comments
For I know
This was originally meant to be a short instrumental intro for the album, and somehow developped itself into a full length track. It proudly features a sample of my bathtub (that's the percussive sounds heard throughout the track. You can hear it clearly at the beginning), as well as me shaking a toolbox. I've always been interested in sampling, and using accoustic noises as instruments. The 80s have seen lots of bands using this process, but it is not so common nowadays. It also featured an electronic bass line which will be recurrent throughout the record (generated with Native Instrument's Pro52 - for you technical geeks)
Flesh
This is based on a very simple guitar riff, going major/minor. Once I found the big bass sound and the main drum loop (sampled and reconstructed from some jazz CDs), it came together very quickly, which is always a good sign. Most sounds on that song are generated from guitars. Sometimes recorded from far away, then reversed, tweaked and rearranged. This is one of the very first track recorded for the album, with some bits recorded as early as 2001!
Strange Attraction
Ah, this one was quite a struggle! Stéphane sent me some lyrics, and very quickly I had the chords and melody for the chorus. However, I couldn't get a verse that worked. This song went through *many* different incarnations, and it's only very recently that I came up with the final arrangement. It's by far the most "poppy" track on the record, with a distinct 80s feel (yes, well, I liked the 80s, so what? :) ). I used to be quite elitist about these things, and it took me a while to accept having such a track on the record. Now it's one of my favourite! Who cares about elitism and being "not commercial". This track makes me happy, that's all that matters, right? :)
Through the Clouds
Another track recorded very early on. I always liked the idea of having heavy guitars with a high voice. I can't say it's my favorite track, but I like the guitar work. There was originally much more guitar on the record, but I removed quite a lot in the final mix. Actually I removed quite a lot of everything! When working on the arrangement I tend to pack as much layers as I can, and then I strip it down while mixing.
The Mist and the Shades
Vocal harmonies rule! There are many on this album, and there will be even more on the next one. Here they are very simple, but I really like the end result. Try listening to it with headphones, as I played a lot with the panning. The violin on the second part is all live, but I pitched it down one octave, as I wanted more of a cello-like sound (and I didn't have a cello...). I wrote the lyrics for this one - just don't ask me what it's about.
Folklore
And now for something completely different. You see, I listen to quite a wide variety of music, and I find it difficult to stick to one style or genre. So I decided to do record I liked, and the challenge was maintain a cohesion throughout the album. This track is the most daring and potentially "out of place", although I never thought of not including it. It's mainly some kind of celtic tune played on a mandolin and twisted and pulled in all kind of places. It starts slowly with a violin melody (originally intended as vocals), and then turns into a massive crescendo. I had good fun packing as many things as I could. There must be something like 12 tracks of guitars, 6 different drum loops, as well as many layers of mandolin, glockenspiel, or harp. Slef indulgence, admittedly!
Sense
Another track where I struggled to get to the final result. The main difficulty was getting a nice continuity between all the vocal lines. There are 4 different singers and vocal styles, and it took me quite a while to get everything working together. I think it now blends together nicely. That is somehow the "rock" track of the album, with a guitar riff and all. Of course I thought I would include some choir-like vocal harmonies in the middle, just to twist things up a bit.
Sunset of a Thought
One of my favorite (if not my favorite) track on the album. I composed this one on accoustic guitar, and wrote the lyrics. It had a different arrangement to start with, but as the mixing stage approached, I reworked it completely. It's the most recent track I worked on, and possibly a good indication of where I will be going with future projects. I had a different singer on the first version, with a much lower range, but my original idea has always been to have a high voice, to contrast with the bass-heavy arrangement, and get this "fairy" feel. I also had a long guitar solo on the end part, but I scraped it all. The upbeat part was also added at the last minute.
And so it Goes
This is the only track that I didn't composed, although I rearranged it extensively. I used to play in a rock band in London, and this song was always a live-favorite. This electronic version suits the album very well, and I particulilarly like the weird ending I added. Weird endings rule!
The Waking
As one of my friend described it, this is some sort of coda of the whole album. It is also somehow my "techno" track. Here again there are *many* layers of guitars, drum loops, and electronic treatments. I had good fun using old fashion electronic sounds and arpegiators, as an hommage to some of the music I used to listen to in my teens. I also though it would be fun to have a waltz and violins in the middle of a techno track! For the more technically inclined, pretty much all of this track is using freeware virtual instruments - just to prove that you don't really need all the high end and pricy stuff to produce good-sounding music. It's more about how you use it.
Well, I hope you have enjoyed reading more about this album. It is the end result of quite a few years of work, and I am very proud and happy with every single track on it.