While creating the album, I was both developing my sound as an artist and discovering more about who I am as a person at the same time. Naturally, the concept of creating music using only my voice manifested completely on its own, without any prior intention or agenda. Upon reflection of the process to create ’II’, the ‘voice’ concept feels almost obvious, as I was truly developing and expressing both my personal and artistic ‘voices’ in tandem with one another. The result is not only the new album ‘II’, but changed versions of the self and artist behind it as well.

I felt inspired to create something that was truly my own – not trying to sound or be like any one or thing in particular, but letting the sound in my head translate in as raw and unfiltered a way as possible. This was a sonic parallel to the truth I would learn and choose to express – revealing my struggles with mental illness in tandem with the music’s release.

Through this album, I am speaking openly and honestly about my story with Bipolar Disorder in an effort to raise awareness and end the stigma around mental illness, and am donating proceeds from streaming and sales to organizations supporting mental health awareness and anti-stigma.

Throughout my life, I have been fortunate to have had a strong support network. I’ve known where to go for help, who to talk to, and had loved ones there for me when things went awry. However, there are so many struggling who do not have that same privilege. This is why I have chosen to make mental health advocacy as part of my mission as an artist, and support crucial organizations like the CMHA (Canadian Mental Health Association), in an effort to provide to others the same opportunity for help that I have had. 

Through this 1.5 hr cinematic and experimental concept album, my hope is simply to inspire emotion in my audience — a feeling of connection in those who struggle, and sense of compassion in those who struggle to relate.

Credits:
All works* composed, performed, recorded, produced, and mixed by Andrew Bennett at 0110 Studios 

*’Before the Fall’ written, composed, recorded and performed with Armen Bazarian at the Banff Centre 

‘In Order To Understand, I Destroyed Myself’ vocals spoken by Stephanie Mah & Andrew Bennett 

Mastered by Matt Colton at Metropolis Studios 

‘II’ cover artworks by Kenton Doupe

Album booklet: 
All graphics and visuals by Kenton Doupe 
Poetry by Factor Eight

Created with support from: 
Sask Arts 
FACTOR Canada & Canada’s Private Radio Broadcasters
Creative Saskatchewan 
Canadian Mental Health Association Saskatoon 

Thankyou to: 

Mom
Dad
Dina
Matthew
Ana
Deb
Iain
Nano
Conner
Brian
Jesse
Bob
Kenton
Kaspyr
Level
Eve

The Beginning

Enigma

Created entirely with my voice* as a parallel to my mission in giving 'a voice' to mental illness. 100% of proceeds from sales will be donated to the CMHA Saskatoon.


Mastered by Matt Colton.
Artwork by Kenton Doupe.

*upon some forensics during mixing, I discovered that I made some snapping sounds that made it into A Voice (II). Only after creating what are now known as A Voice (I) and (II) did I consciously decide to constrain myself to my voice for this project. With these tracks being the beginning of the current musical journey I am on, I ultimately decided to respect what the tracks were at the time of their inception. My plan is to create a specific number of ‘A Voice’ pieces before moving on to something else.

Donate

A Voice (II)

Whisper

Thank-you to Kyla Vongrad for doing a fantastic job singing on this piece, and to Nadja Sveir for creating the cover artwork. Check out Nadja's beautiful photography at flickr.com/people/sveil/

Élan

This summer I had the honour and joy to create music for Whistler Mountain Bike Park's 'In The Zone' campaign. This piece is called 'Fitz Zone'.
The video can be found here: http://www.pinkbike.com/news/fitz-zone-the-heart-soul-and-personality-of-the-whistler-mountain-bike-park-2014.html

Fitz

This summer I had the honour and joy to create music for Whistler Mountain Bike Park's 'In The Zone' campaign. This piece is called 'Garbo Zone'.
The video can be found here: http://www.pinkbike.com/news/garbo-zone-tangled-roots-amp-rock-gardens-2014.html

Garbo

This summer I had the honour and joy to create music for Whistler Mountain Bike Park's 'In The Zone' campaign. This piece is called 'Peak Zone'.
The video can be found here: http://www.pinkbike.com/news/whistlers-peak-zone-top-of-the-world-2014.html

Peak

I had the rad opportunity to score Chromag's piece, 'The Silence', featuring athlete Remi Gauvin. Check out the video here: http://www.pinkbike.com/video/371221/

The Silence

This is a piece I hold close to my heart, as it comes with a backstory about a large and important part of my life that, sometime ago, I cautiously decided to move away from. Created for a narrative dance concept by choreographer Joanne Morris, this music was one piece to a greater picture; a culmination of music, prop design, contemporary dance choreography, acting, preparation and performance, to deliver a story; a ship crew sailing out to sea, finding themselves caught in a storm, losing a crew member to turbulent waters, and eventually finding hope of refuge upon seeing the revolving light from a lighthouse. Various art forms found a synergic intersection to create a beautiful feat on stage; a strikingly powerful manifestation of this story told by the dancers choreographed to embody both the ship crew and the water.
Growing up as a dancer and learning to extend the emotion of a piece of music, I was eventually lead away from dance to a second and forefront passion that is music. I find deeply enriching, opportunities to interact with people in a meaningful way, and share with both artist and audience in creation and revelation of art. This music was a role in such an entity, taking part in the creative experience of artists on and off the stage, and the reciprocal experience within the audience of the performance. Bearing this, having the opportunity to see two spheres of my life meet brought an already treasured and memorable experience to a place of personal value. Thank-you, Joanne, for inviting me along your artistic journey, and I look forward to what our collaborations may bring in the future. This is ‘Life Is But A Dream’.

