States by Swansither

Tom Kennedy returns for his second studio album for Subexotic, with the enigmatically named "States". Picking up from where his debut album "Inner Space" left off, Tom delivers another intriguing set of experimental, yet always melodic, modular works. There is a sense of an unseen automatic inscription at work, somehow channeling a form of subconscious poetic spirit:

"I chose the title “States” to relate to all the various states of mind that produce this music. Most of it is not a deliberate attempt to create something with particular melodies and harmonies etc, but more a series of tracks that have kind of seeped out of me when I am in the right state of mind, and have the right connection with the equipment, and a fair wind behind me.

I also use a sequencer module called Rene, which stores its information in “states” that you can instantly access, thereby changing everything you are doing, either dramatically or very subtly. That gave me the idea for the name.

Because my creative process involves different states of mind, this album is like the first one [the warmly received debut "Inner Space"], in that there is no over-arching concept, but I do feel that this one is more “settled” stylistically, as I get more comfortable with my sound and equipment.

Also, unlike "inner Space", I have had no collaborations, no live acoustic additions; its all me, with the exception of co-writing 'Maranatha 21'.

Having said this, there are two sides to this album; before, and after “the fire”. This fire was both physical and metaphorical. In Jan 2022 there was a lot of confusion in my life; my parents house had a serious fire - they survived but the roof collapsed - and I ended up salvaging and rehoming them and their possessions, then dealing with insurance loss adjusters, builders, surveyors etc. It was really stressful and chaotic. On top of this, my great friend and mentor Pete was dying of cancer.

So there are three tracks which relate to this darkness and confusion - 'After the Fire', 'Not Fixed', and 'Peat'. The other tracks on the album are all considerably more positive."

Tom's track by track notebook:

'After the fire' - Attempt to make something cohesive out of random beats and notes;

'Moonflower' - Wistful imagination of a single plant that may have seeded on another planet or moon;

'Harmonic Pulse' - Joyful playing around with the Moog Subharmonicon, vaguely influenced by Penguin Cafe Orchestra;

'Tanjreem' - A track I started and never finished, but decided it was best left unfinished. Electric guitar providing detuned percussion and noises;

'States' - Getting into elaborate structured sequencing with Rene, managing to work out how to get my Jupiter 8 to sync along to the modular, and loving the result;

'Not Fixed' - Dark chaos from some weird dungeon in the back of my mind;

'Slow Fish' - Very gentle sounds here. I had in mind those very slow fish at the very depths of the sea, where there is no light, and no need or ability to move very fast;

'Peat' - Here I got interested in the idea of “composting” sound. Real compost is built up in layers over time, to a kind of generic mulch which then gives life to new plants. I wondered if I could do something like this with sound. In this recording there is all sorts of stuff - a church choir, field recordings - and its all broken down to an audio mulch. I will be doing more of this I think;

'Flying Spoons' - More random stuff in here. I love reacting to randomness as part of a performance. For some reason I was thinking of martial arts movie House of the Flying Daggers;

'Maranatha 21' - This is actually a cover of a track I made with Benet Walsh, when we were The Collectors. It was released on the album Galapagos, from Mantis Recordings, in 2004 i think. I always loved the harmonies, and reworked it all through my modular set up, which was really enjoyable.

Electronic composer / producer based in Shropshire, U.K.

Modular Synth music with releases on Castles in Space, Subexotic, Werra Foxma. Also compilatons on DiN, Dustopian Frequencies, and MEANS.

Occasional live performances.

Former member of The Collectors, we released..
"Galapagos" Album by The Collectors ( on Mantis )
"Midnight Bulbs" E.P by The Collectors.

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