Departure by Andy Pickford

A 78 minute album of melodic and atmospheric tracks that is easy on the ear. Been proving itself popular throughout production by getting played here a lot. It's a pleasant listen, apparently! Not that I go out of my way to make unlistenable shite anyway, but this one seems to hit the"nice" button all of its own accord. The sound is presented in Dolby Atmos Binaural, which does make it sound immersive on headphones, but it works generally all round I find and certainly delivers a better clarity and overall balance.

Departure began life halfway through last year as a set of simple beds intended for use as library tracks. That didn't work out because "Andy Pickford". The mere mention of my name is certain to have anyone in the mainstream industry scratching their heads anyway! It's a bit of a shame we live in such culturally f*cked-up times where algorithms dictate who gets known and who doesn't.

Tracks

Departure
Okay, I know my title tracks can be hit or miss sometimes but this one's a stonker. I like this tune a lot, so it be the opening track. It do have a video too and it be right 'ere... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBdOcVv7doI&pp=ygUNYW5keSBwaWNrZm9yZA%3D%3D

Low Sun
Again this is simple and highly melodic, relaxing music which anyone will find easy to listen to. There's a video of it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-er8pXW5F_4&pp=ygUNYW5keSBwaWNrZm9yZA%3D%3D
It's an early stereo mix set to Midjourney AI art of fae - fairies and suchlike. Yes understandably people seem to prefer my vids of monsters and nightmare imagery but that's because there's such a lot of miserable sods around these days. Anything inoffensive and pretty makes them run away in search of some nice cathartic schadenfreude.

Promise
Positive, uplifting melody, powerful melody again and one I've actually had in my head for over 40 years! Somewhere amid all that unctious murk, it found its way out!

Grey Horizon
Ah... good old grim electronica being all mean 'n' shagnasty. You know you'll like it. This also has a video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3PzHfTI6e2I&pp=ygUNYW5keSBwaWNrZm9yZA%3D%3D on the theme of dragons this time. As it doesn't exactly exude nightmarish evilness throughout, it's not getting watched much.

Unrequited
More melodic prettiness, being both melodic and pretty at the same time, with icing on. I think it's Kim's favourite tune so I'd better be careful what I say about it ;-)

Cautious Steps
Another of the slightly "darktronica" atmospheric pieces with a bit of an old school feel about it. The problem is I am old school, so I could be referring to Thomas Tallis' personal hurdy gurdy botherer. But I'm not, because that would be silly.

Waiting for Silence
As it suggests, this is a fairly quiet, flowing track with dreamy ambience etc. Thoughtful, atmospheric and moody. The perfect accompaniment for a fish & white wine dinner methinks.

Dawn Flight
Like "Promise" this is an uplifting, bouncy vomit comet of a piece with a tendency to be an earworm and resonate the crap out of your head while you're trying to focus on something else. Vengeance is mine :-D

Temple Conspiracy
The one with the combined voices of The Original Cardboard Box Choir. No expense spared on this baby! After all these years they still sound as awesome and illegible as ever!

Trip to Blue
Space Reggae I reckon, being the delivery system for another earworm. It ambles along rather pleasantly,being ideal for tea & biscuits with your Auntie Mary. Crucial.

Ominous Sines
This is a right gruesome sounding dirge with the certain ability to kill any party it's played at. But that's how I like it. It's ominous y'see, all part of my cunning plan to sound ominous.

Water Meadow
Aaaaand we're back on with the cute summer-like dreamy melodies, since you don't want another one like the last track and I've heard it alleged somewhere that it's nearly summer here, at the time of writing. My tomatoes don't think so.

Dreamscape
A thoughtful, atmospheric piece which sounds dreamy and thus I gave it the highly inspiring title of Dreamscape. Cos like I can do music but titles really p*ss me off! Those require different brain cells and I can't afford the batteries.

Half-Light
A nice sultry, moody tune to round the album off with. Also the last piece produced in the session.

Overall, this album consists of shorter pieces, each having a relatively low track count, making a simpler mix possible with more attention going into fine-tuning and post-production. It's a nice balance I think and does remind me of my approach to track building back in my early 1990s workstation days. Enjoyed doing this one, I hope you enjoy it too!
AP

Tracklist

1.	Departure	5:24

2.	Low Sun	6:11

3.	Promise	5:23

4.	Grey Horizon	4:59

5.	Unrequited	5:29

6.	Cautious Steps	5:22

7.	Waiting for Silence	6:08

8.	Dawn Flight	5:38

9.	Temple Conspiracy	5:30

10.	Trip to Blue	5:19

11.	Ominous Sines	5:49

12.	Water Meadow	5:43

13.	Dreamscape	5:05

14.	Half-Light	6:15

15.	Departure Whole Album 16bit Flac	78:19

Credits

released May 26, 2023

All music & art by AP. Uploaded as 24bit WAV files except the 16 bit whole album FLAC. Presented in Dolby Atmos Binaural. Works best on headphones, but sounds better all round IMHO.

License