dompomblog

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Final Performance Evaluation

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MD6316 - Development Evidence

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5iuRm2CE5ww

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30WZDz8FXmo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9JppDVs3WY

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Social Media

Here are the links and addresses for all my social media platforms used in my promotional campaign.

-INSTAGRAM

@dom.watton https://www.instagram.com/dom.watton/

-TWITTER 

@domwattonmusic https://twitter.com/

-FACEBOOK 

@domwattonmusic https://www.facebook.com/domwattonmusic/

Aurora Management - http://lormdun.wixsite.com/auroramusic/artists

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Victories - EP : Released!

Here are the links to my finished product ‘Victories - EP’.

https://domwattonmusic.bandcamp.com/album/victories-ep

https://soundcloud.com/domjbw/sets/victories-ep

I plan to release on Spotify and iTunes at the end of May to bolster my promotion.

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Promotional Imagery

Here is a collection of imagery I used as promotion for the EP. The landscape or more ‘arty’ shots I took myself and I decorated them with captions detailing countdowns to release on Instagram, Snapchat, Facebook and Twitter.

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This is the finished artwork to my release, which I have decided to name ‘Victories EP’ after the lyric ‘with every mountain, every high tide, another victory waits behind the climb’, and to better reflect the subject matter in the songs. My sister Isabelle Watton created the artwork.

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Photoshoot

I worked with Aurora Management and Ellie Ramsden to get some professional shots to use as promotional work.

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Change in direction

As I moved along with the development of the tracks, I become increasingly worried about the differences in sound in the songs.  After performing my song Every Mountain and other more shoegaze inspired tracks at a live session, I started to wonder whether using a more singer-songwriter, ambient, indie approach might make the songs more adhesive and the sounds of the production less spread apart.

Here’s a link to the full performance: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpmPhVB3r0Y&list=PLBi0F2gVRoLQjqJ9O96qASuuspGlgA2eo

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The Orchid Garden

I’ve been deliberating on what to title my EP for a long time. The direct translation of Der Orchideengarten, the German fantasy magazine series I reference in my proposal, is ‘The Orchid Garden’. I’m fascinated with the imagery involved in this and the mythical connotations it would carry through the music, as well as introducing an earthy, natural element to the music. 

I’ve also compiled a playlist of songwriting inspirations for the EP on Spotify, which has turned out to be 11 hours long. 

https://open.spotify.com/user/domjbw/playlist/5VKyfpQFWZjgJYLMBNeC6o?si=6A4v6jX7R16f-f1GoCAMhg  

All my visual media / artwork ideas are based in my other tumblr blog which is linked in the proposal.

I’ve also finalised the launch of my solo project as a Facebook page as ‘Dom. Watton’, before I set up a proper website for the launch of the EP.

https://www.facebook.com/domjbw/

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Redbone recording sessions w. Ludwig Göransson

More informative attitudes towards production and recording here. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGKlIJsz7bM

Expecting an incredibly scientific and complex unravelling on the production, the realisation that this Gambino track was recorded on Ableton and in a fantastically simple way, Goransson explains how the two of them essentially continued adding sounds that they enjoyed.

I also take a lot from this going forward in my final masters, particularly in linking the more pop sounding ‘Skeleton’ on my EP to the more relaxed or tense songs. The literal sounds and the attitudes they are working with in the studio have given me a lot of ideas, especially on how to use and link synthesised effects across my tracks, as I am very aware that although e.g. Becoming Unfolding and Skeleton both use distorted synth bass, the styles and context are incredibly different. 

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Matt Corby - album sessions, attitudes towards recording

I found this video a while ago - it’s not hugely academically informative but I find the attitudes the band are sharing around the creative process fascinating. I had always imagined a terrifyingly serious environment in recording situations, particularly with Corby, as he was already off to a successful start to his career after his first EP. I had imagined the pressure of this combined with the tensions of getting all 5 members of the group to do solid takes together of 12 songs to be an anxiety filled nightmare, but the vibe of the room seems jovial and Corby appears to look upon his work with a reflective but acceptant outlook. 

