FAWM: "Amber Eyes"

Amber Eyes

1 week ago by @atam94

Liner Notes

My little puppy boy Reece has the prettiest amber eyes. He’s a shih-tzu mix with such a loving personality. I think it’s safe to say this for myself as well as for my wife: We couldn’t imagine life without him now that he’s become part of the family.

The gentle piano melody soothed him when I first started playing it. That’s when I looked at my wife and said, “This song is dedicated to Reece, and I’m calling it ‘Amber Eyes’”…

I set out to include a sense of calm unpredictability to go along with the core piano performance. (That’s one way I’d describe having a pet, too, I guess)… so I included a generative ambient loop with Pocket Scion, which is a biofeedback device that generates control voltage from plants. It was a Christmas gift from my wife, and I truly do enjoy including it in my songs.

I also played Plumbutter 2, which has a theremin-like section called a “Deerhorn” on the rightmost side of it. The patch cables on it are set up to route rhythmic pad-like audio from the AVDog sections to the Ultrasound for slightly more buzzy sounds. If this is too technical, just enjoy the beautiful wood grain because Plumbutter is such an organic-sounding, wonderful thing.

Lastly, some moments feature field sounds from when Reece and I went outside to record b-roll footage after I made the song for him. The sound of the breeze during the fragile piano melody soothes me, personally.

tl;dr - This song is dedicated to my dog, and I used music gear that I got from my wife as a way of sonically unifying our family through the audio waves.

#piano #ambient #queer #instrumental #love

Comments

@lastkeymusic 1w

Gorgeous, wintry ambient ballad, and I love the unique added touch from the Scion

@atam94 1w

Thank you!! I like using it to add some random generative backgrounds sometimes. It’s a really unique device

@yam655 1w

This was lovely. I quite enjoyed it. When I was a kid I had a biofeedback device, but it never would have occurred to me to use it for music purposes. Neat.

@atam94 1w

hey thank you! And yeah, I'm starting to care for a few plants now, so it's pretty cool to be able to connect with them to make music

@williamjames 1w

This sounds like a frozen over lake at dusk before the snows. Only thing missing is the ice cracking and singing through the frozen air.

@atam94 1w

ooh I like picturing that!! very cool, thanks for sharing what it made you picture while listening :D

@betoMod 1w

The Pocket Scion is so cool! And it's lovely to see your grandma's piano in this beautiful composition for Reece... it's a wonderful piece, and Reece is such a lucky dog!

@atam94 1w

Aw thank you 😊 Reece sure is a good little puppy. My wife and I are very lucky to have him

@joshalmond 1w

Pleasant, peaceful track. Wasn't expecting piano from you, it's really nice, and I like that you dedicated it to your pup. You always have such good ambient music!

@atam94 1w

thank you Josh!! I've been shifting instrument focus recently and am dedicating this FAWM (and maybe a whole era) to piano-based music for a good while

@musicsongwriter 1w

Very beautiful piece, atmosphere and playing. Wonderful sounds. A pleasure to listen to.

@atam94 1w

Thank you Nadia, that means a lot coming from you 😊 ❤️ I really appreciate it!

@chill4matt 1w

Hello to Reece! I love how you always seem to get that ripe, raw, ambient sound. The last half is most wonderful! I enjoyed the added touch of the video presentation.

@atam94 1w

Thanks Matt!! I appreciate that, and I'll tell Reece you said hello 😄

@sheslin 1w

Your dog is adorable! I also play piano and guitar, and I get very different songs out of each instrument. I really love your ambient sound, and the creative things you do. The fragile piano melody is beautifully haunting in the very best way. I also love how you use space so effectively.

@atam94 1w

Thank you so much, Susan!! I just listened to your skirmish song, and I agree that we can get very different songs based on whether we choose guitar or piano.