I am close to the end. I’ve stopped about 2 tracks from the end (right at the reveal track) in order to spend a week going back and heavily editing and fixing what i’ve got, which was a freaking mess, but i’m gonna finish intense composition in January. Give some time for the vocalists to learn it and work their magic and this puts us in February, which means i’ll have it out beginning of March.
This album is very much a “for the fans” album. I won’t be pushing it for a general audience so much, it really is meant for the fanbase, lots of little nods and subtle lore references. Also a lot of dialogue. There’s plenty of singing, but there’s way more spoken dialogue than normal. Audio play meets genre hopping pulp opera. And this one is light. It is mean to be a good time. We’ve had a heavy past few, so this one is very much intended to be fun.
This one is also intended to take advantage of the listening parties that happen each album. I am actually going to stop the album near the end before the reveal and let the listeners discuss and guess the whodunit. They can take as long as they wish. (This will happen for both the general audience listen and for the Patreons the week before.) I’m not sure what to offer if they win or what to demand as sacrifice if they fail, but that’s on the table if anyone has any ideas. I’m even tempted to have 2 different sessions because i very much want this to be experienced as a live listening experience, although i realize it’s bloody difficult to understand the full amount of information in a first listen.
The album will feature Oliver Marsh and Kiera-Marie Somers as Kevin the Mouse and Abi the Witch, Lauren Osborn and Hayley Warner as the Osborn and Warner girls (with Oliver doubling as the Marsh men) and Kerttu Aarnipuu as Ryvyr D Goblin and a singing pendant.
I have tried very hard to make it short. I have failed once again. You just dont know what it’s like. I start in and then i just…. i end up having so much fun and some of these tracks are just such a joy to create that i get carried away and it\’s already an hour and 7 minutes and i’ve got at least another 2 tracks including the whole explanation track and yeah, i could shave off a ton of music but that was the part i had all the joy making so now i’ve just plain failed yet again as any attempt to be concise but before you judge me you listen to this album’s Balley and tell me that it should have been shorter. Just go ahead and tell me.
So, by March it will all be in the bag and we’ll all be listening. After this of course we’ll be beginning The Posthuman War series (based off of The Ballad Of Lloyd Allen. We’ll talk about more later). See all then.
Hurray! Something else to look forward to in March!
Also, your continual worry about your albums being too long amuses me. Unless your quality of music took a dramatic downturn, I would listen the heck out of a 2 or even 3 hour album…
But wait, what if it is your constant struggle with time that produces the good sounds? Oh no….
Anyway, can’t wait for the listening party!