Sunrise Over Peaks - Musik

Ericksøn Is Erickson Smith And Up And Coming Independent Artist. Born And Raised In Boston MA He Records Mainly In Victoria BC And In His Hometown. Using His Own Equipment And Software Erickson Is A Self-Produced Artist Giving Him The Time And Artistic Freedom Needed To Explore What Music Is And How He Wishes To Challenge It. The Benefits Of Being Self-Produced Have Allowed Him To Write And Record Music In A Variety Of Genres From Industrial Electronic Noise To Ambient Atmospheric Multi-Layered Tracks Of Acoustic And Electric Guitar To Minimalist Songs Of Simply His Voice Coupled With A Guitar. The Subject Matter Of His Music Largely Has To Do With Where In His Life He Finds Himself When Recording. His First Album "Looking A Head Feeling Be Low" Was Released On June 17 2009 As Many Things Were Ending And Others Soon To Begin. The Album Began In The Summer Of 2008 With The Writing Of “Your Last Call”. It Was About A Year Long Process Sometimes With Long Gaps Of No Inspiration And Other Times Producing 2 Or 3 Songs In One Weekend. The Album Was Not Only An Exploration Of His Artistic And Musical Preferences And Ideas But Also The Digital Production And Mixing Of Music.
The Album Is A Concept Album Of The Different Mindsets Moods And Emotions Felt When One Is About To Leave Everything They’ve Become Attached To. The Final Song On The Album “On The Threshold” Was Written To Portray The Feeling Of Being On The Threshold Of A New Adventure And The Emotions Felt As One Steps Through The Door.
The Album Began In The Summer Of 2008 With The Writing Of “Your Last Call”. It Was About A Year Long Process Sometimes With Long Gaps Of No Inspiration And Other Times Producing 2 Or 3 Songs In One Weekend. The Album Was Not Only An Exploration Of My Artistic And Musical Preferences And Ideas But Also The Production And Mixing Of Digital Music.
The Album Was Released On June 17th 2009. Non-Coincidentally This Was My 16th Birthday. The Album Comes At A Monumental Point In My Life When I Am Finishing My Sophomore Year And Getting Ready To Leave My Home Of 13 Years For Another Country As Well As My Stepping Into An Age Of Young Adulthood.
The Album Is A Concept Album Of The Different Mindsets Moods And Emotions Felt When One Is About To Leave Everything They’ve Become Attached To. The Final Song On The Album “On The Threshold” Was Written To Portray The Feeling Of Being On The Threshold Of A New Adventure And The Emotions Felt As One Steps Through The Door. " Winter/Heart Break" Was Recorded Over A Period Of 3 Weeks And Is Ericksøn’s First Cover Album Released On January 10th 2010. The Album Was His Effort To Cope With A Heartbreak And The Album Itself Was Both A Struggle And A Soothing Process. Through It He Tried To Transmit Emotions In To Something Tangible Through Words Or Through Melodies. The Songs Chosen Were Both Nostalgic But The Love Within Them Rings True Despite The End Of An Exchange Of Love. The Album Is Not So Much A Lamenting As It Is A Remembering Appreciating Yet It Is Undeniable That The Songs Are Tinged With Melancholy And Sadness.
He Hoped To Release Yet Recognize And Appreciate The Emotions Thoughts And Memories That Have Affected My Life As Of Late. And As The Album Was Released At The End Of A Winter Break He Released It In Hopes That It Is Also At The End Of The Other Breaks Felt In The Recent Past. "Old Beginnings" Was Released Roughly 8 Months After " Winter/Heart Break" But The Production Of The Album Consciously Or Subconsciously Began Some Months Before The Winter Album. Released On August 27th 2010 It Is Arguably The Best Ericksøn Album To Date Both In Its Subject Matter Musicianship And Cohesiveness. This Album Too Was Produced With The Concept Of Story-Telling In Mind Both To Tell His Own Story But Also A Universal Story Of Recklessness Footlooseness The Thirst For Adventure And Travel With The Exception Of "Sunday Morning" Which Was Produced To Honor The Predicament Of Soldiers Who Against Their Will Fight In Other Men's Wars. The Tracks Are Arranged In Such A Way That A Story Is Told Through Them From A Departure Of A City That Raised The Narrator To An Escape Into The Open World To The Recollection Of What Was Left Behind Or How He Was Left Behind By Someone Else ...The Album Is Mostly Anecdotes Whether Told Through Words Or Through Instrumentals And Each Song Can Be Applied To A Certain Moment To A Certain Event In The Narrator's Journey.
The Album Looks To Explore The Mental And Emotional Process Of Someone Who Has A Thirst To Leave To Get Away To Disconnect But Through Disconnection To Connect With Another Greater Thing. A Progression Is Clear From The Start To Finish As We See The Narrator's Excitement Die As He Has More Experience And As He Begins To Truly Appreciate What He Can Now See He Had In The Grounded Life.
Musically This Is Perhaps Ericksøn's Most Experimental Album Although The Musicality Of The Songs Is Not Random Or Incoherent When Placed Next To Each Other. Erickson Attempted To Push The Boundaries Of His Music Playing New Instruments Or The Same Instruments He Always Had In Different Ways. By Writing A Song In The Style Of A Sea Shanty "The Northwestern Shore" Playing Guitars With Violin Bows "The Northwestern Shore" "How Long?" Hitting Strings Instead Of Plucking Them "How Long?" Using Peruvian Quenas Panflutes "Sunrise Over Peaks" Beatboxing "Sunday Morning" And Playing A Pakistani Drum With Jazz Brushes "Hewn" "Waiting For This Train" .
Another Exploration In "Old Beginnings" Is The Use Of Ambiance. As The Album Was Recorded During The Summer The Locations In Which Erickson Recorded Were Often Full Of Crickets In The Evenings. He Took Advantage Of This And Often Used The Crickets To Contextualize The Song Either By Placing It In The Summer Setting Natural Setting Or Evening Setting. He Also Used Flies In "I Have Fallen Behind" To Create The Image Of Stagnation Decay Death. Also In "I Have Fallen Behind" Erickson Experimented With The Use Of Animal Sounds And The Moods They Can Set Within A Song. The Wolves Howling In This Song Are Done By Erickson And Then Effected In Such A Way To Make Them Near Unrecognizeable.
Finally "Old Beginnings" Is The Album In Which Erickson Shows The Progression Of His Use Of The Guitar In His Music. In Almost Every Track On The Album There Is Either Acoustic Or Electric Guitar And The Use Of Guitar Is Countless Different Genres Of Music Heavily Influenced The Versality Of The Guitar Within Erickson's Music In This Album. Perhaps The Furthest He Branched Out From His Normal Uses Of The Guitar Is The Solo In "Sunday Morning" In Which He Uses A Distorted Electric Guitar During The Climax Of The Song. Never Having Soloed Before In One Of His Songs This Was A New And Interesting Experience As He Wrote A Solo Instead Of Just Improvised It.
"Old Beginnings" Again Is A Cathartic And Emotional Experience. The Album Places The Listener Within The Mind And Heart Of Erickson And Looks To Make Clear If Not For The Listener For The Artist Himself Who He Is At This Moment Where He Is Why He Is Etc. The Album Was Written During A Period Of Stagnation Which Curiously Gave Way To Artistic Innovation And Creation. read less