Still Life was named after a favorite book of mine; Still Life With Woodpecker. I went Through a Tom Robbins phase in college and read all his books. This novel tells a tale about an outlaw and a princess. I was showing an earlier version of this track to my good friend and fellow producer JOHN ROBERTS once. He spotted the sample right away saying he tried to use it once but it didn’t fit. Keep in mind the original sample came from a rare solo piano improvisation from the late 60’s, how he recognized it instantly I have no idea. The concept was to create a simple EDM style track using dark dusty Jazz samples and old school drums. The track continues to build with the lead synth, my Korg MS-20. The song itself was inspired by the grimy analogue synth tone. There’s a lot of late 90’s R&B influence. Mainly from the “post Ginuwine” era, when half time beats were king. The vocals play a pretty big role when they appear holding down the second half of the harmony and chopping it up to the rhythm. Mostly they play off of the lead synth throughout the track. The vocals are intentionally scrambled to keep the instrumental feel.
Posted on: Thu, 13 Nov 2014 19:25:16 +0000