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Ghosts Of Flannan Isle

by Graham Simpson

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lee wignall
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Bernard Poulard
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1.
Ghosts Of Flannan Isle 07:41
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2.
Sombre Flutes 05:33
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3.
Veiling The Nightshade Bride 04:21
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4.
A Rainbow In Pulse Code 04:34
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5.
In The Morning 04:51
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6.
Casio Nova 04:32
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7.
On A Rainy Day 03:20
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8.
Twilight Tone Bank 04:27
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9.
In The Evening 03:12
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10.
Heavenly Melodies 04:05
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about

All the sounds on this album originate from a Casio MT-540, a cheap home keyboard from the early 1990s which I picked up from a car boot sale in early 2020, just before the coronavirus lockdown kicked in. What initially attracted me to the keyboard was the 'sound effect' panel - a row of ten green and yellow rubber buttons that feature prominently on the keyboard panel, just above the keys. Once pressed, these pads activate looped recordings of various natural and unnatural sounds, from 'forest', 'ocean', and 'rainy day,' through to synthesized birdsong under the name 'evening', and other strange bleeps and sounds described as 'space wars'.

Many of these looped sound effects have been used extensively on this album, along with its small but interesting collection of 'pulse code modulated' sounds. The 'chorus', 'strings' and 'organ' presets are particularly useful as dark and ominous pad sounds, helping create a somewhat dark, eerie, and foreboding atmosphere on many of the tracks of this album, including the opening title track, inspired by the strange and unexplained disappearance of three lighthouse keepers from Flannan Isle in 1900.

On the other hand, sounds such as the 'piano' and 'vibraphone' presets work particularly well in more up-tempo and brighter settings, as do the punchy drums and percussion sounds, and these feature on the lighter tracks on this album, such as 'Casio Nova' which makes use of the bossa nova preset rhythm pattern on the keyboard, and the highly melodic closing track 'Heavenly Melodies.' Hopefully the range of tracks on this album will show what can be achieved by just using a small, cheap and somewhat dated piece of equipment, alongside the usual assistance of filtering from a Korg MS-20 mini, and a few choice software and hardware FX units and guitar fx pedals.

credits

released June 12, 2021

Arranged, Composed, Performed and Produced by Graham Simpson.
Recorded at Broken Troll Studios during June 8-11 2021.

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Graham Simpson Lancaster, UK

Electronic musician from the North West of England. Making music with synthesizers, cheap keyboards, and anything else that can make an interesting sound.

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