Lore -- Preview

[Mattias Westlund]

I've been working on an album over the last three months or so -- and no, not Ravnir's Saga, that one has been put on the backburner for the time being. This one just happend while setting up my new home studio and getting used to living at a new place. It's called Lore. I was planning on releasing it late April/early May but considering the progress I've made the latest weeks and how much work is left it's probably not going to be out until the beginning of June. But we'll see.



Unlike Waters of Redemption (and Ravnir's Saga) I've played this a lot closer to my chest than usual. Getting feedback at an early stage is always useful, but at the same time I think that for the listener, it also detracts from the magic of discovering new music. I mean when you've heard a song evolve from sketch to finished product, you kind of lose a bit of mystery along the way. So I decided not to go public with any of the music until the album was well under way.

So, here's an exclusive preview for the denizens of Scoring Central!

Please note: as mentioned a lot of work still remains; some tracks are half finished and if a tune just trails off weirdly and ends, that's probably the reason. I switched from one cymbal lib to another late in the project, so if it sounds like the cymbal player had a bit too much to drink in places, well it's because I haven't gotten around to editing those parts yet. Also, aside from the first three and last three, the track order (and even some of the titles!) is very much up in the air.

With that said, enjoy, and let me know what you think.

Edit: I almost forgot. Time Immemorial is an old track, I even posted it here about a year ago. But as it fits the theme and sound of Lore to a T, I decided to include it. It was almost as if it was looking for an album to belong to. I'm working on a new version, using the same samples as the rest of the tracks, but I figured it was better to use the finished old version for the preview.

[Mattias Westlund]

And oh BTW, should it be "Brigand's Den" or "Brigands' Den"? I'm thinking an entire bandit camp rather than the den of a sole brigand. English is confusing sometimes.

[Michael Willis]

Oooh, this is exciting! I've been looking forward to this one ever since you put the teaser post on your main site. I'm traveling right now, I'll give it a listen once I'm back to my normal routine with access to a decent set of headphones.

(04-05-2018, 10:36 PM)Mattias Westlund Wrote: And oh BTW, should it be "Brigand's Den" or "Brigands' Den"? I'm thinking an entire bandit camp rather than the den of a sole brigand. English is confusing sometimes.

Both possessive and plural would be "Brigands' Den". Yes, English is incredibly confusing, even for native speakers. For one thing, it is the only language that I am aware of that inspires spelling competitions, a testament that English spelling makes no sense.

[Nayrb]

Ah! I've been waiting for this. Sounding marvelous. I agree that it can be a great deal of fun keeping things under wraps and saving them for the big reveal. For that reason I limited myself to a few of your WIPs of Waters; but that limited my ability to engage in the conversation, pre-release. Pros and cons on my end, I guess...

And yes, Michael is right about the grammar. An even weirder thing about English is that most native speakers don't even know that about possessive plurals. They just use the singular possessive (or even just the plural) and wonder why MS Word tells them it's wrong.

This new album is sounding great. Overall I'm getting a sense of sweeping grandiosity. Plenty of variety and different moods as I have come to expect from you; but the general atmosphere is cohesive, unified by vibe that my first listen is leaning toward dubbing "majestic."

I'm getting a bit of Age of Wonders, which I always enjoy hearing pop up in your music. And the flute melody at the beginning of "Whispers on the Wind" reminds me of something... From Oblivion, maybe? It's a really nice track.

[Otto Halmén]

This sounds really different from your previous work! Rather than expose and develop, you stretch time and zoom in on the textures. The words "ambient" and "impressionism" came to mind.

I've listened once from start to finish. The track that struck out the most to me was Evenfall. The beginning sounds slightly similar to some of your early work: A harp and oboe playing a contemplative, folksy tune. Then the choirs and flute comes in - polytonally, it seems - and reality crossfades into a strange dreamscape. Then we slowly make our way back to where we began. It's a mini-journey.

[Samulis]

Hey Mattias, I haven't had time to listen in great detail, but what I've heard so far, I like a lot. It harkens back to the older styles of virtual orchestration. Great use of the broader orchestra as a whole, and as usual the work you put into phrasing and using the instruments to their right potential shows.

[bigcat1969]

I'm far from an expert as is known. So lets just say i'm honored to share the same forum as Mr. Westlund. Well done!

[Paul Battersby]

22 tracks. That is a lot of work. I envy your ability to be so productive.

I'm currently letting all that music play in the background as I sit here using my computer.

[Mattias Westlund]

Thanks for your comments everyone! I understand that 22 tracks/~1h of music is a lot to take in or even have time and patience to listen to, so I'm not expecting detailed feedback on all tracks or anything like that. Just wanted to let you know what I'm up to.

(04-06-2018, 01:32 AM)Michael Willis Wrote: Both possessive and plural would be "Brigands' Den". Yes, English is incredibly confusing, even for native speakers. For one thing, it is the only language that I am aware of that inspires spelling competitions, a testament that English spelling makes no sense.

Yes, that's what I thought but it looked wrong somehow.

(04-06-2018, 03:23 AM)Nayrb Wrote: I'm getting a bit of Age of Wonders, which I always enjoy hearing pop up in your music. And the flute melody at the beginning of "Whispers on the Wind" reminds me of something... From Oblivion, maybe? It's a really nice track.

I think you might be thinking of Wings of Kynareth, at least that's what I seem to associate it with, though the melodies aren't super-similar.

(04-06-2018, 04:45 PM)Otto Halmén Wrote: This sounds really different from your previous work! Rather than expose and develop, you stretch time and zoom in on the textures. The words "ambient" and "impressionism" came to mind.

Glad to hear someone say that, because I wanted to do a lot of things differently this time around. More on that later when it's time for release, but suffice to say that I wanted to compose something that isn't full of pounding rhythms and staccatos all the time.

(04-06-2018, 04:45 PM)Otto Halmén Wrote: I've listened once from start to finish. The track that struck out the most to me was Evenfall. The beginning sounds slightly similar to some of your early work: A harp and oboe playing a contemplative, folksy tune. Then the choirs and flute comes in - polytonally, it seems - and reality crossfades into a strange dreamscape. Then we slowly make our way back to where we began. It's a mini-journey.

Evenfall isn't actually finished, I need something more in there, but yes it did turn out almost jazzy

(04-06-2018, 09:13 PM)Samulis Wrote: Hey Mattias, I haven't had time to listen in great detail, but what I've heard so far, I like a lot. It harkens back to the older styles of virtual orchestration. Great use of the broader orchestra as a whole, and as usual the work you put into phrasing and using the instruments to their right potential shows.

Thanks Sam! I feel it's my duty to use as much of the orchestra as possible, seeing as how many composers nowadays forgo woodwinds completely...

(04-07-2018, 02:47 AM)bigcat1969 Wrote: I'm far from an expert as is known. So lets just say i'm honored to share the same forum as Mr. Westlund. Well done!

Haha, thanks

(04-07-2018, 07:57 PM)Paul Battersby Wrote: 22 tracks. That is a lot of work. I envy your ability to be so productive.

Well it's not always like that; I often suffer from creative constipation just like everyone else. But sometimes music just happens, almost as if one track triggers the next, and so on, and the more you have the easier it becomes to weave another new detail into the tapestry.

[Nayrb]

(04-08-2018, 10:16 AM)Mattias Westlund Wrote: I think you might be thinking of Wings of Kynareth, at least that's what I seem to associate it with, though the melodies aren't super-similar.

That's the one! Yes, certainly very different melodies; just a pinch of similarity at the opening that tickled my brain a bit.