I feel I need to take something from this. As my work on the production intensifies trying to finish the demos, I find the more I criticise, the less I compliment, and the balance needs to be right. I don’t want to get to the point where I won’t enjoy playing the music live.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6D3EmYQsLuw

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‘White Water’

I wrote this song when I was beginning to suffer from insomnia in the house I lived in until summer 2017, at which point I was working a bar job most days in the week until 4 in the morning, and mostly it’s a discussion on the literal symptoms of your eyes feeling like lead when you need to sleep but can’t, and moreover how strange time feels when you’re thinking and going through memories constantly for hours.

I wanted the first verse to start with a really simple opening lyric to introduce my surroundings, and the ‘cross in the sand’ is a reference to a UAE myth that the Sheikh who created Abu Dhabi and Dubai was strolling the desert near the coast, stopped and made an ‘X’ in the sand with his cane, declaring that would be where he would make his fortune and a city would rise. The rest of the song is meant to seem a little more ‘stream of consciousness rather than buried in metaphor, as thought processes on no sleep become weary and dream-like. I also liked the link between the sand in the desert and sleep-dust.

Over Christmas this year I watched a documentary about how The Pogues came to write ‘Fairytale of New York’ and the likeness of a burnt-out couple that have come to realise the grim truth of their dreams and struggle with a loving but strained relationship kept floating around my head. I loved the dark imagery of someone imagining floating high above on an American dream despite the damage of alcohol, existential heartbreak and financial trouble. In this vain I changed some of the phrasing to become more of a folk influenced ode to dark times in life, with a glimmer of hope around the corner.

What a pretty little place A dot on the earth A cross in the sand And who am I to blame For the pull of the moon, And the blood on my hands? Cold as stone you bury all that they have said Tearing bone from bone you said the voices in your head Told you to 'stay away' 'Here's a better way to lie, A beautiful way to die' The world's so heavy now I want to float in white water Grow so holy like a million dollar ocean Float in white water And what a high To cage my lows I miss my home But I don't know it anymore I can't breathe in my bed So I smoke instead Start to heal with my friends I get anxious everywhere I hurt my body and I don't care I'm a sucker for your sins But when I want to crawl out of my skin You're there The world's so heavy now I want to float in white water Grow so holy like a million dollar ocean Float in white water

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Becoming Unfolding inspirations

Half Moon Run - No More Losing the War: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J22A2qifeZc

Both guitar takes in this are beautiful. It makes me feel slightly on edge that I took the idea for both a 6/8 guitar plucking rhythm and slide guitar for the song but my lyrics and chord elements are completely personal.

Bombay Bicycle Club - My God: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Np96RMEh3Sg

The lyrics in this, particularly the chorus, informed not only B.U. but also the EP as a whole, largely because of its simplicity and Jack Steadman’s haunting, gentle delivery.

Devendra Banhart - La Pastorcita Perdida: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32X_7Y_MjyU

I have always loved including a slightly latin / classical Spanish swing in my guitar playing and the scales I use, and there is a reference to this in the chorus of B.U.

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Guitar sound references

Alabama Shakes - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AI6nIJ-anYQ

                            - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_sNNTpORtDQ

The classic, old fashioned & gentle guitar technique and dry sound that Brittney achieves in these performances is something I would love to fully capture in producing my EP, especially with some of the simple lead lines I write to accompany the main rhythmical part.

Bhi Bhiman - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WThNSe0R-wA 

I am in love with the purely driving rhythm Bhiman gets with such a simple musical idea. The song only involves 4 chords and yet it is incredibly moving. 

Dry the River - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdyudQwQEKE

I find a lot of comfort in this band lyrically as I often become intensely afraid of my own writing in that I believe it becomes overwritten or egotistical in the depth of metaphor and analogy. I often try to simplify my ideas particularly for choruses to try and be more identifiable or ‘youthful’, but this song in particular I see as testament to the fact that even something obscure or even biblical in emotional power can become a very hopeful fun; the chorus essentially has a chant. 

