Screenplay

I have been a bit distant I know, a little preoccupied but in a good place. Some good news, I cut my hair for the first time in 2013 after being hounded by so many people to do so. Some bad news, my old car packed in, so I bought a new one. The best news, whilst I've been away, some pretty hectic new music has been floating about, which I can hopefully start to share with you again regularly for the next week or so.

Right, now imagine you're a movie or TV exec and your job is pretty awesome in that you have to find the right music to fit certain parts of the film. Now, I reckon I would earn shit-loads doing this. Picture this: some sort of anti hero is finding out that somewhere along the line he has been misused, mistreated, manipulated. He visions flashbacks, when stuff suddenly seems to just add up, and on doing so, he feels a calling to get up and right some of those wrongs. But what or who does he turn to?..... I dunno, but this piece of music from the ever-so-awesome Bruised Skies would play to this screenplay beautifully.

Right, now not wanting to overkill on the screenplay thing, I'm gonna do the same for the second track for tonight. Cos it was fun doing the last one. This track is the first on FTSE's EP. Yes he has dropped an EP, so go scramble because it is pure brilliance and one that I was waiting for for ages. Here goes..

The camera pans to a guy lying on his bed with the sun peeking through in mid morning glory. He lies bare-chested and emotionless looking straight at the ceiling; he starts mouthing the lyrics. He turns to his left and sees an apparition of the beauty from the night before and suddenly at 55 seconds we are transported to a similar scene but in last night's said beauty's room. A few seconds of panning and she too mouths words emotionlessly. Again staring at the ceiling. And then she pulls out her battered Nokia 8210 and texts our macho bare chested dude to meet her for a coffee. At 2.15 we follow the pair individually to the coffee shop. Almost euphoric that they will embrace in some sort of romantic embrace.  But we're let down. At 2.33 the pair arrive at the coffee joint. They look through each other plainly, emotionlessly. And as the lyrics start to be heard again, they mouth at each other. No blinking. No smiling. No expression. Waiting.

Ambience

Strip it all back and there is just space and sound and how you feel. Nothing else really matters. The other details are like the finishing touches. I'm gonna be truthful, since starting up this blog, I think I must have shared about 12 different genres of music all loosely fitting under the umbrella of this blog's name, a sort of feet up eyes closed moment.

In the 30 odd posts I've shared though nothing is truer to that requirement of listening experience then what is to follow. I have one other requirement for the following tracks though. Don't listen on your laptop speakers or your dodgy phone speakers. Get some earphones, turn it up loud and give it a go.

Dark, moody, ambient, minimalist, ethereal. It all fits the bill.

Let me do a track by track intro of the brilliant Bruised Skies from these shores. Note, though, I have saved the best till last, Signs is by far and a way the standout.

Distant
Barely there. Can't feel the notes or melodies. A whirling swirling experience. It encapsulates you. It encompasses you. And until you've come to the end of the track, you don't fully realise how brilliant this is. This isn't ambient music. It is ambience.

Falling
You know that moment in Terminator 2 when the amazing soundtrack starts playing. Imagine that, but not to an action film about some demi robot. More a tale of complicated decisions which you may have misjudged. Until 2.08 when this transforms into a rally call for missed opportunities. A cry for perseverance. The trinkets lose pace then come into motion again towards the end.

Signs
You're sitting on a beach. Its been a warm day but starts to feel like a chillier evening as sunset approaches. You're reminiscing about the wonders of life, the colour of love, the optimism of childhood. Nothing matters apart from the fact that the sea in front of you is gently swaying in and out. The sand you sit on isn't warm like it was when you sat down a half hour ago. A gentle twinkle catches the corner of your eye as the first stars come out of hiding. A cool breeze runs over your shoulder sending a tinge of a shiver down your spine. You start to drift away with your thoughts. You feel like you're barely there. But being here has never felt so poignant. And as the sun descends and a shade of night falls, you treasure the last moments deeply. You don't miss the sun and the hope it brings until it fades. You'll feel the same when this song finishes. I wish it stayed forever.