the crystal façade of the face of god (stafford)

duration: 6:02

recorded: 20131221

type: active


starting out with yet another very carefully constructed and wonderfully challenging drum part, I carried on composing in nanostudio in my usual fashion.

second after the drums are perfected (a process that takes a few days) come the basses, which take less time, but get no less attention…and then the real fun starts:

finally, the synths: the piece has two main motifs, a c major motif that is represented by certain synth voices, and an a minor section represented by other voices; and on top of that, of course, come the solos.

It was fantastic being able to play over such an excellent track (and I should say, there is an accidental similarity, of the major key section, to a previous piece here on this album, “mithrandir” – I swear to you, it’s purely coincidental – they both happen to be in the key of C major, although this track revolves between c major and a minor, and really, have a radically different overall structure to “mithrandir” – so the sound similarity is an absolute coincidence.

playing these synth melodies was a true joy, I tried to imagine I was roger powell soloing over one of todd rundgren's more intelligent prog compositions – that was my model. I think I achieved my goal here, and I really enjoy hearing this piece – it was a true joy to compose and perform, I loved every second of the process, and I am very proud of this piece – it’s probably my most complex to date – not that I am really “trying to be complex” it’s more a function of my skill at creating drum parts is accelerating and advancing, and my familiarity with the eden synth really helps me when I go to work in nanostudio.

I am clearly comfortable working with this tool set, which says a lot about it's user friendliness, and I think it really, really shows in “the crystal façade of the face of god”.

the title is of course, a nod to bill nelson, who simply has the most beautiful song titles of anyone I’ve ever listened to – and this song is a bit like nelson’s music, too (there’s often hints of bill’s music in my music, not just the obvious similarities, such as the ebow, but also, some of the synth work and the way I arrange my backing tracks – these often containing a musical nod to nelson.

I loved working on this piece, and I can’t wait to see where nanostudio takes me the next time I work with it…