SOLARSTONE “TOUCHSTONE” Album – VMM Interview
The VMM is very excited to talk to the IDMA nominated artist Solaris label owner, EDM DJ Producer, Composer and Singer Richard Mowatt aka Solarstone about his newest creations that are compiled on the NEW forthcoming “TOUCHSTONE” artist album out on Solaris Recordings JUNE 2010.
Hi Solarstone great to speak to you here in the VMM to find out all about your new artist album.
Q: Solarstone can you describe the sounds of your new album “TOUCHSTONE“ what’s been different about this album journey for you?
Ss: Several things were important to me on this album, things that I have noticed about other artists’ records over the years, such as the space between instrumental vs. vocal tracks, the space between male vs. female vocal tracks, all these things have to be balanced against the light vs. shade on the record, the dynamic build and flow throughout the album. The overall sound of the album is Cinematic, widescreen and hopefully, forward-thinking. It’s an electronic music album; to call it a ‘trance album’ is too restrictive and pointless. I never pertain to narrow genre limitations in the studio… its other people who like to pigeon-hole you, why restrict yourself? There is a neat album minimix over on the album website for people to check out to get a flavour of the album. Also the artwork for the record is particularly beautiful, and we have some great in-club visuals designed around the visual theme.
Q: The VMM would like to ask you Solarstone to give us a short sinopsis about the story behind each track on the TOUCHSTONE
album ?
Ss: Sure. Each song tells its own story and is knitted into the album as a whole:
Is There Anyone Out There:
The song itself is an electronic fantasy, it’s about the oneness you feel in ‘that moment’ either on the dance floor or with your eyes shut and headphones on. Vocally we referenced Bowie in his experimental 90’s phase, soft mellow verses and huge choruses. Tube distortion and analogue compression play a big part in the production of this one, the approach throughout was ‘less is more’, allowing the subtle nuances of each individual sound absolute clarity – to achieve a wide, expansive and open mix.
Ultraviolet:
During 2008 whilst visiting Cyprus for some club dates, Haris C and I came up with a simple little melodic sequence in his studio, which I took back to Wales with me. When the first rays of summer sun in 2009 reached my studio window, the gentle rolling breaks and sweeping strings of ‘Ultraviolet’ practically wrote themselves. I experimented with a new synthesis technique on this track, creating sounds from ’seeds’ and morphing them into textures… spot the little organic sounding ‘pling’ sounds in the break.
Night Signals:
I call this style ‘Slotrance’ – the production tricks of a Trance record, but with a much slower tempo. The verse melodies were inspired by “Sono Andata” from the opera “La Bohème”. Someone remarked that this track makes you “feel a little like your drink has been spiked” – it is a very intense track, particularly the whimsical ‘little-french-girl’ passage which crashes into the viola solo. For musicologists out there, this is great ‘middle bit’!
Touchstone:
The combination of real guitars and the drum groove gives ‘Touchstone’ a fresh sound whilst sounding familiar. I love to see the smile on people’s faces when I play a new Solarstone track with ‘that Sound’ – it’s what they were invariably waiting to hear, but it also means that I’m not tied down to playing ‘old’ material. It means I can deliver what people want, but in a way that also satisfies me creatively.
Electric Love:
I love uplifting trance music, but find that many tracks these days focus too much on the percussion at the expense of the melodic elements. Rather than adding percussive layers, I created movement and energy with lots of running analogue arpeggiated lines instead. The song is a love song really, it’s about considering how your actions affect others around you, be they lovers or friends. It’s a dreamy trance record. Bill McGruddy (the vocalist) and I spent a day freezing on the south coast of England to make the video in January 2010.
Intravenous:
This piece of music, which weaves in and out of a genius arpeggio played by Nigel Summers is a nod to ‘On The Run’ bi Floyd.. Rather than sync Nigel’s guitar to the bpm of the sequencer, I decided instead to record Nigel’s guitar dry, and sync everything else to it precisely. Great idea in theory – not so great in practice. It took me an entire day to achieve, but the slight changes in tempo throughout the track give it a sense of urgency which I think is difficult to achieve with a static tempo. ‘Intravenous’ was written as a precursor to ‘Twisted Wing’, together they take the album into a tense and darker middle section.
Twisted Wing:
The opening line ‘You cannot fly, and every night you dream of scaling heights’ came to me whilst listening to a radio program about an actress in the 50’s now retired. She was describing herself as having ‘dusty wings’, and would relive her nights on stage in her dreams… it was incredibly moving. The lyric suggested a majestic orchestral progression to me set at an energetic pace. I wrote the lyrics with Julie Scott. When she hits those high notes I get goose bumps every time.
Slowmotion:
Written with Finland’s finest Dj (and my good friend) Orkidea , ‘Slowmotion’ has undergone many incarnations, rearrangements and remixes. It didn’t make it onto Rain Stars Eternal, it just didn’t work with the rest of the music… but I knew it had a rightful place on Touchstone. The addition of the Édith Piaf sample and the editing gave the track the extra dimension it required for a place on the album. Even though it is much slower than ‘Twisted Wing’ it seems to lift the pace at that point in the record, most bizarre!
The Best Way To Make Your Dreams Come True Is To Wake Up:
A very long title, for sure, but as one of my colleagues said “what better than poetry in a title itself”! The title is a direct reference to the French poet Paul Valéry, who coined the phrase. I had fun with some new vocal compression techniques when recording this track, so much so that I tweeted the geekiest tweet of my life, of which I am thoroughly ashamed. I only began to feel comfortable with my own singing voice around the time of ‘Late Summer Fields’. The response from my fans to that track was a real surprise, and it freed me in a sense, to sing the lyrics I was previously writing for other artists. The lyrics in ‘The Best Way’ were a product of my insomnia, when I’m working on music I struggle to sleep properly, in addition, when I recorded the vocal take for this, I had a terrible throat infection, but being the masochist that I am, I thought it would lend the performance a rough ‘edge’.
