Red Roofs & Wishes

Red Roofs & Wishes is deliberately meant to sit outside of the usual expectations of how a modern record should sound. Spending my days making other people’s records sound as expected can leave me wanting to reach outside of the usual. I know this will probably have many people assume that I simply got it wrong but that is inevitable anyway with anything that is not expected.

The overall theme has already gotten a few laughs. I somewhat understand that the idea of an electronic music record with a theme of farming or life on the land is not typical when most EM seems to be about space, machinery, or all-out EDM. Instead of the usual suspect sounds, I am playing with the idea of banjo & insects. Thunder and the feel of sun & wind on crops.

I have also played with unexpected musical forms. The first track is technically Blues, but probably not in any way most people will recognize. There are also tracks that all but revise all common sense of traditional key/scale. This can be viewed as wrong or a door to another view of the world. I prefer the latter.

If you enjoy the music please purchase via Bandcamp to return the value given

The name Red Roofs & Wishes came from the lyric that was thrown together with help from a lyric-generating website for what was supposed to be a yay for AutoTune review that I started but soon declined as there was no way that I could, in any good conscience, say anything positive about these devices that offer no good to humanity at all in their common usage (Cher’s “Believe” being the exception to prove the rule). So I took the lyric and Vocoded it to be good and roboty.

I grew up capped by Red Roofs
Rolling hills spoke wisdom
And wild horses ran untamed
Oh how I wished it was that way

The cover art is a watercolor by my partner Jane. This is of somewhere she used to live that is a bit rural (they grow avocadoes mostly). The image is not of a farm but has the feel of the land in a dreamy way.

1. Red Roofs & Wishes I – technically a Blues track to set up the feel of Americana and Heartland Country but not as expected
2. Life on the Land – living on the land is a thing many aspire to, the pastoral life. The idea of the farmer is central to most countries as it is where we came from in the evolution of society and how we still get our food.
3. Summer Gold – how to put in sound the feel of sun & wind on crops as they grow.
4. Night of the Big Storm – summer brings storms that are needed but at the same time do damage as they clear away the old dust.
5. Days Pass – time is a big factor in the farming life. Things can only happen when they are ready. Then things have to move quickly.
6. Grain in the Silos – having the grain in the silo after harvest is the goal. But it can all go wrong if those insects get inside.
7. Countryside – is the backdrop to our fantasy story based on reality.
8. Fallow Season – was a vital part of farming cycles to allow the land to regenerate. We rarely allow anything time to regenerate these days.
9. Red Roofs & Wishes II – closes the album with something that might be typical music but isn’t.