West Branch by Maurice Rickard
This is a collection of guitar pieces from January through September 2024. Over a decade ago, I began writing and recording a new piece of music every week. As I'm writing this in September 2024, I've created 557 weekly compositions. (557 was "West Branch.")
The pieces in this release all use the same guitar in the same tuning: Bb F Bb F Bb C, a variation of John Fahey's C tuning (C G C G C E). No inline effects, just straight through a UA Volt-1 and into Ableton Live. In the last few years, I've preferred the immediacy of plugging in without a long effects chain. The guitar seems more dynamic this way. There's less between me and the music, and I can concentrate on the music as it appears.
Tracklist
| 1. | Athea | 3:28 |
| 2. | Double Duplicate | 3:47 |
| 3. | West Branch | 3:42 |
| 4. | Euryanthe | 3:25 |
| 5. | Turandot | 3:35 |
| 6. | Coastal | 3:23 |
| 7. | Creoda | 3:44 |
| 8. | Wading | 3:23 |
| 9. | Jetta | 3:19 |
| 10. | Tiles | 3:19 |
Credits
Maurice Rickard: Guitar, a Univox hollowbody (a Coily, I think)
Converter: Universal Audio UA Volt-1
Recorded in Ableton Live, at home, in 2024
License
All rights reserved.
Maurice Rickard is a musician, sound artist, and Deep Listening Certificate holder based in Pittsburgh. He has a long history in improv and minimalist ambient work as snwv, but also abstract electronics. Most recently, he's been composing pieces for small ensembles of guitars.