Igneous Flame
Studio Shots June 2013
As I’ve mentioned elsewhere in this blog, I very much value the view I see from my Studio. I find that my interest in ‘ambient photography’ is well served by observing the changing view of this slice of the natural world that I’m so fortunate to see throughout the year.
Here’s some recent skyscapes /cloudscapes from mid June 2013 (all taken with a Sony R1)
My photography side-project
I’ve been interested in photography since I was a kid, joining the photography club at school and playing with the Polaroid cameras which were all the rage at the time and those little Kodak film cameras with the mad flash cubes. I had a long lay off after that and returned to photography about 20 years later when I bought my first digital camera – a Canon A40 (all of 2MP !) in 2002, followed by a Canon A70, a Canon G6 (a goodie), a couple of really poor Sony W series models (which I returned), a Sony R1, a Fuji F100 (pretty unique for a compact) and a Sony HX5. I still have both of the Sony’s, the R1 still a great camera, shoots RAW images (albeit very slowly !) full of detail and vibrancy. I still use it for ‘studio shots’ – things I see from my studio window (clouds, mostly). I’m currently using the HX5, which is a pretty limited / out of date compact camera, but it’s doing the job for me at present. I take this camera out with me pretty much all of the time. Being a compact, I can put it into a small bag (something I couldn’t so easily do with the R1) and use it when something catches my eye. I’ve also used it for all the video footage that I’ve used in my Youtube Igneous Flame videos and my guitar videos. I’ve considered the DSLR route, but the size / weight issues put me off and mostly bacause I can’t really justify the black-hole that is the expense of a decent selection of lenses etc. Also, I’m less interested in the technical aspects of photography (the never ending search for image sharpness, low noise, etc.) more with subject and content.
I don’t consider myself to be a ‘proper’ photographer as such, photography is more of a side-project for me really. Saying that, I don’t want to devalue that as it’s something I’ve spent a lot of time on over the years. Regarding the online world, I used to be on Flickr and was reasonably active on a couple of groups related to the towns in Northern England that I lived in, but I became disenchanted by it’s overall disingenuous-ness and left it. I was involved in a couple of shows, but didn’t take things further. I now only post here primarily (and a couple of other ‘select’ places more intermittently). I don’t expect heaps of feedback as such, but it’s nice to get it – when it means something.
Something that I’m exploring, is what i term ‘ambient photography’ – ‘uncluttered’ / observational photography. In practice, this is primarily my documentation of the things I see out walking – images of the natural world primarily. Conversely, in the past I took a lot of shots of the antithesis of the natural world – what remains of the heavy industrial landscape of Middlesbrough / Teesside (my hometown). Being a proud dog owner, I’ve also taken squillions of dog shots of my canine friend ‘Maxa’ too !
‘My’ macro technique:
I don’t do anything particularly advanced or unique, but I have stumbled across one technique which I think yields interesting (if somewhat unpredictable) results:
With the camera set to macro and the flash enabled / exposure compensation turned right down, I shoot underneath a subject towards the sky. The subject is usually a flower, or some kind of fauna. Because the HX5 doesn’t have any kind of articulating viewing screen, I do it pretty much ‘manually’. Makes for some unusual lighting effects, see below for some examples.
I recently bought a tablet and I’ve been looking at ‘tablet photography’ / photo editing apps on the tablet. It’s an interesting area, but I’m not sure about how the prevalence of the Instagram / Lomo thing is a step forward in the (creatively) ‘right’ direction for me, everything starts to look the same with this approach. From what I can gather ‘phone photography’ (I’II not use the ubiquitous ‘I’ prefix !) also looks to be an interesting area, perhaps more so than with a tablet. For one thing, one looks a proper twerp using a tablet as a camera, not so much so with a phone !
This post is just a mini-documentation of my interest in photography. This blog in general tries to encompass other things than just the musical side of what I do. Over time, I may well branch out further into a more observational mode of things, time will tell.
