This was created for a game that needed something ambient and not specifically emotional in any sort of definitive way. To take this idea of ambiguity further, I created a patch in Max/Msp that would generate clusters of harmony from a specified pool of notes. Then two groups could be cross faded between each other creating a push and pull of meandering tonality. My hopes were that the key center could be heard as any of the distinct 7 pitchers, or at the very least, it would be difficult to tell whether it was centered around a major or minor mode.

The stuttering rhythm is from a stacked set of 5ths played in a piano. I took a single iteration with a long decay and make a patch to skip around the buffer creating unspecified syncopation. The stresses literally happen when the sound skips to an earlier part of the decay. The sounds used for the rhythmic ostinato was designed by hand with white noise and sine waves.

This piece was heavily influenced by the electro-acoustic work I was fond of during undergrad. At the time I was extremely interested in the work of the artists of 12k and Trente Oiseaux. For those in the know, this piece is an homage to Ryuichi Sakamoto and Alvo Noto’s Vrioon - an album that remains incredibly important to me to this day.

As with all the things posted here, this is freely available for use in games and/or animation projects. It also works as a sort of demo of my style and abilities. I’m actively looking for new gigs, so if you like anything here please get in touch and we can discuss some custom work.

I’ve provided separate intro/loop files for ease of editing. If you would like to use this royalty free loop, please message me.

GL011 Overcast Nostalgia Files