And finally we end with the full album.
Fairy Tales for the Lost and Wandering is a series of short, melancholy, original fairy tale-esque stories set to music. They are sung, they are spoken, the music ranges from simple to layered, haunting to lush.
The finished album is available on Bandcamp for a mere pittance of $5. When i figure out what possible musical genre to file it under i’ll let you know, but if you have any ideas…
Please enjoy.
Well, we can safely assume the Americans in our audience will be out of commission today as today is the sacred Day Of The Mixing Of Beer And Explosives (and honestly, it’s basically as awesome as it sounds). We shall however continue unabated with our story telling program.
Today we shall showcase A Scene In Ice the story that benefited the most from studio treatment. As ususal the entire completed album can be explored (and bought!) here.
Let’s listen to something a little more upbeat today, shall we?
As mentioned before, what started out as some simple piano and voice demos has now become a fully produced album. This week i shall play some selections from it before posting the entire finished thing. Should you want to check out the entire thing you may do so HERE. If you like, please consider buying or sharing a link!
This one was the reason i decided to make the demos into a full production. I really loved this story but the piano demo fell flat for me. It sounded too much like a demo that wanted to be flushed out into a proper track and it sounds SOOOO much better with additional instrumentation. So without further ado, we present the next fairy tale in our Listen To A Fairy Tale series: Piston Brown.
A little while back i posted a few demo tracks featuring original fairy tales made into song form with acoustic piano. I liked the idea, the stories but other than one song (Diedre) the tracks with only piano left me quite unsatisfied. They sounded simply like demos, not like they were what they wanted to be. So demos i declared them and set about to make them into things i could be satisfied and proud of.
I made an entire album of sad, fairy tale like stories. In fact, the album will be released online tomorrow and thus this week we shall listen to several of the tracks. Listen to a fairy tale.
One track, however does NOT contain fairy tale elements. It is the only track which is not fantastical in some way. And yet, it is the one i am going to premiere and play today since it’s currently my favorite track on the album. (Although to be clear it’s also the most recent song completed, made over this past week, so that factors is a lot. My favorite track on a given album is usually the one i’m working on….) It’s the final track in the Chatterlaine trilogy… spread across several of my albums are a couple songs about a Ms. Chatterlaine… Lady Chatterlaine, Sister Chatterlaine and now Madame Chatterlaine.
So… STORIES! Who doesn’t like stories? Let’s listen to some and meet some interesting characters. We begin with Madam Chatterlaine.
(Note: I cannot thank Matthew Broyles of The Matthew Show enough for the inadvertant direction he provided on this track. )
Collected all together here in one post is a 5 song experiment in storytelling: telling 5 original, melancholy fairy tales using only piano and voice.
How well it’s pulled off is up to you to decide. But not only can you listen to them here at your leisure, if you particularly like any of them, you may HAVE THEM. All can be downloaded at a name you own price rate. You want them for free, take them. If you feel they’re worth anything and you believe that artists should also eat, you may name your own price.
Otherwise, please enjoy these stories and for our regular readers, we return to our regularly scheduled program tomorrow.
For the next few days we’re going to do a track a day of a different dark tinted fairy tale.
It’s a… it’s a series of tracks of a work in progress. I honestly have no idea what i’m actually doing with it. I have long wanted to do some sort of album/EP which was simply piano and voice, utterly stripped away of all the lavish orchestrations i normally use.
I also like to make up stories. So…. it’s a series of grim fairy tales, told through piano and voice.
There are two questions i have regarding these:
1. Do they work?
2. Am i limiting their potential by insisting on keeping the tracks stripped down to just piano? Note that this question is NOT: COULD i add more instrumentation, trust me, you can ALways add more instrumentation. The question is: is it indeed necessary?
In any case, if you enjoy short, little melancholy stories then i hope you enjoy this series. We begin with Dear Departed Diedre.
The next day the group of haggard fairytales resumed their trek across the chaotic and violent city of New Albion.
New Albion was in the throes of a revolution. Led by a former police soldier known only as Soldier 7285, an uprising had gradually taken over and skirmishes would break out suddenly in the streets. At various points in the day shouting or gunfire could be heard echoing across the city.
The fairytales tried their best to avoid all trouble. Jack of Ash would prowl the rooftops, trying to work out a route for them to follow as they attempted to navigate their way through the urban maze.
Every so often they would all freeze and listen. They were listening for the Whispers and when they heard it, they simply ran.
…
Burlap Molly had managed to nick some pies and so they all sat and ate. Jack of Ash reminded them all of scenes from Arcadia, the glens and waterfalls, the native Fae inhabitants, the soft warm glow in the evenings when the tree homes were lit. Stories thrived and were happy there. Characters resolved and belonged.
