The Barriers Project (Jan - September 2022)
[Work in progress]
Album cover for "Fiberglass and flowers (Parts 1 through 4)
- The Barriers Project -
The Barriers Project is a series of dark ambient musical works, stories, and artwork that all come together to tell a set of stories from a larger narrative. Said narrative can be described as a fantasy/horror story I have been working on for a while now. All of the writing, composing, producing, photography, editing and compiling is done by myself. The project took up a majority of my free time in 2022 as a passion project. Looking back on it, I have a mixed perception of certain parts of the project for various reasons, but in general I feel as though the general aims of the project, to tell a story using music was met, putting aside my opinions and taking a more objective perspective on the project as a whole.
This post aims to present the album as a whole with as little personal bias as possible. Visuals and audio will be provided throughout this post. I hope you enjoy this delve into one of my largest musical undertakings.
Track art for "Fiberglass and flowers" (2022)
Part 1: Fiberglass and flowers
Fiberglass and flowers is the first part of a series of plunderphonics albums produced between January 11, 2022, and September 11, 2022, known as Barriers. The project consists of three albums and one single, each album consisting of twelve tracks. The albums themselves are segmented into four parts for each, every part representing a story, and each track representing a point in that story, all of which form an interconnected web that plays into a larger story going on in the background. There are thirteen parts in total, and Fiberglass covers parts 1 through 4 of the project.
Fiberglass was in production from January 11 to March 5 2022, and was released on the following day. In the days leading up to the full album's release, each of the four parts were separately uploaded to Youtube. The album was also released on Bandcamp, though it was added on the 20th of January, the album changing as progression played out until it was finished.
Length
Fiberglass and flowers is made up of 12 tracks, each of varying length, style, and composition. Due to the story-oriented nature of the album and for an alternate listening experience, the album was split into four parts, each of which containing 3 tracks each. The album's total runtime comes out to just under two hours, each individual part coming out to an average of 27 minutes, with the longest part, Part two being 32 minutes long. The album was not made for physical release, which is why the runtime is so long, though it is possible that it could fit as a double LP record if there were means to do so.
Artwork
The album boasts a lot of artwork, 15 pieces in total including bonus tracks. Each individual track has its own artwork in addition to the main album artwork. Each part assumes the track art of the first track for each part. Though all of the artwork may seem different, they are all comprised of digitally altered photographs taken in different locations. The locations and subjects were carefully chosen to fit around the story and soundscape, and due to the variety in subject matter and the variety of how accurately it could be achieved with existing photography, the source material presents a vast array of variety.
Musical composition
As stated above, the primary genre of the album, aside from experimental, is plunderphonics. What that means is that most or all of the music is built from samples pulled from various sources. There are a couple of commonalities between the samples chosen, mostly due to the experiments with such soundscapes becoming more favorable in terms of the sound and progression of the album than others. Similarly to the artwork, the aural source material is vastly different, even within a given track. It presents an interesting juxtaposition when a deep, dark piano drone is contrasted against a recording of an orchestral song from the fifties. Though the themes are varied, the album has a typically ambient-yet-uneasy feel to it, especially in the use of certain recordings which play more or less into the unnerving nature being presented.
Background story
Story is a large component of the album. In total, there are four smaller stories that all occur at different points in a larger story. There are many connections between each story, and these connections become more apparent in later albums. The four stories told in Fiberglass are rather varied though.
Part 1 is about a flower store representing loss and grief,
Part 2 is about getting lost and the shock of change of lifestyle,
Part 3 is about cover-ups, cults, and destruction, and
Part 4 is about rage and running away.
The stories themselves are a lot more nuanced than the above descriptions, however they give a general idea of some of the important themes and background information related to them. Each piece of the story represents a different aspect of the surrounding events, and due to the variance in how each story is split up between the three tracks, the jump from one 'plot point' to the next can be just a few minutes, or multiple weeks from a story perspective. The most notable example of the time disparity is Part 2. From Cold bridge (Dead of Winter) to Fleeting eclipse, the story goes backwards from a progression standpoint as the narrator reminisces on past events, before jumping back to the 'present' established in Cold bridge as the third part comes in. Though this can be jarring from a storytelling perspective, it is a non-issue as the story between each part only needs to be cohesive and telling the same story, and not necessarily linear in progression.
