Through the mirror

What is a mirror? Does it show reality? Does the reflection show truth or is the image bent by our biases? Is there a parallel world on the other side of the mirror?

Ever since I was a child I was intrigued by mirrors. I remember two of them, one in the guest room of my grandparents country house. It was a very old mirror, the  back coating was already flaking off making it look ancient. Whenever my grandma was busy with chores around the household I would sneak in the “forbidden” room and look in that mirror until I got scared by some imaginary monster. 
The other mirror that fascinated me was in my other grandma’s second bedroom. I remember spending a few summers there in my teen years. I remember the exact time when I started questioning the truth behind the reflection I was getting back. The image I was seeing looked like me in that room, but in the end was nothing but  photons rushing back at me. It wasn’t me, it was a projection of my body a minuscule fraction of a second before. But what if there was a different world on the other side of the mirror, an ever dwelling in the very recent past one? Or what if the world shown to us in mirror is totally bent by our current beliefs and biases. It is said that younger people live in the future and older people live in the past. Where do awoken people live? Do they see the truth reflected back at them? Buddhism teaches us that all we have is here and now. The mirror though, gives us a glimpse into a world forever anchored in a fleeting moment. Could one travel back to a time and place of a different self?

Some of the tracks included on this incredibly procrastinated album were written when I was a teenager. They reflect back a world of “miracles and magnets” to quote David Gilmour in The Division Bell, a world of eternal questions and different values. This is a realm to which I like to return every now and then.

04 - MIKE'S NICE STERNUM

While messing around on the piano with part I of the Mysterium series, I stumbled upon this idea. The two chords repeating during the song give it an unsettling feeling. It's like being torn between two opposite feelings, like having a soul storm. While brainstorming is a voluntary thing, a soul storm it's something that catches you unprepared. So let yourself be carried away and see where the rabbit hole takes you!

Here&Now

Mysterium II - Soul Storm

'Cute Little Muse' is the beginning of the three-part Mysterium series. One morning, my little one was playing some random lines on my steel tongue drum. All of a sudden the first four notes of this track started repeating here and there in his play. I tried to memorize the idea and recorded it on the spot on my phone. The mood of the song lent itself to an Al Di Meola kind of musical arrangement. This song is for Andrei, my "cute little muse".

Mysterium I - Cute Little Muse

I love to jam with my tiny Ditto looper. I also love to try new alternate guitar tunings. I tuned one of my guitars to DADAAD and this musical theme materialized out of thin air. Like most of my compositions, it starts small and grows to epic sizes towards the end.

Onwards

Years back I used to play with a nu-disco ban called Nuage. During one particularly boring recording session in which I was required to play the same passage on repeat for minutes on end, this idea came to me. Maybe it was my soul's desperate cry for something else, or maybe it was the fact that I was studying a lot of Bach in that period. Anyway, I thought it would be a palate cleanser in between all the other tracks of this album. Happy listening!

Fuge, Tace, Quiesce

This album was devised to showcase my musical status quo. As opposed to my first album 'Through the Mirror' which was envisioned as a travel back in time to my younger years. Most of the songs on 'Here&Now' were recent compositions and ideas. There is only one exception, track number 7, which was written a pretty long time ago.

The Unknown Soldier

What can I say, my wife is my muse. I decided to go for a more acoustic approach for this particular song, to create a bit of contrast with the previous one.

Ioana's Tune

I know it's a cheesy cliche, but even after 22 years of being with my wife, I still dream of her. While I won't divulge the contents of the dream, I can say that I woke up with the main melody of the track in my head. I rushed to my home studio, grabbed a guitar and quickly recorded the line on my phone. The orchestration and instrumentation came naturally. Enjoy!

Dreaming Of You

I've been experimenting with alternate guitar tunings and landed on DGDGBD, a rather Jimi Page kind of tuning. Also, I've been exploring some Romanian folklore music and some themes and ideas started to seep into my music. A good friend of mine and amazing violin player, Sabin Penea was in town, so I invited him to partake in the making of the song. I was hoping for maybe one or two tracks of violing and ended up with more than 30!!!
'Early Wine' is a complete journey in itself, starting with the folklore-infused idea and orchestration, then taking a left turn to jazz fusion, and ending up with a heavy rock variation of the beginning.
Prepare to be spirited away on an epic journey!

Early Wine

I was experimenting with some arpeggios and suddenly this idea came to mind (or soul). At the time of recording it, I just bought a JCM800 replica and it was a match made in heaven for this particular track. 
Rock on!

Rock Etude

I love a good story; all good stories have a good beginning. Like always, the idea for Ouverture started as a guitar idea. I loved how the off-kilter 9/8 rhythm made it feel, so I turned it into a full-blown orchestral piece. It is short but an opening piece, so it's only meant to pitch the listener's interest in what's coming next. Enjoy!

Ouverture

Filip A. Dascalu, aka FIDAS, is a multi-faceted artist from Bucharest, Romania. In his 20 years within the musical field, he’s worked on both sides of the microphone; first as a performer for numerous live, TV and radio shows, with bands and artists of various genres and later as producer and engineer.

FIDAS

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