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‘Sister’

https://soundcloud.com/marleystarr/sister

This song is an ode to my sister Isabelle, a recollection of our relationship, acknowledging my gratitude for her being there for me and how we've developed as people. I wanted the song to have a grand, moving edge to it whilst retaining a sense of calm. I reflected this in the chorus lyrics in phrases such as 'little universe' and 'every second a little blessing' to make something so beautiful and huge incredibly personal, inspiring a sense of almost religious gravity to the importance of my sister in my life. I wanted the dynamic to grow throughout the piece to emphasise the song as a 'bildungsroman', and to suggest that although we may struggle in facing the world, we know that we have each other as we're such close friends. In part I acknowledge the development of our relationship since moving out of our parent's house, and though I miss her company I am proud to see her grow. I wanted to avoid talking about her near death and recovery and instead focus on the beauty and gratitude I have in her friendship.

To me I can almost hear the sound of our youth in the music - the guitar riff may be seen as a reference to Biffy Clyro, the first band my sister introduced me to. The trinkling sounds of the guitars, particularly of the lead line to me represent cells, growing and changing, as I wanted to hint towards the beauty of life. I was inspired to write in such a manner by bands including Pinegrove and Dry the River, who employ a poetic nature to their writing that sways from conventional description, although despite what I might see as overcomplication in my lyrics, I feel that I have used metaphor in a reasonably clear manner that I hope many siblings would relate to.

I’m still unsure whether or not to include this on the final release of the EP, as because of the delicate subject matter I hesitant in being insensitive.

You are all my atoms Realligned in such a beautiful pattern

Juxtaposed our minds The centrefold, the water line

We are each of us A little universe And there's so much to it

And every second A little blessing So don't you lose it

The shattered time All these moments intertwine

And now I know you better And all the world will shiver

Now we've left our nest We'll break through every gate Paper planes in a hurricane We'll be ok

We are each of us A little universe And there's so much to it

And every second A little blessing So don't you lose it

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Forest of Dean Research

'Spread wide arms to greet the tide'

Idea of a tight community - in the past literal permission was required to move between settlements, this still stands somewhat today

The guy giving the talk seemed stressed about the idea of destroying heritage by people that move to the area

Bluebell garden stretching through the forest - seen as beautiful and untouched by people that don't know the area. But they destroy the grass and ground nthat their sheep need to survive

'Tall spruce roar in sonorous refrain.. watchfully at rest'

'Serene in scented airs the West Wind brings'

Resistance to enclosure - the idea of keeping an 'open forest'

Warren James - deported for rioting about enclosing the forest when it was leased. A gang went around in the night ripping down any fences on enclosures they could find. He was sentenced to death which was later downgraded to deportation to tazmania from which he never returned.

I've been down in the woods I got caught in a chain I was holding a dream Now I'm digging a grave

Have you seen Warren James? Tearing down walls Living so tall They sent him away

So serene they made the trees What a lonely scene

I can feel the West Wind in my mind Spread wide arms to greet the tide

You're never gonna trap me in Put a brand on my skin I'll take a watchful rest, hold this fury in my chest

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‘Ty Gwyn’

I chose to write this location song about Barmouth, Wales. Ty Gwyn is the name of a 1400′s building that holds a museum that remains the only testament to a shipwreck that occurred off the shore of the Harbour, which from the 1790′s was a bustling port. However, the ship that wrecked due to a horrific storm was bound for Southhampton, carrying marble for St Paul’s Cathedral, from Rome. With no other choice, the survivors settled in Barmouth, and spawned 8 generations of bloodlines that led to my mother’s birth. The survivor that began my family’s bloodline was named Giovano Benedictus, and the rumour goes that the captain’s name was Dominicus. The bell of the ship remains in the museum and a statue made of the marble from the ship was built on the quayside.

(I want to write from the perspective of someone finding a survivor of the wreck washed ashore, but this is just the first draft).

I found you on the sand

Holding stone in your hands

Throat caught in the salt

Lost for little words

You’ve rolled over an ocean

And now you rest on the Earth

How does it feel to know 

Your blood is now part of our world 

And all your imperfections

And the jewels that you carry

Transcend generations

Become a little immortality 

What a dichotomy 

The old world and the broken 

And how the shattered became hopeful

How a miracle became a bloodline

By the old oak tree

And the orchard where your sweetheart will rest

All the world’s a vision

Crowned in stone, lovingly blessed

And the people will hold your memory

In Ty Gwyn