This is a remix of my song “No More Sundays” (1997). The original version was created without notation, while it is inspired by the notated compositions of Steve Reich, especially in this case, Proverb (1995). In my variation on the aforementioned work, I composed a text with plenty of vowels sounds, first singing it as a melody, and then as a series of lengthening four-part canons against a repeating two-part piano canon. I played an electronic drum part that recalled Stewart Copeland’s 6/4 backbeat on the Police song “Synchronicity I” (a track that to my ears also sounds inspired by Reich).
For the remix, which does not alter the pitches or tunings (intended and otherwise) themselves, I digitized the original 4-track cassette elements. Tracks 3 and 4 (voices, keyboards/cymbals) copied in reverse, as I transferred them using a standard cassette player which plays two tracks in one direction as side A, and the other two in the opposite direction as side B. I then aligned the reverse tracks against the forward playing tracks 1 and 2 (snare/kick, voices). This resulted in the song’s harmonic and formal structure being layered upon itself in a quasi-palindromic crab canon. It also broke up the syllable structure of the canons. I did some further breaking up and relayering of voices, especially in the introduction which was originally a vocal solo, and here now includes a set of timed echoes (digital canons).
Written and recorded February 1997, Korg 01/WFD, Yamaha 4-track cassette
Cassette transfer and remix December 2017
Music and composer’s notes copyright Bruce Russell 2017
