1998 – album as Benedict
I wanted to make something back in the style of Inland Sea only allow myself to seem a bit more overtly ‘commercial’ New Age and less ‘dark’. I had also met a fellow who sent some of my music to a German Producer he knew who wanted to meet me with a view to shopping me in Germany. I gave him this album to take home, thinking it may be my break. Sadly the Germans weren’t interested and I had another sitter
The water sounds for the album were all recorded in a few minutes as short samples using a big saucepan, a small plastic jug and a Biro stripped of its innards. This may strip some of the romance for you but not only did I not have a local river but the technology of the day was still rather limited. When I wanted grass sounds for the Mountain & The Lowlands album I returned to the same trick, only waving a piece of cut paper.
10,000 Streams has a big sound even though musical construction is simplistic. Something very unusual for me in this record was to use the same sounds over and over to give the album a defined palette.
Flow Forever repeats a simple figure over and over with slight differences in instrumentation. This repetition is the core of African trance music and of course Rock.
Pieces on Ages New Benedict Sampler