Anyway, here’s a small ‘best of’ shots selection (Sony R1 and HX5) and a couple of recent examples of the aforementioned macro technique:
‘NYX’ new album update
Just a quick blog-ette regarding the status of my upcoming album ‘NYX‘. Work is progressing well and I hope to be able to release this album in early July.
‘NYX’ has something of a ‘hypnotic’ theme and utilises subtle ‘pulsing’ and spatial elements to that end. In some ways it is a return to my first album ‘Tolmon’ in terms of production – a markedly ‘softer’ tonal palette being employed (in comparison to my recent albums). It will be a long-form work and may well run to a double album in terms of duration.
I won’t be blogging any more about this album until it’s ready for imminent release. So have no fear, there won’t be a rash of spurious postings regarding ‘NYX’.
On Inspiration
‘Inspiration’ is a term usually used in an almost exclusively positive manner regarding creative endeavour. My inspirations differ somewhat in that I find that inspiration can be both positive and negative – not all inspiration has to be purely ‘positive’. In fact, I feel deciding what you don’t want to do artistically is pretty fundamental to the work you create. Killing Joke (one of my favourite bands) have a fantastic intro to their song ‘The Beautiful Dead’:
“You are an inspiration to me, You are my inspiration of how not to be, You are my inspiration to achieve a better way of life”
I find that to be very inspiring. I’m rather sceptical about a lot of so-called ‘inspirational’ things (‘spiritual’ texts in particular !). There seems to be a great rush to effuse and express positively uplifting thoughts about such things and that’s not for me. On this ‘negative’ note, regarding music, I find that there are times when pretty much all music sounds ‘flat’ and it doesn’t do anything for me (this applies to my own material as well), thankfully this is usually a short lived phase. When I’m not feeling inspired with my ambient musical, I look more to photography and my guitar playing as creative outlets. I’m very fortunate in that I don’t hit the ‘block’ very often or for very long and I’m able to carry on.
On the ‘positive’ side of things, my primary source of inspiration comes from my observations of the natural world. I’m frequently floored by the beauty and complexity of nature. It humbles me – and I’m not a very humble chap ! Regarding music, at times listening to great work does indeed inspire me to try to achieve better work and this is a great form of inspiration in itself. Realising that other artists do much better at certain things than I can ever do is inspirational in it’s own way too.
On another note, inspiration can run out. Whilst it is the necessary impetus (in a lot of cases) to get started on something, ‘application’ kicks in when the initial inspiration has passed. Regarding my ambient work, I can carry on (on autopilot, as it were ?) when it doesn’t seem to be going particularly well and I sometimes wonder if this is a bad thing, or simply the proficiency that comes with creating work over a fairly long period of time ? Maybe the old adage still holds – 1% inspiration / 99% perspiration ?
‘The irresistible force met the immovable object’ – now that inspires me !
In the Green
I recently found a wooded area close to where I live that I hadn’t known about before. I’ve been walking around it recently, it’s surprisingly extensive and quite special. I’m not much of a one for travelling, but I actively explore around where I live (micro-exploration ?) and have found some hidden gems of places, this wood being one of them. I’m certainly looking forward to the ‘spring greens’ soonest – I love to see nature’s greenery.
Here’s some images from this place, they aren’t very spectacular, but representative of how it is before spring really arrives:
My upcoming album ‘NYX‘ is currently in progress after resolving some technical issues I’ve had (which I won’t bore people with), a mid-summer release is still on the cards. More details to follow nearer the time.
Slowing down…
Something I’ve returned to in these musings is the importance of the ‘slow’ in ambient music (and in the wider world). For me, in the increasingly frenetic world most of us inhabit, ‘slow’ things are much undervalued and it’s certainly a rare quality to find in music. I’m fortunate at present to be able to adopt a ‘slow’ approach to creating my ambient music.
