Chemist and Mystic on the Riverwalk

by Burning Rome

	/

Streaming + Download

Includes high-quality download in MP3, FLAC and more. Paying supporters also get unlimited streaming via the free Bandcamp app.

Purchasable with gift card

name your price

Chemist and Mystic on the Riverwalk 01:15:50

about

Here, a rolling enigma of modal abstraction, kaleidoscoped folk dances, and fractured ragtime, under the total advantage of computer control. Who does this, and why now? It's an attempt to build on certain strains of modern/classical music, aware of the world outside the gates.

In music theory terms, tone rows frame the melodic & harmonic language, using serial/cellular methods, atonal but regulated slightly toward melodic minor and pentatonic. In electronic music terms, a step sequencer drives additional step sequencers, all transposed by another step sequencer. Rhythms are tethered to a frame by similar methods, with elastic and fluid range.

The music can be proved under its own rules. But these are technical concerns, strategies to achieve an organic, recognizable, but elusive design, and save a great deal of labor.

Best to listen while seated upright.

The illusion of acoustic piano is realized using Pianoteq 8 software by Modartt, on their model of an 1899 C. Bechstein grand, lightly customized, captured by 2 stereo pairs of (virtual) microphones. Hall ambience is added using a separate IR (impulse response) reverb.

This recording incorporates parts of "old barn empty wind 150328_0544.flac" (freesound.org/people/klankbeeld/) at subliminal level to resemble incidental sounds of a performer and small audience.

credits

released October 2, 2023

license

about

Burning Rome Milwaukee, Wisconsin

burningrome.com

contact / help

Contact Burning Rome

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this album or account

If you like Burning Rome, you may also like:

Time to Die
by Christine Ott

The latest from multi-instrumentalist Christine Ott alternates ghostly piano compositions with lush & hovering synth-driven songs. Bandcamp New & Notable Apr 11, 2021
go to album
Romain Azzaro Presents: Colours of Now
by Romain Azzaro, Sacha Hladiy, Paul Behnam, Ruth Mogrovejo, Nicolai Johansen

Experimental music, drone, and neo-classical combine in this world-building record, breathtaking and expansive. Bandcamp New & Notable Mar 27, 2021
go to album
Brown Loop
by Duval Timothy

Out of print for several years, the rich, jazzy, piano-driven “Brown Loop” by Duval Timothy gets the reissue treatment. Bandcamp New & Notable Oct 18, 2020
go to album
Piano Reverb
by Jasmine Wood

The always-great label AD93 serves up a haunting LP from Jasmine Wood, dreamy songs built from sustained piano. Bandcamp New & Notable Feb 14, 2024
go to album
synth waltzes and accordion laments
by Yara Asmar

As the title implies, the latest from Lebanese artist Yara Asmar combines ambient synths with treated accordion in dreamlike songs. Bandcamp New & Notable Oct 31, 2023
go to album
Jumand
by Witch on Horseback

Purportedly the recordings of a disgraced experimental psychologist (you decide), “Jumand” sets spoken word to eerie synths. Bandcamp New & Notable Sep 2, 2023
go to album
Aramoana
by Robert Scott, Takumi Motokawa

The Clean’s Robert Scott teams with Takumi Motokawa for a record of dense and riveting improvised music. Bandcamp New & Notable Aug 20, 2023
go to album