BOB HOLROYD
Over the last few months I have been releasing a series of singles on the Real World X label. All the pieces were written over the last couple of years, and when I listened back to them I realised that the theme running through them all is that of waiting, being in the moment, but not really knowing what that moment actually is.
Sometimes it’s anxiety, sometimes it’s resignation of the situation, sometimes it’s almost meditative – reflecting on not rushing, actually enjoying each day and each small thing, things that often I hadn’t really noticed or taken much time to look at.
On one hand it makes me really want to just get on with as much as I possibly can, but on the other, I know that I can’t force my creativity, it’s part of who I am and the sum of these experiences.
A sense of looming anxiety ticks methodically as the music begins, but that unease becomes a nervous euphoria that breaks-out into bursts of rhythmic energy. In many ways it encapsulates the current times perfectly, where our desire for normality and renewed social interaction is still tempered by the uncertainty of what may still be around the corner."The idea was to try and represent how I felt when I wrote the track in the first lockdown, and now how I feel about it, and the situation in general, 18 months on."
‘Ship Sailed’ is a reflection on and response to the recent global events. A time of seemingly unlimited free-time, but consequently days shorn of inspiration and motivation. “Here was a time when I had nothing else to do, and no excuse to stop me spending all day writing and recording. However, this became a huge pressure in itself, I felt that I should be getting on with stuff, but felt really uninspired. Then, I think, by not trying, ideas started coming back.”
“My music has become a lot about space, not rushing, letting the ideas gradually form. I love to explore the textures of different sounds, and how these can be combined to make a sort of sonic collage. This track definitely is about the waiting, the tension of not knowing what will happen. But things can and do develop within us, layer by layer and we do move to a different internal space – we just can’t always push it.”
Multiple similar piano lines laid on top of each other, each one played without listening to the previous part. Some takes time stretched, others at normal speed, create a repetitive but varying series of layers, sometimes working together in harmony, sometimes feeling discordant. At times calm and meditative, but also anxious and uncertain.
