This is so good and the lyrics are great and sad. Top work, here!

Gorgeous stuff and so refreshing to hear on this platform. Lovely intimate setting, great harmonies.

Nice singing, and very soothing. Really nice balance between the parts as well.

brilliant! acapella harmonies are perfect, feels like a chant or a mantra. very original Indeed

Lovely vocals - thoughtful lyrics - good work !

Very nice singing and so well tailored lyrics. I like that simple and clear arrangement based on beautiful duo.

beautiful singing <3 haunting n emotional 

Wow, such beautiful harmonies on this track. Haunting and touching lyrics.

Soul soothing vocals and interesting lyrics, well done :)

I love the minimalistic style its very nice

Beautiful War.m4a

Second track from my debut EP 'armored gooesbump'. Original is a poem in Dutch by me, published in the volume ‘Dat ik het donderen doe’ on my website in 2018. I wrote them for my late Grandmother in law. I hope you like it and thanks for the love!

Now with video! https://youtu.be/ZqHn3AuzLFo

Lyrics & vocals by me
Music & production by Martijn van Dijk
https://soundcloud.com/meneervandijk
Official release 2021


Big & Strong


I might be 
a big strong man
but I can’t keep
my love from crying
believe me
not for a lack of trying
doing all I can
apart from lying
being such
a big strong man
being just
a big strong man

She’s been asking for a verse
to hang somewhere 
maybe between
tears already shed for you
and a portret I have not yet seen

But you, who would allow just one
to capture you 
and your believes
still resist to being framed
and refuse to rhyme with grief

I might be
a big strong man
but I can’t keep 
my love from crying
believe me
not for a lack of trying
doing all I can
apart from lying
being such
a big strong man
being just
a big strong man

I can’t mend what you broke
even though you went
by choice and proud
you leave my love distraught
beaten, but like you, unbowed

kissing me was not your thing
still I belonged
for you at least
cause I can make my sweetheart laugh
please dear grandma, rest in peace

I might be
a big strong man
but I can’t keep 
my love from crying
believe me
not for a lack of trying
doing all I can
apart from lying
being such
a big strong man
being just
a big strong man

Intermezzo

Kissing me was not your thing
still I belonged
for you at least
cause I can make my sweetheart laugh
my dear grandma, rest in peace



















.

Armored Goosebumps

big & strong

Big & Strong

COUNTRAYY

Verse One:
I know you feel it
That tinge in the air
I know you see it
Those looks of despair

Pre Chorus:
People can live a lie
For as long as they want to try
Surging into the night
Keeping Truth from sight

Chorus:
But dawn brings new light
A strong golden might
Courage can save the day
Make the lies go away

I'm not leaving you here
To writhe in fear
I'm extending my hand
I'll carry you through the sand

Spoken Bridge:
These rodents of unusual size have too many seats at the table.
We might need to flip the whole thing if we are to unravel these fables.

Verse two:
I know you hear it
The sirens blare
I know time is short
But there is still time to care

Repeat Prechorus then Chorus

Through the Sand

Through The Sand

Eating Variations
for Baritone Voice and Chamber Quintet (Baritone Voice,  Flute, B-flat Clarinet, Violin, Cello, Percussion)
Duration: 9' 
Text by Ron Singer
Performers: American Modern Ensemble; Robert Gardner, Baritone
Publisher: Bill Holab Music: http://www.billholabmusic.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=1109
Online Perusal Score: https://issuu.com/robertpaterson/docs/eating_variations-fs-bound_perusal
For More Information: https://robertpaterson.com/eating-variations

PROGRAM NOTES
Eating Variations is based on a series of witty poems with the same title by Ron Singer. The work as a whole is essentially a satire on food faddism and depicts different aspects of eating. The way I chose to set these poems is light-hearted, perhaps lighter in spirit than Singer originally intended, but with a serious, dark side.

The first movement, My Body, a Temple, incorporates the sounds of Tibetan Singing Bowls (also called Temple Bowls or Cup Gongs) and is loosely, harmonically inspired by Khöömei, or Tuvan Throat Singing and David Hykes’s Harmonic Choir recordings; both of whom use a style in which the singer produces overtones on top of the fundamental notes. Perhaps mercifully, I do not require the baritone to use this technique, but instead, use the flute to produce false overtones in a couple of spots.

In the second movement, The Hog, the instruments mimic pig sounds with scratchy, grunting noises from the violin and cello and clarinet multiphonics. A round-sounding whole-tone scale is used and there is a Polka-like accompaniment in the percussion.

The third movement, Even the Dyspeptic Must Eat, uses upward and downward runs in the bass clarinet to impart a roller coaster-like sense of Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease, a condition in which there is recurrent return of stomach contents back up the esophagus. This is reinforced with a slow, background groove in the drums.

The cello part in the fourth movement, The Dietary Moralist, is inspired by Dave Eggar, a cellist who can play his instrument like a guitar and sing at the same time. In this movement, I ask the cellist to play in a somewhat folksy style and sing out of tune back-up vocals—to me, reminiscent of a 1960s musical Hippie Sit-in. The main vocalist is backed by the well meaning but out of tune "band." To paraphrase an interesting email exchange with Singer, we agreed that in this context, the vocalist might represent a contemporary version of a certain species of 60's hippie—say, a particularly zealous fair trade coffee purveyor, and that this Malvolio type is singing along with a group of kindred spirits. This movement is not a literal portrayal of the text, which is quite serious in tone, and stretches the meaning more than the other movements. Perhaps my interpretation may instead be viewed more as commentary on the text.

