The Way Of Light

No AI – No Loops – No Samples

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This is the only way value is returned

1. Held Light – is where it started. Just as it was needing a name, I heard that a friend’s wife had passed away. I had done this before, so I figured I would do it again and name the piece after this woman I had never met, who meant a lot to someone I have also never met. Her name was Elaine, which means: shining light. Cool. Elaine was big in film, which is all about light being held in a medium – well, not really, but this is poetic license.
2. Through Glass – I started Googling things about light. It is clever how it does that zig-zag thing when passing through a transparent medium like water or glass (not to mention Pink Floyd album covers). For this piece, I used only the sound creation method that echoes that of my most loved Casio CZ. I kept all the limits, like a lack of playing dynamics.
3. Polarized Detail – When one puts on polarized sunglasses, the world seems more detailed. I will admit this is probably my favorite piece. I don’t expect others to feel the same way.
4. Red – Violet Spectrum – What we see as light is actually the smallest part of the whole Electromagnetic Spectrum. Light always travels at light speed, but vibrates (wavelength) from below AM Radio all the way up to Gamma Rays. It is humbling to realize that we only consciously use such a small part of what is there. Yet we have harnessed most of the range nonetheless, with time and careful thought.
5. Last Light Always – I often know when I am writing the last piece for the album. I try to take that into account in the way the piece is formed to let people fade to sleep (if not dropped off already). Light is always moving. Like water in a river, you can’t see the same light twice. We can see the past because light takes time to travel, eg. approximately eight minutes from our sun. However, the light we see in this moment is the last time for always.

• Disco For Dark Flowers – is a bonus track. It was completed before the album, and I knew it was to be a homeless one. Waste not, want not, it is included as a bonus seeing it was completed in this time, and is a cheery thing if you are open to what it has to offer. Feel free not to have it on the album because it messes up the flow.

Like many album stories, this one was there at the start but sneaked on me sideways. I knew I wanted to go back to focusing more on melodies that change more than the rigid verse-chorus form allows. This is what I used to do forever ago. Because of all the things I have learned in between, it isn’t the same, but it was nice to do it this way again.

I also decided that I wanted this album to be allowed to sound very digital. People act as if that is a great sin, but digitally created sounds are very beautiful. It is where I started in 1988 with a used Casio CZ-1000, a purely digital synth. It is liberating to make what one feels without caring what the nosey & noisy few insist upon (yet never invest in).

Again, the cover artwork is elementary, so it cannot be confused with something that dribbled out of a pretend AI app. I won’t do that. For the pedantic, I know that light does not bend 90 degrees through a medium, but it feels right here.

Synth Spotters & Gear Hounds

I am not sure that I have many of these people following me anymore (tell me otherwise) as I don’t use da cool toyz. I do everything in Reason with all sounds made in the pieces using built-in devices. Mixing is also in Reason, using mostly built-in tools with a few specialist VSTs as well.

As already noted, I wanted things to have a more digital sound and deliberately used less playing dynamics in many places. This means that I accept the sound & feel and work with it instead of complaining. I love my tools, and sometimes they love me (to misquote a Lyle Lovett song).

For the CZ sounds, I used the Phase Distortion (PD) Oscillator in Thor and made the sounds as close to the nature & architecture of the Casio CZ-1000 as was practical, without being pedantic. I have tried (and made) CZ clones and this is still my preferred way to do what made the CZ such an amazing thing. Sad that Casio has never bundled up the CZ/VZ code in a VST (without meddling).