VIRB

The new demo is a soundtrack to the ghost of a ghost story. I wrote the bare bones of the plot, and started working on an "audio encapsulation" of the atmosphere i was trying to invoke. The basic plot is that a middle aged couple move into a somewhat ramshackle farmhouse on some (unspecified) English moor. Being arty types they find the place spooky and bleak and wonderful. All the trees a warped and dark, the plants all dead. Even the grass is rotten. During the renovation work, they find an old gramophone and some worn out, scratched up, ancient vinyl. One evening after cleaning and painting all day, they sit in front of the open fire, wind up the gramophone and play the first record. Amidst the intense crackles they can make out a piano and a female voice. The songs get more strange and other worldly, the subject seems to be some unknown tragedy until finally a poltergeist-like presence fills the room. The music swells and the voices swirl around the room, culminating in a strange and inconclusive vision.
The lights go out and the couple find themselves awakening the next morning, unsure of what happened the night before. When they look outside, the trees are full of leaves, and the plants flowering.

At the start of the project I was writing it as a radio play, then as a kind of musical/chamber opera. None of these formats seemed to sit right with the ideas I had. I ended up abandoning the project, with about 8 songs virtually complete. Something wasn't working.

I recently rediscovered the music and found it enchanting. I removed my old vocals, as I felt that these were the weak point - due to my lack of talent for prose, and weak voice (ok for dance music where it can be manipulated, but these songs required "naked" vocals). I recast the songs as instrumentals and worked on soundscape interludes.
The instrumentation is mainly piano and acoustic guitar (sometimes maquarading as a mandolin), with a small amount of vibraphone, marimba and other tuned percussion.
The unrecognisable sounds are acoustic instruments manipulated. I wanted everything to have gone through a microphone.
The project slotted into place this time.
Hopefully someone will rate this music highly enough to release it.