Hawking Radiation

It's an almost trite stereotype to remark on the significance of the passage of time. But time is a thing, and it sucks all the past into its all-smothering embrace. But sometimes, sometimes, you might find that something has managed to escape this temporal black hole: something actually worthwhile.

Hence the title.

This album serves as the next in the two compilation series started by Just the Keys and Christmas '23. There are 22 piano pieces that I managed to create in my free time, along with my newest step into music: chiptune (thanks to FamiStudio)! So enjoy what I managed to eke out in the past days. I hope you'll enjoy the (hopefully extant) effort.

CLIPS

SONGS SYNOPSIS

Disk 1 (Piano)

1. 10000 REASONS (BLESS THE LORD) (4:25, 4:37) (TAKES 1-2): The classic modern hymn for my improv sessions. In the first take, I try to capture the joyful drive of the song, while the second paints a broader melodic picture.
2. A TASTE OF HONEY (8:52): Drama meets jazz. The lyrics (absent, of course) tell of a man leaving his beloved, promising he'll return for her sweetness. The alternation of hope and despair in the words and melody is what gets me on this song, and I tried to pour everything I could into it.
3. AUTUMN LEAVES (6:22): If you couldn't tell, I generally tend to fall back on strong, full-voiced chords, so the constant flow that this song conjures made me do a double-take. It's really smooth and lyrical.
4. BOULEVARD OF BROKEN DREAMS (12:08): Mandatory Boulevard! This version goes for a broken, walking kind of feel, interspersed with more traditionally voiced parts.
5. FAREWELL TO LORIEN (12:16): A full-on improv, played while reading The Lord of the Rings (at the same time!). It captures the feel of the chapter named in the title, seeming to say, "It has been beyond belief here, but I have been called to the outer world."
6. GO OUT, GO OUT (4:45): Finally, a cheerful song! It captures how you'd hear it in a (modern) church, and then totally deconstructs and rebuilds the melody anew and afresh.
7. HUMBLY, LORD, WE WORSHIP YOU (3:50): This song embodies my favorite way to play old hymns: start with the simple melody, and then slowly add on more and more tonal richness, up to a dramatic end.
8. MIRACLE OF GRACE (11:14): Another nice new hymn, with the full, rich chord treatment. The melody decon-recon is turned up to 11 here, with shades of my Wonderwall style.
9. MY HEART WILL GO ON (8:02, 9:03) (TAKES 1-2): New to my repertoire, and perfect for creating landscapes using the pedal. I think this song is better than the memes would have it.
10. NEVERENDING (6:17): A looser take on The Neverending Story, with my classic rich chords, broken and full (in alternation, no less). See if you can catch a reference in the end to a song that occurred (botchedly 😁) in Just the Keys.
11. O BLESS THE LORD (6:17): This song plays well at multiple speeds, so why not combine them all into a single improv? Just as you get immersed in the current speed, it surges faster.
12. O BLESS THE LORD, MY SOUL (3:20): Sometimes, it's about the playstyle, and sometimes, you play because the melody's just fun. This is one of those songs.
13. OUR GOD IS HERE (6:02): This modern hymn draws out the energy in my chord styles. It's much more joyful than dramatic, especially after songs like Farewell to Lorien.
14. OVERFLOW (6:10): I originally heard this on an old CD lying in one of my parents' cars. When I heard how bouncy and fun the song was, I knew what new song I had to learn.
15. PARVA CHROMATICA (16:56): This improv is centered on liberal use of the circle of fifths, with a cheerful melody and often strong chord shifts. It's a bit postmodern, but it showcases my style.
16. PRAISE, MY SOUL, THE KING OF HEAVEN (3:50): Another one of those sugary-sweet, fun-to-play hymns. It perfectly captures its own title.
17. SALVE, REGINA (2:39): A chordal rendering of a very old Marian chant. I wanted to capture the chords that play in my mind as I sing the song.
18. SING OF MARY (1:52): Short, peppy, and sweet. Who needs complex melodies?
19. THE LORD IS MY LIGHT (4:51): Even though it's a modern hymn, this song feels very jazz-influenced in its use of extended chords. It's a very meditative song (until the climax).
20. WONDERWALL (17:31): I really like how I was able to bend Wonderwall into a somber flow of emotion in The Way I Do (Mirus Murus). This was my attempt to renew and extend that theme to a more pictorial form.

Disk 2 (Chiptune)

1. *ACTIVE (3:06): This is intended to be a chiptuning of Imagine Dragons' Radioactive, but I don't own the song. What's a parodist to do? Use the work of another parodist - specifically, Weird Al's Inactive (hence the funny title). It's really cool how many of the effects I managed to capture.
2. CHRIST BE OUR LIGHT (3:59): The oldest of the chiptunes, back when I was discovering my style. It thus has the episodic feel some of my longer improvs get, while capturing the definite feeling of "longing for light."
3. MIRACLE OF GRACE (2:32): The only chiptune that doesn't extend beyond the lyrics of the original. Hence, it's a simple but bouncing buildup to the final chorus.
4. OUR GOD IS HERE (6:49): My breakthrough, where I learned to stop worrying and follow the lead of the melody. It sounds so much like an ordinary Christian song, but with all the fun of the limited medium.
5. WONDERWALL (9:38): Takes my classic to a new medium. The broken chords and arpeggios give a great baseline that remains constant as the melody goes on a long journey to the end. Maybe...
6. YOUR GRACE IS ENOUGH (5:13): I used the quantization (read: chunky-style) of FamiStudio to make a great, upbeat song, with a neat twist at the end.