Audio Gourmet - Subconscious Substance [wh112]
This album is themed around the idea of nostalgia, the subconscious and distant memories; that strange intangible feeling triggered by a familiar stimulus. The brain associates these stimuli with a dormant memory in the brain. Sometimes, these memories can be relived clear as day…others so feint a glimmer that you cannot possibly comprehend what your brain is trying to tell you.
This album should hopefully capture the essence of nostalgia, and also serve as a preservation for the sound that I have lifted from every day life.
(1) Garden’s Apex
Some of the faintest of memories lie in childhood. It will seem a natural process to explore as time presses on and you grow older, yet for children the first experience of this begins within their own back-garden.
(2) 7 Minutes Of Peace
This track is an effort to preserve and transport the listener to the amazing level of peace I felt as I wandered around Caldey Island, near Tenby, Wales. The piece accurately captures the sheer tranquility and general aura of the island, and shall serve as a vivid nod of nostalgia for as long as I live.
(3) October
It is October, late Autumn, and winter begins to draw near. The familiar scent of burning wood reminds us of many a year gone by. The leaves have turned, shrivelled and dropped, leaving our trees bare once again as yet another year passes.
(4) Preserving The Obsolete
A well looked after piano can last over a century, outliving most human beings. It was my usual walk home from lunch, past the auction rooms, where I was to discover the piano. It was left out for the skip, discarded and disused. I decided to come back when nobody was around and see if I could squeeze any last sounds from it before it were to be condemned to the tip forever. I can be unsure of the age of this piano, but try to imagine the lives that it has touched? The people who have played on it? The people listening? Its past owners?
(5) Forgotten Dreams
We spend days, months, years sleeping and dreaming. During which, all of our thoughts and past experiences are regurgitate and merged together to create surreal experiences that for just a moment, seem real. Each time we go to bed, for the hours that we spend sleeping, our brain creates a subconscious existence within our mind. Only a fraction of this will be remembered vividly. For the rest of our life, these forgotten dreams can only be faintly relived…just for a split second.
(6) Subconscious Substance
The subconscious substance - the brain’s basement of memories, events and past experiences, forgotten. We only revisit them for a split second, when a familiar stimulus triggers a sudden moment of unexplained nostalgia.
(7) 25 Years On
In just a 25 year lifespan, a village, town or city can change considerably. Imagine revisiting somewhere you have not been 25 years on…Old buildings are destroyed, new ones are built. The size of the place can grow, the shops and businesses can change and the whole place will seem rather unfamiliar in comparison to the way you remember it. Yet, in and amongst all this change, a few things remain unchanged and familiar.
All of this change is difficult to comprehend, as the memories you hold so fondly seem like yesterday. It is only when you look how you too have changed and what has happened in your life that you will realize the magnitude of time that has elapsed.
(8) Underlying The Mind
Inside our minds, there are many negative aspects that we are constantly battling with. Doubts, regrets and things we’d have done differently, just eating away at us. An optimist will try to put these niggling pessimistic thoughts to the depths of their subconsciousness. However, regardless, from time to time the thoughts will creep up to the surface of our minds and infect our dreams…
(9) The Future [BONUS DRONE]
This track was included on the album at the last minute and is an edited version of a 25 minute piece. This quiet reflective track serves as a window into the boundless and unknown future. It is quite easy as humans with our advanced brains to ponder upon the past, but it is fascinating that the future and what will happen is a complete mystery. Even more mysterious and intangible than nostalgia itself…
TRACK ORDER:
01 Garden’s Apex (03:52)
02 7 Minutes Of Peace (07:23)
03 October (09:39)
04 Preserving The Obsolete (07:49)
05 Forgotten Dreams (03:30)
06 Subconscious Substance (09:47)
07 25 Years On (07:22)
08 Underlying The Mind (04:59)
09 The Future [Bonus Drone] (12:57)
Recorded and Produced by H. Towell
Cover photo by H. Towell
total time: 01:07:18
Download the whole album as a zip file or
click here for more downloading and streaming options.