Sometimes we are affected by things that are personal such as memories, health, and relationships. Sometimes we are affected by global issues that concern everyone like conflict, technology, and the environment. Music is an emotional response to combinations of these and this album shares some of mine. The tracks on Up Close and Global are electronic and instrumental but with vocal traces.

Up Close and Global

The four tracks on the EP are a little different from the artist's other music hence the misfits label. Their upbeat momentum gives them a sense of flow. They are instrumental but with vocal traces. The track Nearly There is about the excitement of getting close to a distant goal. 

Misfits 1 (flow)

Nearly There

The four tracks on the EP are a little different from the artist's other music hence the misfits label. Their upbeat momentum gives them a sense of flow. They are instrumental with vocal traces. The track Because Of It All is an optimistic response to events over which we have little control 

Misfits 1 (flow) EP

Because Of It All

The four tracks on the EP are a little different from the artist's other music hence the misfits label. Their upbeat momentum gives them a sense of flow. The track Doctor Flow was named in tribute to Mihalyi Csikszentmihalyi who defined the psychological concept of flow which is the pleasurable mental state that occurs when a person is absorbed in an engaging activity.

Doctor Flow

Passionate Records was written by John Potter (vocals, keys) and Peter Totterdell (synth) in the early 1980s. The original recording  was made on a 4-track reel-to-reel tape recorder by Pete Winn. This recording was split, remastered, and supplemented in 2024 by Peter Totterdell. Song lyrics were composed and sung by John Potter (of the_music_of_what_happens). They reflect a period when he was regularly moving his vinyl records between Croydon and Leeds in England. The added ending is a homage to the passion of the vinyl record that features at the end of Graham Greene's novel Brighton Rock.

Passionate Records

Wash Cycle is an ambient piece composed collaboratively by John Potter (the music of what happens) and Peter Totterdell who were original members of The Eleventh Hour (in the 1980s). John wrote the piano fragment for the track to which Peter added synth washes. The title of the track aptly suggests the piece is a mental refresh but it actually came about because the noise of a dishwasher may have infiltrated the recording.

Wash Cycle

The three tracks on the EP all concern uncertainty - or fog - and cross genres which makes them misfits. The track Still Considering is a jazz crossover that ruminates on alternative responses.

Misfits 2 (fog) EP

Still Considering

The three tracks on the EP all concern uncertainty - or fog - and cross genres which makes them misfits. The track Fog Horn suggests a small brass band playing on a foggy cliff top while a horn sounds its warning out to sea.

Fog Horn

The two electronic instrumental tracks on the EP are a macro and a micro mix. The micro mix contains fractal-like variations of a section taken from the macro mix. 

The tracks earned the title Safety Pins because the music is spiky (pin-like) owing to the use of some randomisation in the synths but the spikiness was sheltered (made safe) from extremes by auditioning the different versions produced. 

In-groups sometimes wear safety pins to indicate safety to outsiders.

Safety Pins EP

Safety Pins (Macro Mix)

Safety Pins (macro mix)

U & I By Design is an electronic instrumental track from the album Up Close and Global.  Using a blend of sequencer, bass, and vocal elements, it reflects how an internal dialogue about a relationship shapes perspective. The vowels in the title reflect the use of synthetic vowel sounds in the instrumentation.

U & I By Design

The Last Astronaut. This electronic ambient track came about from a virtual reality experience of astronauts conducting repairs outside the international space station. The track captures the disorientation and vulnerability of being in space. A lovely habitable planet was spinning below the astronauts. For how long? Our problem Up Close and Global.

The Last Astronaut

AGI - A Human Prelude. There was a period last year when the possible imminence of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) was newsworthy and the devastating invasion of Gaza was imminent. I didn't sit down to write music about these things, but this piece was undoubtedly a reaction to them.  It is an electronic instrumental with a cold intrusive chill at its centre.

AGI - A Human Prelude

Twilight Commuter. When I began making this electronic instrumental track I was looking out over a misty valley that had a trail of cars heading home from work - the drivers perhaps thinking about their work day or their evening ahead. Another relevant thing to know for this track is that I have a soft spot for the melancholic ache of northern brass bands.

Twilight Commuter

A Failing Engine. I once thought that I would like to have a small boat to idle about in when I was older. Now that I'm older my own engine has faltered and so has the fossil fuel engine that would power a boat. Other dreams have worked out better. This is an electronic instrumental track with vocal elements and the sound of a small boat engine too.

A Failing Engine

Teletape. I don't have much to say about this electronic instrumental track, except that I liked the sound of the rhythm. It reminded me of some old technology - specifically the noise of the teleprinter that accompanied the BBC's reporting of football results, and the punch cards that were used to program computers (holes as information - brilliant!).

I'm Older Now

Teletape

I'm Older Now. Well I am and so are you, and it needs to be reckoned with. The body clock is still ticking, albeit a bit more laboured. Plenty to like about the accumulation of experience though and some beauty still to be found too. Reverse - no thanks. This is an electronic instrumental track with a slow but steady pulse and a vocal thread.

Art is an electronic instrumental track with a bit of a sci-fi feel. I initially called the track Art simply because one of the instrument patches had that name. As it turned out, making this track felt different -  more like painting, less structural than usual. Splashes of sound were reworked and blended. Art after all.

U & I By Design is an electronic instrumental track that blends sequencer, bass, and vocal elements. It concerns how an internal dialogue about a relationship shapes perspective. The vowels in the title reflect the use of synthetic vowel sounds in the instrumentation.

The title of the track - This Time - suggests that it is a response to the times we live in and yes it is partly that but I named the track at an early stage mostly as a self-admonishment because I knew the sound that I wanted it to have but I kept straying onto other tangents.

This Time

O Laurie A is an electronic instrumental track with vocal elements. The track is a tribute to Laurie Anderson's song O Superman but it is different and not as good. The track uses a synthetic vocal rhythm that brought O Superman to mind, and how much that song once meant to me. It reached No. 2 in the UK music chart in the early 1980s. There had been nothing like it before, nor much like it since: No drums, no guitars, but a vocal pulse. Its lyrics involve relationships, technology, the military, and petrochemicals - all still so relevant - and imbued with ambiguity and tenderness. I first heard O Superman in a Department Store - the store felt transformed, so did I, thank-you Laurie A.

O Laurie A

The track title refers to a theory of art known as the 'beholder's share' which sees art as a collaboration between artist and audience because the perception of art relies on the experiences of those who engage with it. In this track, the heavy pressure of the bass and the ticking sound may elicit a reaction that varies between listeners.

The Beholder's Share

Vox Pop (Voice of the People) is an upbeat electronic track with arpeggiated rhythms, percussive beats and voice samples

Vox Pop

The arrangement of this track involved finding combinations of a set of sounds that worked together to advance through the piece, which produced moments of both drama and reflection. This felt somewhat like a chess game hence the track's title.

Chess

Having conducted research on mind wandering in my work as a psychologist, this piece reflects its shifting, integrative, prospective and sometimes ruminative nature. Research has shown that mind wandering - sometimes called daydreaming - can have positive and negative effects depending on context. This track channels the calming, constructive, and imaginative properties of mind wandering.

Mind Wandering

Bandcamp Mind-Wander

Peter lives in Sheffield, England. He was once in a short-lived indie band called The Eleventh Hour, and has returned to music after a career in psychology that included research on emotion and imagination. His music is mostly electronic and ambient but includes vocal elements - sound paintings rather than songs. The album Up Close and Global connects personal and collective experiences.

Peter Totterdell

Pinned to spotlight

Popular tracks