E.P II: Car Radio

Recorded and Mixed using triggers, and samples in a bitbox, touched up a little in ableton, one take live style, no going back, all songs by Donald Grant McLean, Astoria, NY, October 2019.

The track ‘Lauren’ features vocals by Lauren Bolger, of Locean, and Saxophone by David McLean, of Tombed Visions/Ageing. We recorded samples of David and Lauren in their living room in Manchester, and I ran the modular system, creating repetitive, pulsating basslines through the bitbox, and the on board oscillators. Bolger leads this track with her controlled, though at times, ferocious delivery, manipulating the voice in ways I find truly inspirational, while McLean provides the listener with soft, encapsulating serenity, a narrative of sax, bringing in blasts of destructive power, all the while distracting attention away from the monotony and punishment of the oscillators.

For the track ‘Car Radio’, I am reflecting upon long drives my family used to take from Milton Keynes to Scotland, and vice versa, usually at times, which to me felt like the wild hours of the early morning. It was certainly night, dark, usually raining, and with no cars on the motorways. My parents always used to play these late night phone in conversations/interviews on the old analog/tape car radios, and I would drift off sitting in the back seat, listening to the woes, angst and gibberish of the British people, all the while looking at the spectacular beauty of the stars above the peak district.

Mastered by Simon Mawson.

Booking: fortissimorecords@hotmail.com

Released December 7, 2019

Additional Recording by David McLean, Manchester, England, August 2019.

Vocals on 'Lauren' by Lauren Bolger.
Saxophone on 'Lauren' by David McLean

Photo taken in Long Island City, NY, by D.G. McLean

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