MicControl

What Were We Waiting For?

Leaving Richmond is the product of one man, Jordan Pier, whose original concept for the project was to create electronica based compositions for the use of television and film. This album is a collection of 5 pieces- the first three tracks are solely instrumental, the last two tracks on the album feature guest vocalists. While I found most of these pieces to lack depth and variation from movement to movement, I understand that these are supposed to be complementary to visual art such as film and television, and doesn’t necessarily need too much variation. That being said, the concepts of each piece work very nicely, and while there are things that are characteristic of Leaving Richmond that can be found in each song, each piece seems to be quite different from the previous one. The most obvious characteristic of this music is the fact that the drums tend to be in double time of everything else. The lack of space between drum hits gives the music a very energetic feel- this technique could perfectly set the mood for a tense scene or possibly a getaway!

The music is also quite layered. While most of the instruments involved seem to be either electronic or affected to seem so, I found the inclusion of an acoustic guitar added an extra layer of dimension that this music could have lacked without it. A lot of electronic music can feel flat due to the incessant layering of electronic rhythms, melodies and sound effects, but by including the warmth and rhythm of a real instrument, the music instantly feels more alive. As I said before, most of the album is instrumental, but the last two tracks do feature guest vocalists. The vocal melodies, also written by Jordan Pier, are surprisingly well developed. I was surprised to hear the melodies actually resembled more of a pop sound then the typical electronica vocals, where the vocals are typically just a loop of a single melody over and over again. Here, the melodies seem to evolve and change from section to section, helping to build the piece as opposed to just remaining ‘just another layer’ of the music. Although one thing I do have to comment on that I found quite annoying was the very obvious use of an auto tuner for the vocals of Track 04, Shortcircuit Nicely. For the most part, the auto tuning wasn’t that noticeable, but there was a line that was repeated again and again where the vocalist would sing ‘ahhh’ as her voice would shift through 3 separate notes- all clearly affected by an auto tuner.

While this music is not the most interesting I have ever heard, I do understand that it has been created with a purpose- to be used for television and film. Although I don’t see myself putting this album on my ipod, I do feel that the strong compositions, consisting of interesting layers, strong vocal melodies, and high production values, are quite suitable for complimenting visual media.

www.myspace.com/leavingrichmond