Tag Archives: When Winter Calls

Revolver (When Winter Calls ONS – Track VI)

Revolver (When Winter Calls ONS – Track VI)

I’ve found some time in an increasingly busy life to put together another track for the Original Novel Soundtrack tied into my novel When Winter Calls.

This track continues my explorations into hardware production and particularly the eurorack modular format, whilst adding on the sampling capacity of an Elektron Digitakt and the editing capacity of Bitwig Studio 2.

It’s a difficult track to categorise, falling in between glitch and ambient, and perhaps a bit slower than the scene in the book warrants… but I think it does capture the building sense of tension, still at this stage on the positive side of excitement rather than the ominous tones that develop soon after this scene which occurs early on in the book.

Tiny flashing lights lingered in the air.
It had started to snow.
Falling snowflakes spun around one another, the wind providing the rhythm to their mesmerising dance. As they came down in greater numbers, Jared found himself transfixed by the movement. Intently watching the rapidly shifting pattern. His mind tried to work out some causal relationship, a hidden geometry beneath nature’s dance. There was a pattern there, he knew, but one that relied on so many factors not even perceptible to the human eye.
  “Maybe one day we will see it clearly,” he thought. “One day soon. Before too long people might look upon this tapestry and not see something mesmerising in its beautiful complexity, but something mundane in its predictability. Every aspect calculated and tracked through whatever future versions of the interface would keep propelling them forward. Will we still see it as beautiful? Will there be any sense of mystery left?”

Track created with: Digitakt / Mother 32 / Lifeforms SV-1 / Batumi / WMD Ultrafold / Disting Mk4 / Eventide Space / Bitwig Studio 2

Sophia Guide Us Home (A Tribute to Philip K Dick)

Sophia Guide Us Home (A Tribute to Philip K Dick)

This new track has been created in tribute to Philip K Dick to commemorate the month of his passing on the 2 March 1982.  I have spoken at length on this blog over the years about the influence that PKD’s writings have had on my work.  There isn’t more to be added here, other than to highlight once again that – although flawed in many ways (aren’t we all) – his writings are a true example of the prophetic voice working through the life of an often overlooked science fiction author.

He continues all these years later to be one of the most insightful voices into the human condition and our relationship with reality, power and technology that modern literature has seen.

Whatever reality you find yourself in PKD, may Sophia guide you home…

Samples taken from a 1979 interview, the full version of which you can listen to here.

This track was inspired by the memorial vigil conducted by those behind the film Radio Free Albemuth (which I continue to believe is ‘one of the most truthful and genuine on-screen depictions of the mind of Philip K Dick that has ever been, and, quite likely, ever will be produced’ – read my review from its release and then make sure to catch it on Netflix):

PKD Memorial

Geometry (When Winter Calls ONS – Track IV)

Today brings the release of another track from the Original Novel Soundtrack project that I embarked on a few months ago for When Winter Calls. This fourth instalment is a more up-beat trance track covering the turning point of the book, where it becomes clear that something is simmering beneath the surface life of the worker-residents of Caldera.Continue Reading

Relay Station (When Winter Calls ONS – Track III)

This track – Relay Station – is a slowly building, pulsating track that combines a sense of utopian euphoria with the growing tension of Caldera as the situation there begins to unfold.Continue Reading

Welcome to Caldera (When Winter Calls ONS – Track II)

Entitled ‘Welcome to Caldera’ this track explores the uplifting arrival at the corporate utopia, with a rolling soundscape that brings the listener into contact with some of the awe that an ocean citycorp like Caldera would inspire in its residents. Yet the enveloping melody also brings with it some undertones of the darker reality that is to come…Continue Reading

[Sneak Peak] When Winter Calls – Original Novel Soundtrack

With the new year sale now behind us (and When Winter Calls peaking at #14 on the US cyberpunk charts – thanks to you!) I’m looking towards a much more dedicated schedule of updates that helps Future Conscience reach new heights.  Make sure you’re following on Twitter to receive new updates and posts as theyContinue Reading