Amongst the colorful characters and stories populating Arcadia was The Baptist. He blessed all and bestowed a sense of place in the world. Some considered him the soul of Arcadia. No one knew how the Darkness came, with it’s whispering swarm of gnashing, insectant flickerings of engulfing blackness, but it did. It took The Baptist away to another, darker place.
A sadness had lingered over Arcadia until it was finally decided a small group of volunteers should go forth into this strange, chaotic world, find The Baptist and bring him back home.
Arcadia’s oracle, the Crow, prepared the party. He issued three warnings: 1. The Shadow that took The Baptist was strong in this other Land and would always be in pursuit. Anyone it touches will be lost. 2. The door back is in the throne room of The White Queen’s castle. 3. Avoid the White Queen and do not let her speak to you. If she speaks you will be lost.
Jack finished his pie and reminded them this was their story now. It was a dark story, but it could have a Happy Ending. Nothing was better than a Happy Ending and the darker the story the more sacred the Happy Ending.
Their pies all finished, they embraced and continued on.
…
The Story of Jack Of Ash
Once upon a time a teenage girl from a strict and morally rigid family secretly bore a baby out of wedlock. She gave birth in her own bedroom by herself and while she was cleaning up the mess, hid the baby by wrapping it tight and placing it in the flue of her bedroom’s fireplace.
However, while scrubbing her bedsheets she collapsed and her family, with no idea of what was wrong, rushed her to the hospital where she did not wake for days.
A kindly and childless old chimney sweep heard the cries of the helpless infant and rescued it. He named it Jack.
Jack thus grew up as a chimney sweep on the rooftops of the city. Free and wild, he would dance for hours in the moonlight, swirling and leaping over the rooftops.
By the time he reached his teenage years he was a sight to behold, already a half glimpsed legend called Jack of Ash. One 16 year old girl though saw him every night, for his favorite dancing grounds were across from her window.
The girl was a sad, sheltered teenager, kept inside much too often by her stern and overprotective father. As a result she was very lonely, awkward socially, and yearned deeply for adventure and romance.
One night, in the wintertime when Jack did not dance, she whispered “Jack of Ash” up into her chimney five times, calling him to come.
The winter passed.
At the first bud of spring he came.
He beckoned her out onto the rooftops. She went and they danced together, slowly and carefully for she was only a beginner.
Each night he would come and each night they would dance on the rooftops of the city. By summer she too could leap across the skyline and they would stop their dance only to kiss and watch the moon in each others’ arms.
By Autumn she had also become a force of nature on the rooftops, leaping and swirling above the city and by this season they were making love.
When the last leaf in the city turned brown she became ill. The doctors couldn’t quite diagnose it, but they theorized some type of consumption. Stated simply, she had lost her youth.
She had aged a decade. Jack of course disappeared for the winter and she never saw him again.
This is how it was to be with Jack. A lonely teenage girl may call him in the winter, whispering his name 5 times into the chimney. At the first bud of spring he may come. From the first bud to the last colored leaf she will know the most exalted romance of her life but it will age her 10 years.
Jack of Ash never ages.
(NOTE: Some of you may note that a few of the original fairy tales mentioned herein are familiar, and can be found on the album Fairy Tales of the Lost and Wandering. This story was written first and after writing it, i decided that i liked the idea of writing original fairy tales and putting them to music, so i used a few of these. This is where they originally come from.)
Four terrified, bruised and beleaguered fairytales huddled miserably together in the alley of an industrial urban city in which they did not belong.
Jack of Ash cradled Burlap Molly who as usual had picked an inopportune time to suddenly drop asleep. Dear Departed Diedre fussed over her and tried to conceal them behind a pile of trash.
Ironitsa, the slum girl made of iron as every school child knows, naturally stood guard. They were all weary and needed sleep. Even Ironitsa need to shut down for a few hours every day.
The great industrial city of New Albion clanged, hissed and hummed around them while the cries, shouts and gunfire of its troubled residents and their ongoing revolution echoed through the streets. The tired, scared fairytales did not hear the Whispering that signified that their tireless pursuer was near, and so they huddled together and told stories until they fell asleep.
The Story Of Dear Departed Diedre
Once upon a time there was a precocious girl named Diedre.
She collected salamander tails, eyes of newt, toad skins, bat teeth and moon water. It was her aspiration to become a witch. However, she had no idea whatsoever how exactly to go about such a thing or access to any sort of materials which might explain it.
Thus she simply invented her own spells and potiony concoctions. While she had great fun experimenting with them, they rarely ever worked.
Her parents put up with this hobby with as relaxed and permissive an attitude as they could manage if not with the occasional raised eyebrow or spot of worry.
However, when one of her potions caused the test subject, the family dog, to leave a trail of purplish vomit throughout the house she found herself sternly reprimanded.