Conclusion
To conclude, Fiberglass and flowers is a powerful album not only in the context of the Barriers project, but on its own. Due to the compositional elements at play in the album, it is able to stand on its own while the other two installments rely a bit more heavily on the strength of the trilogy as a whole.
Additional information
- The first tracks produced for the album were 3 twenty-minute long tracks which both set the standard for the hallmark sound of the album, but also the four-part system
- Though these tracks themselves were scrapped, some segments of them were used in the final product. The following tracks all include segments from the original three tracks: Fiberglass and flowers, Umbra Baptisia Australis, Deepspace monumentality, and She returns
- Interestingly, there was not a Part 2 made in this stage. The tracks made were titled Part 1, Part 3, and Part 4. They had names to go along with them but the originals have been lost to time.
- The full Youtube compilation upload (linked above) of the album is slightly longer than the proper album length, and this is due to the addition of an intermission segment which is not present anywhere else.
Track art for "Twilight and thunderstorms" (2022)
Part 2: Twilight and thunderstorms
Twilight and thunderstorms is the second part of a series of plunderphonics albums produced between January 11 2022, and September 11, 2022, known as Barriers. The project consists of three albums and one single, each album consisting of twelve tracks. The albums themselves are segmented into four parts for each, every part representing a story, and each track representing a point in that story, all of which form an interconnected web that plays into a larger story going on in the background. There are thirteen parts in total, and Twilight covers parts 5 through 8 of the project.
Twilight was in production from March 4 to June 6 2022, and was released on the same day. In the days leading up to the full album's release, each of the four parts were separately uploaded to Youtube. The album was also released on Bandcamp. Though it was added on the 20th of January, nothing was added until June, the album changing as progression played out until it was finished. Although the album was uploaded in January, no tracks were uploaded until March when production started.
Length
Twilight and thunderstorms is made up of 12 tracks, each of varying length, style, and composition. Just like Fiberglass, the album was split up into four parts, following a similar length to that of the former. The album in general is about three minutes longer than Fiberglass, the longer tracks appearing towards the end rather than in the beginning. Length considerations were also not taken into account during the production of Twilight, other than the focus on formatting it in a similar way to the previous album's trends.
Artwork
As the series progressed, the production of artwork became much more sophisticated. Much like the previous album, the artwork was produced after both the primary versions for both the story and tracks were completed, however the process was slightly different. For a few of the artworks, several iterations were made. Even the main album cover was changed at some point to match the artwork for the title track which features a rather cheesy lightning photo effect. The source material remained the same, but the edits became a lot more detailed. As previously mentioned, the lightning and rain effect is one part of this. It can also be seen in the artwork for the third track. As well as this, other interesting effects can be seen such as lens flares, multiple filters, and heavy use of clone stamping. The source material chosen for the artwork also became a lot more varied in terms of locations for the photography.
Musical composition
The album was built up in a similar way to Fiberglass was, with most of the songs being completely made up of sampling other songs, and though the style remains similar, there were two notable changes that occurred. One is that the use of field recordings and original music became prominent in some songs. In the title track, it adds a lot to the atmosphere of the track and meshes well with the other samples of thunder and rain. Its other uses are far more subtle, but like all of the other subtle elements present in Fiberglass and Twilight, they add small bits of interest to the tracks. The other notable change is that in some places, the music came with a story in mind. This led to some decisions which may have not been favorable to the final sound. On top of these two changes, the production went through technical improvements, and the use of more samples throughout each track. More experimentation occurred in this period in terms of aural textures, samples, and different techniques for achieving these new sounds. One of these developments was the use of using the samples as "soundfonts", or instruments, techniques which were played into much more in the two albums preceding it, Mental collapse, nervous breakdown and Inserenity and infernos. Another technique was creating different takes for either certain segments of songs or entire songs. Just like for the artwork, plenty of extra material was produced, a large portion of which were showcased on 'Solar eclipse on a March evening', a compilation album of bonus content that was released a day before Twilight and thunderstorms.
Background story
Just like in Fiberglass, the story element of Twilight is a large component of the album, but it is put more to the forefront in Twilight, which can be directly observed through the way the music is influenced by the story, not the other way around. It may not seem like it makes a difference, but it does. The stories in Twilight are also quite varied between parts.