Life Is But A Dream

Sincere thanks to Jesy Almageur for the artwork on this piece. Explore Jesy's beautiful work:
jesyalmaguer.com

Lyrics:

helpless at birth, confused unaware / awoken with truth, future stood tall
simple it may be, burden to bare / they to stay, end would befall
truth missed home, lives lost / life to all, fluid then frost
cease or destroy, flame then ash / life without meaning, at what cost
clash between lies, no peace inside / met with time, here to decide
calm would set, a day under rain / gift to make you, i will not hide
time was special, as we find dawn / not knowing where, past goes on
tome struck, shouts light in air / her form complete, words not gone

tearing down walls, lost sight of this now / break in dark home, to fear of you

but forever met them, despite words they both knew / to live like this, a gift wished not true
it's time, she knew, her kiss was like a / whisper / never heard, he/she said, 'goodbye, i love you'

Goodbye

To The Sun

Original video created by Pelle Creative:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSr4f5R39Xo

Xterra

WIKILY is a piece I finished during my time in Berlin, but has a story that goes back a little further, and holds some personal significance for me. It’s a piece I first started at the beginning of a relationship just over two years ago, and I found myself returning to it after that relationship had ended. The title W.I.K.I.L.Y., is actually an acronym with a dual meaning: “When I Knew I Loved You” and “When I Knew I Lost You.” It reflects both the beginning and the end of a relationship, along with my creative process in bringing the record to life. 

Music has always been an emotional outlet for me. This record, too, is created with only my voice voice as a parallel to expressing my journey and story with mental health--and that journey includes all of the relatable human experiences we all go through, which in this case happens to include the beginning and ending of a relationship.

WIKILY

Created using sounds of the Saskatchewan River for my collaboration with Ana Solano - 'River Voices'.

"With music, dance, and light, ‘River Voices’ tells a story of re-birth. The music was made using only sounds recorded from the Saskatchewan River. Along with contemporary dance choreography, the artists create an emotionally evocative journey. Between water and sky, they transform the Traffic Bridge into stage and metaphor — a threshold between states of being. As the river flows eternally but is never the same, ‘River Voices’ captures the fluid nature of human transformation."

We, The Water (music from River Voices)

ALIVE

Lisa (feat. Iain Howie)

In ancient Greek religion and myth, the Anemoi (Greek: Ἄνεμοι, "Winds") were wind gods who were each ascribed a cardinal direction from which their respective winds came. These Greek Gods were each associated with a unique season.

Anemoi

Created for use in visual media. Thank-you to the Saskatchewan Arts Board for your support on this project.

For licensing please contact andrew@factoreight.net

Riot

An Undoing

Being Honest

Blindside (w/ Iain Howie) V1

Andrew

A Voice (VI)

A Voice (V)

Vocals spoken by Andrew Bennett & Stephanie Mah.

In Order To Understand

This series relies on contorting my voice in @ableton into various sounds to construct the entire arrangement.

(IV) is essentially a slowly-evolving ambient mammoth, and contends for the piece I am most proud of out the entire series. However, my perception may be slightly coloured by this being the favourite of @iainhowie.

(IV) initially began in the same project as (III). Indeed, they were once a marathon of musical movements, cinematically flowing into one another. However, as each movement evolved, they grew out of their home together, as well as past the limitations of my CPU.

Out of the entire series, I feel that both (III) and (IV) extend the furthest beyond the what is expected of the voice in music, finding intrigue with extensive transient manipulation in @Ableton.

Many thanks to Matt Colton (@puttingitonwax) for once again bringing this track all the way home with his unrivalled master work on this track.

A Voice (IV)

A Voice (I) is the first of what would became an entire body of work created using only my voice. While I did not set out to create in this way, the concept became a sonic parallel to both the personal and artistic voice that I would discover over the course of the project. 

The voice concept manifested organically while exploring new ways of designing sounds from different sources of audio. Both A Voice I and II grew from the same initial piece, and for each eventually distinct work, they felt to me to have almost created themselves. Of what became 6 tracks created in this style for the album, (I) is the most minimal arrangement, allowing the imperfections of the voice to shine though, emoting a raw, vulnerable feeling. In this way, A Voice (I) establishes the intimate, human thread underlying the entire 1.5 hour concept album.

Common across all of my work, I channel emotion into my music. This project came out of a particularly challenging experience, and it felt cathartic to come back to it over the time that it was being created. I feel as though music can act as a vessel to capture and relay emotion to the audience — hopefully being a meaningful experience for both the artist and the listener alike. 

I hope this piece might move you as much as it helped me.

Thankyou.
Andrew

A Voice (I)

This piece was titled while looking back, many years later, at the time of its original composition. Retrospectively, that time felt strange and unstable – a shallow happiness and illusion of peace that would inevitably collapse into darkness and turmoil. An internal misalignment, that with but a small exogenous spark would manifest self-destruction. 

You can hear my sonic representation of this collapse at precisely halfway through the upcoming album. Placed in the first half, this track was fittingly given the name ‘Before The Fall’, and it is available now, wherever you listen to music.

Before The Fall

Alamoray (Short Edit)

Liberty

Experimental electronica artist creating music using only my voice, and raising awareness for Bipolar Disorder. 

I hope this music moves you as much as it helped me.

Factor Eight

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