One of the advantages about being an independent artist is that you can release when you want – there’s no record company dictating that your third album this year is due to be released ! I can take as long as I think it takes to create an album and in the process of creating an album, there are a sequence of stages that I adhere to. Repeated reworkings and listenings are undertaken, which I repeat a number of times until I get to the mastering stage. Regarding the listening stages, I try to listen to the work-in-progress material in different places and times of the day in order to get a different perspective on how it’s developing. I find that conscious and unconscious observations occur and some subsequent responses and ideas are developed over time. The part of me that is creating the music hears the material, makes mental notes and responds either immediately (by making listening notes) or later, by ideas formulating themselves over time. This adds to the music I feel, in that it’s development is the result of a ‘refining’ period over time.
I’m currently working on an upcoming release and the above ‘slow cooking recipe’ is applying to it’s progression, as has been the case for my previous works.
Regarding the ‘slow’, I make no secret about the fact that a fair amount of my material employs time-stretching – slowing sounds down (usually by 200%, but sometimes much more). By doing this, new ‘facets’ of the original sound can be revealed as the whole spectrum of the sound is shifted downwards and it becomes lower pitched and longer in duration. The whole slowing down process effectively makes the sounds ‘more ambient’. This technique is as old as the hills, but is still very useful for creating drone type sounds. This is just a starting point for me and further processing and other manipulations are usually later employed, but it’s something I do a lot. In fact, I used to do it years ago when I was using a 4-track machine and it’s still applies in the ‘digital studio’.
More slow – slower !
2013 Albums release Info:
I plan to release two albums in 2013, the work is currently in progress and a lot has been done already to get to the point of deciding what to release this year. I have a large pool of work-in-progress material that I’ve selected from and the process of auditioning material that might fit together and making rough initial mixes took some time . Release dates are still too nebulous to refer to, but I hope to get a least one finished before the Summer of this year (I try to look towards the seasons for release times, as opposed to specific dates). The working titles and brief descriptions of the albums are as follows:
‘NYX’ – a ‘hypnotic’ album. I decided to title this one ‘NYX’, as Nyx is the mother of the God of sleep ‘Hypnos’, I felt it was appropriate descriptor for the ‘tone’ of the material that will be on this album. There’s a wonderfully evocative description of the Greek Goddess Nyx on Wikipedia:
“She is found in the shadows of the world and only ever seen in glimpses.”
‘IRIS’ – a tonal, ‘instrument-based’ album. (in terms of the sound sources I’ve chosen to work with) ‘IRIS’ will probably will run to a long-form / ‘double-album’ duration.
Of course, things may change depending on how the work develops (‘IRIS’ was intended to be released last year !), but this is what I’m working towards. As ever, I will be employing new (to me) techniques and processes in the attempt to explore sonic pastures anew. As an ambient composer, I still have a lot I want to achieve.
FLAC versions of my albums now available
I’ve uploaded all my solo albums up on to my Bandcamp site.
My primary reason for doing this is to make them available in FLAC format. In case you weren’t aware of this, FLAC is a lossless audio format, ensuring that the original audio quality of the releases is preserved. Almost all of my albums are now sold out as CD-Rs, so the original wav files aren’t available anymore. So, for those who would like the best audio quality downloads (and exclusive high resolution artwork included), here’s the place to go:
http://igneousflame.bandcamp.com/
Of course, Bandcamp makes the releases available as the highest quality mp3s too. I’m becoming quite a fan of the site and what they do !
10 years of Igneous Flame (and free album)
This January, I’ve been releasing my ambient music under my Igneous Flame moniker for 10 years. This is quite a milestone for me, even though I’m aware it is dwarfed by the longevity of much more established artists, it still means a lot to me. I initially released my material on ‘Chillfactor 10 records’ (not my choice of name !) in 2003 and when that label folded, I set up my own LuminaSounds imprint in 2008. During this 10 year period, I released 11 solo albums and 24 albums in total.