Zeitgeist:
Orkidea and I both love Trance music from the early 90’s for it’s intelligent arrangements, the inclusion of many different parts and the weaving of different textures and elements throughout the tracks. Each time we write together, we assign different parts of a simple melodic progression to different instruments – it’s a ‘question and answer’ mentality. Zeitgeist is a pure club record, its relentless arrangement doesn’t let up for a moment. I fell in love with ‘Yellow Moon’ by Catbird when it appeared on the Solaris International show as a ‘Chillout Moment’ back in 2008, the ‘Fly with Me’ vocal sample was shoe-in for this track.
The Last Defeat (Part Two)
As a teenager I loved the way that Genesis would split an epic track into two parts on an album, so I decided to go one step further and save ‘Part Two’ for the next album. It’s one of those little bits of detail which resonate with fans too. Lucia Holm of Sunscreem had long been a heroine of mine, I was delighted when I succeed at coaxing her into writing a vocal for the track. ‘Part One’ was, to my mind. a musical vision of a battlefield when all is quiet and peaceful, but Lucia interpreted it as making love for the first time, I was practically in tears when I heard the song. The Strings, Rhodes and Hammond added some drama to the song as it takes a diversion into the dubby middle section. I edited this down from a mammoth 13 minutes for the ‘Touchstone’ sequence.
There’s A Universe
Musically the combination of electronica and 60’s instrumentation is a pastiche of influences from many great British bands of the last 40 years. Billy and I both sing on this one, spookily we struggled to remember who had sung what when it came to the backing vocals, our voices seem to morph into one. I recorded 16 layers of harmonies for the ‘aah aah’ section, if you listen closely at one point you can hear the telephone ringing in the background. The song itself is an ode to universal love, grabbing it with both hands when it’s there, and savouring the memory when it has gone. After all, as the man said “It’s better to regret something you have done, than to regret something you haven’t done’.
Q: Solarstone do you have a favourite track from your “TOUCHSTONE “album if so why?
Ss: It changes day to day… it is a little like asking me which of my children I prefer! I love the album as a whole entity; I’m satisfied with it in a way that is quite rare for me. Of coarse there are still things I would change, like adding string sections etc, but there comes a point where you have to let it go.
Q: The VMM would like to know Solarstone why did you decide to call the Album “TOUCHSTONE“?
Ss: Well, as the concept of the album is ‘inspirations’, two definitions that I have found for the word ‘Touchstone’ are these: (1) The recognition of, or reference to, a visionary source of inspiration (2) A standard by which others can be measured. These two definitions perfectly sum up what I was striving to achieve with the record – to wear my inspirations on my sleeve and also to make an edm album that is adventurous and unafraid to try something new.
Q: Can you tell the VMM what support have you had Solarstone from the industry so far for your“ TOUCHSTONE“ album?
Ss: The reactions to the record have been fabulous. I don’t pay much heed to other peoples critical breakdowns of my music to be honest, it seems self defeating. All the music I release is music I believe in and it is from the heart. Solarstone fans are a sophisticated bunch and I think they have been very welcoming and accepting of my experimentation over the years! Anyone who expects 12 trance tracks one after the other from a Solarstone album is missing the point.
Q: Solarstone as a well respected producer of Trance music can you tell the VMM how do you feel the trance sound has changed over the last decade?
Ss: Trance music, like any other genre should either mutate and adapt, or die. I love the way things grow and change; there are a small amount of innovators in our scene and a larger group of producers who follow them. I think it is a healthy scene generally, I love it.
Q: The VMM would like to know will you be releasing any singles from the “TOUCHSTONE” album and have you decided yet who will be on the remix duties for those releases?
Ss: I love releasing singles with remixes but you have to carefully consider who to remix them. The next single is the title track, with some fabulous remixes from artists like Aly & Fila, Orkidea and Cassino & Laben. The subsequent single with be an experimental release on my Molecule label of ‘The Best Way to Make Your Dreams Come True Is to Wake Up’ featuring disco and Italo remixes.
Q: Can you tell the VMM Solarstone will you be touring the “TOUCHSTONE“album around the globe and if so where and when and what can we expect from this album tour?
Ss: Of course! The ‘Touchstone’ world tour is coming together nicely; it kicked off in Sheffield in the UK on June 25th, then on to Poland & the Netherlands, then the Asian leg which includes Kuala Lumpur, China & Indonesia. Other territories are being booked now I believe and the dates are regularly updated on my website solarstone.co.uk and also via my myspace and ilike.com pages.
Q: Finally Solarstone where and when can the VMM viewers buy and download this NEW “TOUCHSTONE” album?
Ss: It is available across the usual download stores, the iTunes and Solarstone Shop portals include a digital booklet with the MP3 version, plus there are signed copies available of the CD. We made a neat little 3 sticker set for the CD too, plus posters and other goodies! We have a great viral campaign underway via the album website where fans can win great prizes and earn points by embedding Touchstone Widgets on their social network pages! Also on the website there are dedicated pages featuring information about the artists I collaberated with on the record.
The VMM thanks Solarstone for taking time out for this Album Interview and we wish you success for the new album and success for the rest of 2010. Also don’t forget to check out the Album review in the VMM Album reviews in this Aug issue 2010.
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