Over the next few months I’ll be recording my first first EP for a local band. I’ll be working along side my good friend Al Peterson as a producer and recording songs written by Blake Sundin and Ten Cities. I’m looking forward to my first recording attempt with someone other then myself. Despite not actually having a studio I think this will be a fun and educational adventure as well as successful.
“12 Volt”, the debut EP from Canadian electronic artist Garnet Willmont, is an “electronic” album in the loosest sense of the word. As expansive as electronic music can be in terms of genre and sub-genre, there is generally consistency in technique and theme. Those who elect to compose outside of such boundaries are, of course, harder to label. Willmont walks a fine line between consistency and irregularity, by way of mixing a variety of styles and tones. The greatest risk here is inadvertently creating a sort of mixtape; pieces might flow well together, but not all sound like they’re by the same artist.
In spite of this risk, the tracks on “12 Volt” deftly maneuver through several realms of sound and style, not unlike travelling through an elaborate galaxy of space. On that note, if there is a textural consistency, it is of starry, ambient atmosphere, often tying tracks together. Musical concepts are developed within a consistent mix of synth tones and pads, with rhythm often providing distinction in texture and meter. Willmont moves from peaceful minimalism (“12 VOLT”), to snare-marching (“Then What Are You?”) to Bowie-like piano chordings and IDM mutation (“New Bohemia”, “A Time Of Selfless Reflection”). The “Technician” and “Dub Technician” tracks bookend the album with acoustic-and-remixed rock drums and stuttered, driving synths, providing the EP with a necessary sense of beginning and end. Any overt criticism is placed toward a little too much variety not so much in style, but in synth and percussive texture. Not much else here falters. Even a perceived sense of over-reliance on textural experimentation and rhythm is ultimately balanced by deceptively apropos melody.
The ambition one gathers from this outing by Willmont seems to share the boldness of variety inherent to the works of Nine Inch Nails; both artists maintain precarious footholds in both the digital and the analog, the synthetic and the acoustic. Garnet Willmont has yet have a clearcut core to his sound. Again, he walks, or perhaps space-captains, a fine line between congruity and impulsiveness. Just the same, it is wholly impressive that his debut work is strongly characterized by an ability to pull you through an electronic journey that results in neither pilot or passenger feeling lost along the way.
I’ve been playing some 12 String acoustic guitar and think allot about melody in music. I think it would be interesting to write an acoustic pop song. Keep it simple and just focus on the journey that the music is leading. I think the band “Live” dose an excellent job at this. The songs draw you in and take you to a place you haven’t been. You might just learn something about yourself. Hmmm theres a thought; What is it I want my music to reveal to the listener about themselves? If not that at least provide an opportunity for introspection.
NEW just released and free to own and stream. “Car Crash Physics” is an album of 8 remixes of original songs by “The Accident Will” off of there album “The Other Side of Forever”. Remixed by Garnet Willmont over 2011. This album is gritty, glitchy, noisy and energetic. A fine combination of Glitch electronics and hard rock. Enjoy and Merry Christmas.
Click on image to listen to A Play On Distortion Pt 1 Now
The first album in a collective series of old work and audio experimentation. Check out Garnet Willmont’s A Play On Distortion Pt 1.
Also visit Garnet Willmont on Band Camp for Streaming audio and Download options.
This is the first of the Re-mixes I’ve started for The Accident Will. This track has quotes from the speech at the end of Charlie Chaplin’s “The Great Dictator”. In Blackest Night (World Leader Mix) by The Accident Will
