Before
I move onto what’s coming next from Ocean in a Bottle, I thought I
would share some notes about past projects for Ocean in a Bottle (Not
revealed before):
Alex
Humphrey EP was wrote in memory of my dear friend Alex Humphrey
who sadly went missing in 2009 and his body was never found with a
large rumour appearing years later he met a terrible accident after
falling off a truck and breaking his neck. Alex was a dear friend of
mine who despite been very troubled was a incredibly talented writer
and artist who did everything in a very unusual way and this single
was designed as a tribute to him years later to highlight this.
The
End of Summer project: This began off as just a two part project
(which ended up eventually been 4 parts to date) wrote hand in hand
as I was writing my second full length poetry book ‘The End of
Summerhouse I wanted it to be a companion piece telling similar
stories to the words except in music. Over time, this changed and
became it’s own beast really with different strokes creating
different shadows.
Hurricane
in a bottle. This actually was the first EP I recorded and one I
nearly didn’t release
as
it was worried it was a little as I played the keyboard / Piano
fairly normal as I did at the time and then throughout the rest of EP
kept building up the rest of the tracks so it went faster and faster
and faster and more and more distorted to make it feel like you are
in the middle of a hurricane which I
think
it worked on that level (On a side note Hurricane in a bottle was the
original name for Ocean in a Bottle and it’s a name I still may go
back to in the future).
Monument
(A Christmas walk to Tandle Hill) was wrote for somebody I was
seeing at the time who took me on a walk at Christmas across Tandle
Hill that Christmas.
Flight
of the Phoenix I and II – Flight of the Phoenix was a series of
simple Piano pieces (II was more echoey and distant to symbolise the
further the journey was along) of an imaginary Phoenix getting to the
end of its journey and also touched on the emotional journey a friend
called Phoenix was then going through.
Moving
Houses – was quite simply wrote over two nights in-between
trying to move everything to my new address and testing out the
acoustics in the apartment (which were lovely)
Piano
in the rain,
Piano
on the train
Piano
in the sea
–
This was a series of Piano pieces again recorded in different places
letting the background ambience carry it along done as much live as
possible.
Homage
to Brian Eno
Warped
kind of ambient silence (Homage to the Aphex Twin)
These
were two homage Eps to two major influences on the sound of Ocean in
a Bottle.
Conversations
with the Dead.. This came from a really bad dream which played it
out across my head for several nights until I worked out the sound I
wanted to develop.
Circling
Winter,
In
the Midst of Winter,
Embracing
Winter,
Understanding
Winter
This
4 part series was a really well received series of movements across
Winter – each one exploring the emotional subtext and feelings that
Winter drags us through (One was wrote during a snowstorm).
From
Winter to Spring – this was wrote as a finale to the previous
sequence and designed to lead
into
a new sequence (Alas it didn’t happen but I will write a spring
sequence).
Movements
for Piano Day (2016) – wrote for Nils for Piano day 2016.
Dream
Logic Part 1, 2, 3
Three
more Eps wrote for Brian Eno.
Changing
Seasons – is a companion piece from Winter to Spring except
doing it from the end of Summer to the Birth of Autumn which should
have then followed with a series of Autumn based pieces (that
followed some time later)
Abandoned
Cities it has to be said wasn’t originally planned to be an
Ocean in a Bottle project rather than the name for a new band with a
vocalist (who I won’t name) who let me down big style
after
completing 4 fragmented ambient pieces for you, and after placing
them back to myself it became apparent that there was 4 quite lovely
tracks which deserved to be heard.
Forgotten
tracks and EPS – Volume 1 and 2. Both of these albums was a
product of a cleansing at the end of 2016 of demos and out-takes and
discovering I really liked the tracks outstanding and decided while I
decided on my next stage forward I would let people hear some
alternative tracks and demos etc, as a way of looking behind the
curtain.
Dream
Frontier – this was designed to be the first in a new series of
ambient pieces following on from the Dream Logic, alas real life got
in the way not long after this piece and the series got abandoned
which then resulted in the next single.
Finale
– was what was it was meant to be, the finale to Ocean in a Bottle
as I wanted to go onto other projects but as I hinted above, real
life got in the way and it got delayed quite a bit and by the time I
released it, I was already halfway through from From Choirs to
Dischoirs.
From
Choirs to Dischoirs Part 1 – again wasn’t originally
meant to be an Ocean in a Bottle single as the sound is more higher
and floaty, but my partner I remember saying it is Ocean in a Bottle
perhaps just count it as a Stage 2 as you are going higher and deeper
than before and after the Autumn series which followed next which is
what I did. A Part 2 has been recorded and also some ideas for Part
3… In time, when I want a break from my current series I will
record to this series.
Tuning
into Autumn,
Birth
of Autumn,
Dancing
across Autumn,
Breeze
across Country Meadows in Autumn
Touching
the wind while sat on fences
This
is a 5 part series exploring Autumn in a similar way to my Winter
sequence did, except a bit less nosier and intense than what followed
through the Winter series. It also wasn’t intended to be a 5 part
series as originally the first 3 releases were all meant to be just
one release but I enjoyed the three sessions that much, it made sense
to leave it separate even though by the time I got to the finale, we
were heading out of Autumn already.
Mailboxes
in late Winter – was a live EP wrote in late March 2018 simply
watching the snow come down one night all over a Post Box and
wondering how I would get to work the next day (which was very
difficult shall we say).
Awakening
I and II – A spiritual re-awakening
Waiting
for the bath to run – a challenge to write and record and mix a
track while waiting for the bath to run… I made it somehow.
Stepping
into the sea – is a synth like response to John Masefield’s
‘Sea Fever’.
Movement
in the wind - A response to part to the Stephen King quote on
the write up to the single but an emotional response on Piano to
listening to a gentle breeze over three nights over a hot night.
Synth
Dreams – nice became Stepping into the sea II I seem to recall
but it became apparent over repeated listening became to feel I was
drowning rather stepping into the sea in a ton of information and
therefore it became an almost Science Fiction EP.
Dawn
Chorus – is my first single for Disintermediate, a simple 5
mine drone track mixed with a field recording near Amanda’s
interlaced with a lovely (at least to me) droney synth piano to build
into a feeling close to Dawn. It is worth this was recorded before
Into Space and Outer space.
Into
Space
Outer
Space
Searching
for Planet 9
Searching
for Planet 9 (Remixes)
Floating
from the Earth to the Moon and back
First
approach of Mars
The
first six parts of a major series (which has at least another six
parts to go, maybe even more) of emotional journeys passing planets
and stars trying to imagine through noise and synths and tapes and
ambient and piano how the emotion will be be on each place we pass.
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