This album is a collection of 14 tracks and includes several original Instrumental compositions. Recorded in Ireland and Japan the material was recorded during a 2 year period
prior to the release in 2016.
While touring and traveling in Japan i set up a mobile recording studio in Kumamoto
in the southern island of Kyushu and in in-between live concerts i began the process
of recording the "guide"tracks for the cd. The idea was to finish the basic tracks there and record the real parts at a studio when
i returned to Ireland.
The mobile setup was simple enough,a laptop with Pro Tools and 2 stereo condenser mics and an audio interface with all cables and my 2 touring guitars and mandolin.
The room sound was really nice,spacious and quiet,apart from the noise of the Cicada
which sometimes reached loud levels,actually i decided to record their sound on one of the tracks!..it's call "The Grasshopper"(Track 2 )and i setup a microphone outside and
merged the natural sounds at the end of that track.
"The Grasshopper" is an instant improvisation....usually i compose and arrange compositions in advance but this track came immediately to me after a walk in the garden where i saw some "Piggyback Grasshoppers"jumping around in the grass.
What a sight!....Two Grasshoppers,one riding on the back of the other and jumping through the air! I had never seen this before and i felt inspired to record a track and as the studio
was ready i went inside and played and improvised guitar part and also recorded
guitar hand percussion..which i had intended to replace later on but when i asked
the fantastic Japanese Yasuhisa Yamamoto(Usatrane studio) to play on the track he really liked the guitar percussion and so it was decided to keep it and to intertwine his wonderfully delicate playing on top..the result is an exciting improvised interaction with guitar and percussion.
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