“I Feel Like I Forget Everything” / Nyquil
Personal reflections on recent realisations regarding memory. Sought to create an ambient evolving set.
Concept/Inspiration
Following 2019’s hibernation, Queeste reappears with the mnestic soundscapes of DJ Lostboi and Torus’ split album The Flash. Across eight gossamer evocations—four from each artist—the duo reflect on individual journeys from airport to sea during the blissful embers of fading summer. Their gaze expands and contracts naturally with passing locations but lingers on the titular flash, what the two artists describe as “the rare sight of the sun giving off a bright green lightburst into the horizon.”
https://queeste.bandcamp.com/album/the-flash
Been listening to a lot of this lately. My focus with my visual work over the last year has shifted to memory and its decay. Have also been composing ambient tracks over the last year to go with it. Wished to implement techniques like granulation, trance gates and filter sweeps.
Sound
Layer 1: “I’m God” by Clams Casino and Imogen Heaps. Sample. Used miClouds and miVerb to space it out. Start a LFO on amp on a triplet grid when Layer 2 kicks in. Pitched up to 1 semitone to D#.
Layer 2: Fade in by accelerating SuperHoover synth to pitch up. Bring in place by making acceleration 0. Arpeggio pitched up to D#. Increased sustain to make sounds bleed into each other. The alternate cycle of arpeggio modes speeds it up during certain parts creating tension and release.
Layer 3: Default guitar sample, arpeggiated. Initally krushed and crushed. When layer 1 and 2 fade out, guitar slows down and crush is removed.
Layer 4: voice memos. Series of iPhone voice memos taken over flights over the last year. Both of the ones used here are JFK to DEL. Striated and formant shifted to create artefacts and simulate data/memory corruption.
Visual
Worked on a gyroid tunnel raymarching shader last semester for a Unity class. Decided to pursue it further, as the imagery of an infinite tunnel scape works with this exploration of memory. Parameters being controlled by midi are tunnel density, tunnel shaping, green value of ambience lighting, time multiplier, fog cutoff and in the end, the blend of my memory. Accentuating and distorting on risers and heavier parts. Empty, sparse – light at the end of the tunnel – during downbeats.