Lunar Forms by Rupert Lally
LUNAR FORMS
Notes by Rupert Lally
Lunar Forms is album created almost entirely live with only two pieces of equipment: a Eurorack modular synthesizer system and the Korg Op-Six FM synthesizer.
The starting point for all the patches created with the modular was a unique module released in 2023 by American composer and inventor Jonah Senzel: Pet Rock. It has no controls, and its A and B outputs spit out a new rhythm every 24 hours divined from its two clock inputs every day, based on an algorithm inspired by the phases of the moon‘s 29.5 day monthly cycle. There are four different ‘moods’ - where the algorithm changes slightly at the end of each cycle - so that amounts to 4 months of random rhythms before anything repeats.
The result, as Senzel puts it, is like a rhythmic Wordle, which resets at midnight. All the tracks on the album use the two Pet Rock outputs to clock (or time) everything that the modular does (generate notes, randomization, modulation etc.) Because of the nature of the module, I would create a patch with whatever rhythms it came up that day, and then record it live, along with me adding an additional element with the Op-Six keyboard at the same time. There were no edits or overdubs - if I made a mistake during the recording I would have to start again. The tracks were recorded throughout March 2024.
The initial run of CDs of the album come with the download code for a bonus EP: Re-Forms. This was created by taking some of the original album tracks, mangling them (or snippets of them) through various granular synth plugins and adding additional beats and synths on top.
- Rupert Lally, June 2025
Tracklist
| 1. | 322 | 4:24 |
| 2. | 330 | 4:32 |
| 3. | 329 | 4:30 |
| 4. | 331 | 2:30 |
| 5. | 308 | 4:04 |
| 6. | 319 | 3:40 |
| 7. | 304 | 3:32 |
| 8. | 309 | 3:20 |
| 9. | 313 | 4:16 |
| 10. | 325 | 3:38 |
| 11. | 303 | 4:28 |
| 12. | 321 | 4:56 |
| 13. | 328 | 4:12 |
| 14. | 324 | 4:16 |
| 15. | 314 | 4:32 |
| 16. | 320 | 5:40 |
| 17. | 323 (Bonus Track) | 4:57 |
| 18. | 327 (Bonus Track) | 3:10 |
Credits
Written and produced by Rupert Lally
Painting by Freya Smith
Design by Neil Coe
'Lunar Forms' forms part of The Impermanence Project.
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