Part 5 is about finding solace in the unexpected,
Part 6 is about becoming a ghost and losing the people around you,
Part 7 is about changing into something new and forgetting yourself, and
Part 8 is about escapism and the horrors of being alone.
The stories are far more nuanced than those descriptions, though they serve as a basic explanation. Another new aspect that Twilight introduces is a deeper connection between stories. Each part has a partial connection to the equivalent of it in the previous album; each connection is as follows:
Part 5 comes directly after the story in Part 1, picking up right where it was left off and continuing in a more atmospheric direction,
Part 6 focuses on a character that's related to the one in Part 2 and shares some themes and imagery,
Part 7 tells another version of the one in Part 3, the two occurring parallel to each other with similar characters, and
Part 8 tells a story parallel to the one in Part 4, however they both end around the same point in time with both characters meeting each other.
The parallel connections which are first showcased in Twilight are a large aspect of the surrounding story. Not only does it introduce parallel connections though, Twilight is more interconnected than Fiberglass. The stories in Parts 2 and 3 both overlap in time, though only for a brief moment which is somewhat glossed over in the writing.
Conclusion
In conclusion, though Twilight may not be an aural improvement, in terms of the development of the story, artwork, and technicality, it is a large development. The album presents a great second installment in the series from a story perspective, but due to the production's grip on the story, it cannot stand independent from the background like Fiberglass can.
Additional information
- Unlike Fiberglass and flowers, production on individual tracks rather than parts was started immediately.
- The full album release on Youtube (linked above) contains an intermission segment just like Fiberglass does, however the tone is very different and the segment is slightly longer.
- Both intermission segments sample previously made tracks, however the Twilight intermission, dubbed "Unknown transmission" is more intricate.
Track art for "Twilight and thunderstorms" (2022)
Part 3: Inserenity and infernos
'Inserenity and infernos' is the first part of a series of plunderphonics albums produced between January 11 2022, and September 11, 2022, known as Barriers. The project consists of three albums and one single, each album consisting of twelve tracks. The albums themselves are segmented into four parts for each, every part representing a story, and each track representing a point in that story, all of which form an interconnected web that plays into a larger story going on in the background. There are thirteen parts in total, and Inserenity covers parts 9 through 12 of the project.
Inserenity was in production from June 6 to September 6 2022, and was released on the same day. In the days leading up to the full album's release, each of the four parts were separately uploaded to Youtube. The album was also released on Bandcamp, though it was added on the 20th of January, the album changing as progression played out until it was finished. Although the album was uploaded in January, no tracks were uploaded until March when production started.
Length
Inserenity is the second longest album in the trilogy, falling less than a minute behind Twilight in total length (not counting extras or intermission). Just like the first two, the runtime is split somewhat evenly throughout all four parts of the album, albeit in a bit more noticeable way than the other two. Also like the first two, there is a noticeable difference between the lengths of some tracks, especially in Part 10 and Part 11. These differences are less pronounced than in some cases in previous albums however. In terms of production length, Inserenity was created over 92 days, or roughly 13 weeks. The turnover time is comparable to Twilight's production time, but the two are far longer than the 55 days that Fiberglass was produced in.
Artwork
The artwork production in Inserenity is one of the less noticeable changes, though it contains a few very significant changes. A less significant change it demonstrates is a more expanded use of cheesy Photoshop effects that could be seen in Twilight, effects which include flame effects, lens flare effects, and filter gallery textures. These are only really apparent in the album cover and the artwork for the first two tracks. The use of effects had also changed in a different way, which was making the scenes both more detailed in the less apparent changes, and more stylistic and thought out in the effects. Examples of both can be seen in the artworks in Part 10. Another change was yet another change in the source material used. Most of the photography used were camera raw files, which allowed the photographs to have a higher quality and a more textured feel due to the grain which came along with it. A large chunk were also taken with a newer Motorola phone camera, specifically all three in Part 9. The only to not source either are tracks 7, 8, 9, and 10. Just like in Twilight, a more detailed selection process for artworks was taken, where multiple pieces were created for multiple tracks with the best ones being selected from a group.
Musical composition
The general themes of the music are rather similar to the previous two installments, especially in the sample choice and nature of certain tracks, however for the majority of the album; the more heavy, dark ambient, and droney tracks, the feel is a little bit different.
