Feb 2022 experimental orchestral recitation environmental dad-joke
Song length: 7:10 (worth it)
Jon sez: My annual collaboration with Beat. He sent me an orchestral track a couple weeks ago. Inspired partly by Pachelbel's Canon, it builds over seven minutes. I analysed the harmonies and wrote some piano lines to play over it. Beat wanted words celebrating life. Nothing came to me until I was sleepless near the end of a 28-hour journey. Then these all came in a rush. I'm not sure whether they're poetry or a series of dad jokes. This is the first time I've ever sampled my voice.
Beat sez: This is what FAWM can do to you. Friendship!
Orchestration: Beat
Recitation & piano interludes: Jon
I.
Tall tree
Lone tree
Sentry
Sheltered tree
Encircled tree
Forestry
Icy tree
Snowy tree
Wintry
II.
Carved tree
Initialled tree
Registry
Ancient tree
Family tree
Ancestry
Hanging tree
Lynching tree
Bigotry
III.
Sawn tree
Sanded tree
Carpentry
Shaped tree
Sculpted tree
Geometry
Ring of trees
Row of trees
Symmetries
CHORUS
Entry - the oldest tree
Infantry - the youngest tree
Coventry - the witches’ tree.
Toiletry - the dogs’ tree.
IV.
Apple tree
Peach tree
Pantry
Singing tree
Sighing tree
Poetry
CHORUS
V.
Autumn tree
Turning tree
Artistry
Whispering tree
Dancing tree
Poetry
Tree!
@tamsnumber4 Mar 2022
Great atmosphere created by the production, love the effects and the write is very clever having some sort of "Tree" sound and definition throughout. I worked on a song with cindyrella this FAWM and she had a short write like this and it was ghostly, maybe similar inspiration. I really enjoyed this, I love when folks use FAWM to experiment and push themselves to do something new! This track was perfect for this.
@ampersandman Mar 2022
The lyrics are clever, works as a poem on its own. Love the awkward disharmonies in the arrangement, they set up a ghostly mood. And how the arrangement builds up, love the Glockenspiel solo and these tiny noises slowly accumulating. Artistree indeed.
@lennie Mar 2022
I love the slow development and the repeated theme. We get used to it and it takes a back seat after a while, its unexpected note becoming normal to the ear. I like the way the voices are blended with the rest and the humorous expression in the voice/s too.
@feb21sundari Mar 2022
The harmony is wonderfully slightly skewed. I would not have associated Pachelbel with it. Hammer also the spoken words with the tree ending and the way they are combined.. I'm impressed.
@looprication Feb 2022
Yeah the pacing of the music and the cadence of the poetry works really well together, at first I'll be honest I was a little disoriented (thanks for that) but it made more sense as it went on!
@sph Feb 2022
There's enough space around all the trees to taste the words and let them sink in. The music is the perfect accompaniment and builds really well.
I would not recommend to listen to this when driving, at least not to me ;-)
@elainedimasi Feb 2022
My vote says "poetry".
The words and the musical treatment match so well. I have time to hear, listen, and think on every word and also every note of the deliberate but slinky-twisty counterpoint.
So glad I checked this out!
@beat Feb 2022
Ohhh my friend…
Am dancing in your circle of trees.
Thank you
Very much
Edit: Oh man, your killing me…softly