I wasn’t entirely happy with leaping directly into the second part of the story all guns blazing (it felt rushed) so instead decided to ease back into Dora’s dream world with a small instrumental.
Even though this was not a particularly long track, it took a bit of time to complete due to the stupidly painstaking way I decided to put it together (lots of micro edits to give the lead instrument slightly unreal sound). To that end, I’d like to state for the record that I am an idiot.
This track was one of the many bit of music I’ve had mooching about on my computer for ages but could never really find a suitable home for.
There are two keyboard players that have influenced me more as a songwriter than any of the others combined; one is Vangelis, the other is Jan Hammer. In this song, I decided to have a little fun and pay tribute to the latter.
Now the minimoog is an often featured but seldom creatively employed element in much of the music I enjoy (all that those widdly arpeggios and legato runs with lashings of portamento added drive me up the wall) . Fortunately, Hammer is one of the few artists who really can make the instrument sing and I took his particular playing style as inspiration to have a little creative fun. The lead itself is a 10 second sample from a sample CD that I re-edited into short sections and single notes to create an entirely new solo.
The idea was to emulate the dark cut and paste fusion of artists like DJ Shadow and Cut Chemist. Usually when I attempt to emulate a certain artist or hero I bugger it up totally. However in getting it wrong, you can often open up new and unintended musical avenues so it’s a technique I’ve very much taken to heart over the years. It worked for an entire generation of guitar bands like The Who, The Beatles and The Rolling Stones trying to sound like the blues artist they admired, so why not employ the same technique here?