In each passing decade, people are sure of their eating habits, and the carefree, assured, commercial America of the 1950s was no different. In the last movement, The Happy Medium, I envision a father-like doctor figure squarely explaining to a patient how to eat. The perky background music is meant to evoke a 1950s TV commercial, or perhaps a short, black and white educational grade school film.

Winter Songs

Eating Variations - III. Even The Dyspeptic Music Eat

Sonata No. 1 for Violin and Piano
Duration: 20'
Publisher: Bill Holab Music: http://www.billholabmusic.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=103_137&products_id=1107
Online Perusal Score: https://issuu.com/robertpaterson/docs/sonata.i-vln.pno.-fs-bound-perusal
For More Information: https://robertpaterson.com/sonata-no-1-for-violin-and-piano

PROGRAM NOTE (SHORT VERSION FOR PROGRAMS)
The first movement, Adagio – allegro con uno trotto – adagio begins and ends in a somewhat Romantic style, but with a twist: the end of the movement sounds like a record scratch, as if what you just heard is a track from an old vinyl LP. I became fascinated with the sound of record scratches when I noticed them in many commercials, although this is somewhat ironic since no one really plays records anymore.

The imaginary title of the second movement, Schizando (derived from ‘schizophrenia’) is a word I came up with to describe a musical style centered on fast, abrupt changes. This movement also reveals an obsession with sequences: sequence-like chord patterns decay by gradually becoming more dissonant as they evolve. These sequential sections alternate with “siesta daydream” sections, akin to channel surfing with a remote control. I was recently on the road for two months with my wife Victoria while she was touring, so on a personal level, traveling on the road to a different hotel every week probably influenced how I wrote this movement. We were never in the same place for very long and many of the hotels looked the same. Our lives were not that dramatic. I started craving drama, particularly in the music I listened to, and this probably spilled over into how I wrote this movement.

The third movement, Largo is slow and broad and inspired by the phrase "the weight of the past." There are time markers that delineate certain sections, reminiscent of the ticking of a clock. There are a number of composers whose works influenced me in this movement, such as the later works of Arvo Pärt and the slow movements of some of Beethoven’s sonatas. I was also pre-occupied with wanting to write a movement that contained mostly “open” notes, i.e. half notes, whole notes and double whole notes.

My main influences for the last movement, Allegro con moto are the early formal ideas of Igor Stravinsky, folk-style fiddle playing and jazz. There are a few false starts when piano chords come crashing down and a few somewhat humorous sections. Many of the themes from the previous three movements reappear in this movement.

As with many of my earlier works, my goal was to create a four-movement work in which all of the movements are quite different from each other. In a sense, I view this multi-stylistic approach as the result of wanting to embrace a variety of tools. As a result, as I wrote this I did not have an allegiance to any one particular style, as each one hopefully elicits a certain, distinctive emotional response.

Joy: Music for Violin and Piano

Sonata No. 1 for Violin and Piano - I. Adagio, Allegro Con Uno Trotto, Adagio

Sonata No. 1 for Violin and Piano - I. Adagio – allegro con uno trotto – adagio

So I'm a big fan of The Mandalorian and I really loved Ming-Na Wen's character 'Fennec Shand', but I noticed that she didn't have her own theme song...so I made one! I took some elements of the official Mandalorian main theme and composed this theme song as a tribute to Fennec's character and the awesome actress Ming-Na Wen as well. Hope you like it!

Fennec Shand Unofficial Theme Song | "Desert Assassin"

I Dont Remember At All

If you like this song, don't forget to like it and share it!

Lyrics:

Shouldnt' have been there, it was not my day...
I should have been with you.
I should have seen them as they were chasing me
Should have been more careful

Now I think
who's gonna care for you babe?
who's gonna care for you babe?
And I say
who's gonna care? Who's gonna care of you?
who's gonna care for you babe?
While I'm gone

They said to beware of anything I'd tell
They'd use it against me
They said to beware cuz if i lied to them
they would show no mercy

And I think 
who's gonna care for you babe?
who's gonna care for you babe?
And I say
who's gonna care for you? Who's gonna care for you?
who's gonna care for you babe? For you

The pre-series

Who's gonna care?

Downbeat ambient track written and produced in February 2021 - big thanks to Oliver James for playing guitar on this track.

ft. Oliver James

Odyssey

“A Welcome Ghost” 

This room, empty now, 
But not before, there was much more, 

Silence now, without a sound, 
It Used to sing, more than anything, 

years have gone, and so have you, 
This place takes on a different hue, 

These memories they haunt it’s true, 
But a welcome ghost of what I knew, 

A welcome ghost of what I knew, X3
These memories I keep of you, 

This tree, where I would sit, 
Deep in thought, at all life brought, 

You found me there, and I am still, 
But new limbs have grown, since last you’ve shown, 

Years have gone, and so have you, 
The leaves they bloom a different hue, 

These memories they haunt it’s true
But a welcome ghost of what I knew, 

A welcome ghost of what I knew, x3
These memories I keep of you, 

This river, still it flows, 
And ships float on, down currents strong, 

Behind the trees, along the bank, 
The gold sun set, And I won’t forget, 

Years have gone, and so have you, 
And the sky It burns a different hue, 

These memories they haunt it’s true, 
But a welcome ghost of what I knew, 

These memories I keep of you.

A Welcome Ghost

A family physician who uses writing and playing to reflect and decompress. My brother and I are part of the band Alpaca De Beats in AZ. Currently writing and playing in Vancouver, WA, where I’ve been since 2021. 

I’ve been writing lyrics for over a decade now. The ones that make it through are from the heart and stem from life experiences. The songs mean more that way. The songs also evolve over time as I continue to grow and learn. I try to keep it stripped down to let the lyrics and voice tell each story. 

I hope you enjoy them.

A Welcome Ghost

Toren Davis

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