Around 2003, I read some overly optimistic ‘career’ articles for musicians about having 5 year and 10 year plans, I decided that they were far too idealistic and my plan was to simply carry on creating and releasing ! I’ve still got a lot I want to do and over time, more refinement will (hopefully !) come into the work. I hope to be able to carry on creating my work as I am currently doing so in the future.
My current discography (solo and collaborative) is as follows:
Release dates:
OSMOTIC CF10-01 13/1/3 – (CF = Chillfactor 10 records) Sampler release
TOLMON CF10-02 13/1/3 – My first ambient release !
INTOX CF10-03 5/8/3
FORMBANK CF10-04 5/8/3 My (currently dormant) ‘electronica’ side-project first release
OCULLA CF10-05 19/12/3 – Surround sound DTS compilation, very unusual , if not unique !
OXANA CF10-06 25/2/4
8 SHADES OF SOUND CF10-07 13/8/4 – Collaboration with Female vocalist, Mary Whitaker
FORMBANK2 CF10-08 8/2/5
BINAURAL SOUNDTRACKS 2005 (download only release)
SATU CF10-09 August/September ‘05
ASTRA CF10-10 October ‘06
HYDRA CF10-11 May ‘07
ORCA (download only release) (CF10-12) November ‘07 – Formbank release
FLICKER (Igneous Flame/Achromus) (LS-01) August ‘08 – Collaboration with Michael Stringer AKA ‘Achromus’
HALO (Igneous Flame/Achromus) (AW2026) August ‘08 – Collaboration with Michael Stringer AKA ‘Achromus’
ELECTRA (LS-02) 7/7/09
HARMONIUM (Igneous Flame/Disturbed Earth) (LS-03) 7/7/09 – Collaboration with Dean Richards AKA ‘Disturbed Earth’
ION (DVD-ROM and download release) (LS-04) 1/10/10
ORCUS (DVD-ROM and download release) (LS-05) 1/10/10
JAZZ-ELECTRIC (download only release) (JE-01) 1/3/11 – Collaboration with Michael Stringer AKA ‘Achromus’ (electronica)
LYRA (Double album) (LS-06) 11/11/11
PANDORA (download only release) (LS-07) 1/8/12 – Collaboration with Rudy Ensueno AKA ‘Ensueno’
HARMONY THROUGH CONFLICT (download only release) (LS-08) 31/12/12
(See my Discogs page for more information: http://www.discogs.com/artist/Igneous+Flame )
To mark my first 10 years, I’m giving away my 2005 ‘Binaural Soundtracks‘ release (as 320 kbps mp3s). This release was a compilation of tracks that I created for use as soundtracks in art installations, which were exhibited when I lived in Leeds. It was originally released as a download only on Shopsonic records. It’s something of a departure from my strictly ambient material, and was released under my real name. I hope people find it interesting nonetheless. It’s intended for headphone listening. (The track ‘Portal’ was a collaboration with installation artist Sarah Saunders)
(Image taken with a Canon G6, near Hunt Cliff, Saltburn, North-east UK)
Dropbox download link (67.9 MB zip file):
Shimmering jewels in the deep mid-winter sky.
With ‘Harmony through Conflict’, I set out to create an album that allowed me to experiment beyond my usual ways of working. I used some of the more ‘traditional’ instrumentation and sound sources that are commonly associated with ambient music in musically diverse and subtley different ways. Oblique, rhythmic elements were added as part of this experimental approach and less emphasis was placed on sound-design and more on the compositional ebb and flow of the individual tracks.
The album could be described as being primarily ‘dark’, but I would prefer to use the term ‘heavy’, this ‘heaviness’ was offset with tonal elements adding contrast and balance.
Headphone listening recommended.
(composed, mixed and mastered on headphones)
Artwork by Kati Astraeir.
LS-08 LuminaSounds Records.
Available from my Bandcamp site as exclusive 24 Bit FLAC version (and 320 kbps mp3). Also available on iTunes, emusic etc.
http://igneousflame.bandcamp.com/
Downloadable Montage:
Free track: ‘The End of Days’
Video Montage:
