While putting the finishing touches on Moments, I’ve been working on some themed generative music that will become my next album. The album is all about astronomy. One of the things I love about astronomy is the humbling notion of being a fragile, non-important object floating around amidst many other inconspicuous objects. I kind of puts you in your place. It shows you that there is nothing incredibly special about your place in the universe and that it’s up to you to make your life special. I’m reminded by something Carl Sagan said in The Pale Blue Dot:

It has been said that astronomy is a humbling and character-building experience. There is perhaps no better demonstration of the folly of human conceits than this distant image of our tiny world. To me, it underscores our responsibility to deal more kindly with one another, and to preserve and cherish the pale blue dot, the only home we’ve ever known.

I’ve been very influenced by Brian Eno’s 77 Million Paintings and taking that approach into my music writing. I’m trying to write a lot of music that isn’t necessarily constrained by time. There’s no defined opening bit or middle bit or ending bit. I want to approach the songs as if they’ve always been playing and I’m just now tuning in. The songs never end. You just sort of tune in from time to time and listen to what they’re doing at that particular moment. I’m very interested in that.

This particular piece is a 4 minute edit of the 12 minute album version of a song for my next album Background Music 2 (Music for Stargazing).

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