Garden of Merging Waters is a Double Album. Purchase of the album gets you the second album as well as an extra bonus track. Purchase of the album is the only way I make a living so if you have enjoyed the work, please reward me for having given you that pleasure.
The album started with two seemingly disparate idea: the Berlin School style of composing and Zen Gardens. The first thought was to do a follow-up to Berlin to Dusseldorf but that didn’t feel right. This wasn’t about music but about a spiritual journey. It struck me that maybe I could make the connection somewhat literally and so I Googled Japanese gardens in Berlin and there it was: Garden of Merging Waters.
I used images from Google to help me plot the stops on the journey through the garden. Musically I took some Japanese elements, merged them with a bit of Teutonic ratcheting sequences and my sense of how I do it and the album arrived quickly – how I best like it.
In the middle of writing I made a track called “Taro Tone” after the founder of the Japanese synth manufacturer Roland. I knew early on was not an album track but I wanted to finish it. I heard of a technique some people were using that can alter a track. I tried it as a novelty and my 5-minute track became 48-minutes! I was planning to throw it away but felt driven to build on it so I split it into two parts and added more parts on top. This makes the second part of the record. You may or may not like this material. Some moments are less comfortable than others. it seems apt to me as merging things always takes understanding & compromise to allow the new form.