In retaliation to said reprimand she told her parents she hoped they never saw her again and ran to her soom to cast a spell of invisibility over herself.
The spell was long and complex and while never having worked before, perhaps just needed a few tries. She was still going through the long incantation (for the 3rd time) an hour later as she sat in the family carriage, the three of them on their way to Tuesday bisquits at Aunt Vivian’s.
The accident happened fast. She never did know what exactly occured, but it ended with the horse losing control and the coach thrown down a hillside into a grove of trees. No one survived.
Diedre found herself a ghost, wandering the city trying to find someone who could see her and talk to her.
Every few decades her parents are reincarnated. They grow up and always, always they find one another. They spend their short lives together before they are inevitably killed again. They never have children.
Diedre waits patiently through the years for this to occur, for her parents to meet once again and begin living together. Once they do she is there with them, sitting silently beside them at every meal, on the floor beneath them as they sit in the parlour room. She sits with them every day, day after day until once again an accident inevitably claims them and they are gone again.
So a couple places on the net have held contests where participants submit art on the theme of Steampunk Fairy Tales, an awesomely excellent theme if ever there was one. We’ll be covering 2 of these contests.
Today’s post is on the the first and most prestigious contest, which was held by the CGSociety (Computer Graphics). There were numerous fields to win and lots of video, but we’re going to stick to the still image winners. If you want to view the complete winners and their prospective fields, check out the page here.
The Image Award for Individual Master went to Fabricio Moraes for his steampunk take on Pinnochio:
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I know, right? That’s insanely gorgeous.
The winner of the Image Excellence Award went to Laurent Pierlot for Bakto Fairy:
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The award for Best Character went to Guillaume Dubois for his take on the catepillar in Alice In Wonderland:
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Concept Art Award went to Yap Kunrong for his take on the Legend of Yamoto (the legendary Japanese warrior Yamato Takeru, or Prince Ousu the subject of a number of fantastic tales)
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The award for Texture went to Marcin Jakubowski for his rendition of The Fall of Hyperion (a Titan, overthrown by Zeus):
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The Digital Painting Award went to Tomasz Jedruszek for Icaraus Day
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Landscape, Matte Painting went to Marek Madej for his take on Don Quixote:
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And lastly, the Award for Lighting went to Aleksander (Olek) Novak-Zemplinski for his Odysseus’ Departure:
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And that’s that. Cheers.
You know, since this blog is about the making of a Steampunk Opera (1 song short of finishing the 2nd Act. There will be 4 Acts, and i am also taking a break to muse over what i’ve done and carefully plan out the 3rd Act) i feel i should be talking a bit about theater in between the steampunky fun and cool bands.
I’ll be covering different aspects of theater, but for now let’s tackle musical theater, shall we?
I grew up with it, listened to quite a bit of it, but over time less and less and then one day realized i had a really hard time with it (and i’ve worked on lots of shows). Now i’m a little more friendly towards it, but musically have so many issues with the genre i wouldn’t even know where to begin. On the other hand, seeing a show live is a much better experience than simply listening to the soundtrack.
I say all this because The Steampunk Opera is not an opera in that it has opera voices. There are no opera voices. And no orchestral score. It’s more an opera in a Jesus Christ Superstar way. It’s clangy and has beats and some victorian ideas and some Dark Cabaret ideas and is contemporary music friendly… listen to the Overture, it’s like that.
So i can’t escape the fact that musical theater plays a significant role in defining for me how to tell a story using music and voices. And that The Steampunk Opera will appeal to, amongst others, people who like musical theater (although there won’t really be “musical theater voices” in it either).
So here are a couple of my favorite musicals, which i will defend any day, any time. We’ll take on one a day.
Into The Woods
It’s hard to pick just one Sondheim, but i’m going with this one. Sondheim is a giant in the musical theater world, and that’s because he’s the most brilliant composer who’s worked consistently in the business in 2 generations. I could easily list A Little Night Music or Sweeney Todd, but the fact is, i just plain love Into The Woods.
The show is several well known fairy tales woven together and the deeper and sometimes darker meanings of them cleverly and subtlely exposed.
One of my favorite musical motifs revolves around Cinderella and her trips to the Ball. Here is a montage of her discussing her 3 evenings at the Ball.
And here is Jack. You know, THAT Jack. The song subtely pokes the deeper meanings of the fairy tale: boy…. just around adolesence… his “magic seeds” start rumbling…. his “beanstalk” grows which allows him to see a whole new world that as a child he never saw before… adults/giants… befriends a big lady giant whose husband is never home…. husband comes home one day to find a boy with his wife… chases him but his beanstalk withers and can’t stand up….
I’m not saying all of this is contained in the song. But this is the hidden meaning I personally find in the fairy tale and i find that song wink winks and nudges that it understands that too.
