This song stems from a call I attended at work that brought some interesting emotions.  It encapsulates the feelings of turmoil after the call and then the subsequent making sense of it all - I hope the music evokes that.
It took quite a while to birth – I didn’t find it easy to put together and it didn’t ‘flow’ for a long time.  I had lots of musical ‘bits’ but nothing cohesive – but it was all in the same key in my head.  I knew I wanted to try to move around a number of keys in the same song so it reflected my disquiet (the last half shifts from Dm to D, then Cm, Fm, F#, back to Cm and finally Am) and that made it quite difficult to keep the lead guitar interesting…there’s a bit of dissonance but it does resolve eventually.

After The Chaos - [rough edit]

Mellow(ish!) instrumental using lots of harmonising.  It started with me just playing around on the initial phrase and idly hitting the harmonise pedal which triggered all sorts of ideas in my head.  I couldn't get them down quick enough!  The song took literally 30 minutes to write and it's a corker to play - makes me smile every time!
I couldn't for the LIFE of me think of a title though, so I played it to my daughters - who are my biggest fans :) - and my (then) 10 year old said it sounded like it was representative of a battle going on.  And so 'Call To Arms' was complete...

Call To Arms - [rough edit]

Rock instrumental with a classical feel (with apologies to  Messrs Handel, Vivaldi, Pachelbel, Mozart et al!)
I love the baroque musicians - and I especially love the stringed stuff.  I was mucking about with those chord sequences and playing over the top of them and the first 'verse' happened.  I got a bit stuck then (probably because the masters were quite good at it and I'm not!!) and it took a bit of time and difficulty for the rest of the track to get out and become cohesive, but I think I managed it in the end.  I do wonder what the aforementioned gentlemen would think if they were alive today...

Turning The Tide (Baroque Moon) - [rough edit]

A lively rock instrumental with a bit of harmonic minor, a bit of major and a bit more baroque... Not perfect (I'll redo it at some point), but I enjoyed playing it!
It started with the first riff (on the A) and all of the undertones from there are _very_ simple.  There really is nothing flash in the backing track!  But I tried to steer clear of your typical pentatonic solo scales and put a bit of melodic minor in.  'Jericho Road' seems (to me) to sum up the slightly middle Eastern feel of the tune and the fact that the song takes you on a bit of a musical journey.
The middle section was initially just something I had been playing with in isolation but it seemed to fit and gives the track a bit of 'light and shade'.  I love the snap ending...I hope you like the song.

Jericho Road - [rough edit]

On 14th (or possibly 15th) May 2016, 22 year old sex worker/prostitute Renee Duckmanton was murdered in Christchurch, New Zealand, her killing linked to her profession.  When this hit the news, I just remember feeling SO sad that this kid – and countless others like her -, barely out of her teens, had a) had to go into that line of work and b) had her life stifled and then snuffed out before it had really begun.  She must have been miserable and terrified at the end.
I just sat down and played my guitar to try to reflect on that sadness and the first eight notes of this song are what came out.  They were played slowly and slightly mournfully…it was just me expressing my feelings.  I played that refrain for ages and gradually added bits that fleshed it out, until what you hear is what grew.  The song has actually ended up at a quicker tempo than I’d originally planned, but it didn’t work (as a whole) when it was slower.
I knew what the song meant but I didn’t have a title.  I again turned to my daughters – one of whom (then 11) said it was one of the best songs I’d written (so it must be true :D ).  She also said that it sounded a bit like there were happy parts and sad parts and that it seemed to her representative of having to find a way through life.  ‘Trial By Fire’ seemed most appropriate.
Rest In Peace, Renee.


Trial By Fire - [rough edit]

You know this one.
This is a song (well a prayer) that everyone of a certain age knows – and that everyone of a certain age will remember saying (or even singing in vague monotones) whilst in the school assembly in that old echoing wooden hall…
We trotted it off like a mantra, very few of us actually listening to the words we spoke/sung.
I always have musical voices going on in my head that often distract me from normal life and recently in my musical ‘schizophrenia’ I heard a refrain in my head that seemed to fit with ‘Hallowed be Your name’ (I have no idea why I thought of that).   Anyway I thought I’d try and make what was once a drone in school assembly more…interesting.  Let’s face it, a lot of ‘religious’ music is pretty pants (Stryper are a notable exception :D ) and that one isolated refrain eventually led to this song here.
There is also a version with words on Soundcloud  ('cos I suppose you should be able to hear how I've re-interpreted it)but I’m very self conscious about my voice, so I prefer the instrumental version…I hope you like it


The Lord's Prayer (instrumental) - [rough edit]

This song had been sitting around dormant for years – but it wasn’t right.  Then one day it just kind of opened up in my head and I _knew_ exactly how it went…all I had to do was record it.  The title has a significance because the chord sequence reminds me of one of the less honourable encounters I’ve had in the past…

Secrets and Lies - [rough edit]

This instrumental flowed almost instantly – it took about 30 minutes to develop.
I’d taken a time lapse movie of the sunset and later moonrise of Mount Taranaki (New Zealand) from our deck in Inglewood and I thought I’d set it to music.  I could ‘hear’ the opening bars as the sun set and I wanted something slow and soulful over the moving stars, so I put the opening bars through my looper...and just played.  Then I harmonised, then did it all again; it just all seemed to fit immediately: what you hear is pretty much the first take.
The movie can be seen on my YouTube account at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EomqiU9-cR4 - it has Christian overtones so if that’s not your thing, I hope you just enjoy the instrumental here.

Andante Moonrise - [rough edit]

I heard a snippet of a tune on the radio in the car that sounded a bit like the first bar of this song…the volume was very low and I was distracted, so it was probably a completely different tune and my brain filled in the blanks – but it was enough to set things off.
I knew it had to harmonise and I knew the song had to build, but beyond that I just fiddled away until something cohesive formed.  I managed to incorporate the fill (in the middle and leading to the outro) that I’d had sitting around for ages and before long the piece was just sitting there, complete.
I had no title but in my mind the music evoked escaping…flying…freedom.  I think ‘Flight to Freedom’ fits well.

Flight To Freedom - [rough edit]

I was watching a YouTube clip of a classical music quartet playing a baroque piece and the style kind of got stuck in my head.  A phrase formed and kept playing over and over in my mind until I just played it on the guitar, worked out some backing and - hey presto - a chorus of sorts.  I then spent a bit of time playing around with supporting chord sequences until this piece formed.  The middle eight bit is a bastardisation of a snippet of a tune I heard on kids' programme my daughter was watching on Netflix.
It all came together quite quickly but, as usual, the title eluded me.  I played it to my (then) 10 year old who said it made her think of lions and pumas.  So there you have it: ladies and gentlemen, I give you 'Baroque Jungle'.

Baroque Jungle - [rough edit]

I've always got something musical going round in my head... Just create!
www.markbelchamber.com
mark@belchamber.org

Belchamber M

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