Rain For Sound - Write Up

Hi all,

I knew very early on in the writing and recording process that the time would come for me to do an in-depth write up regarding Rain For Sound. For me, the album is something completely new and will serve as a considerable milestone in the discovery of what In Sequence really is. At the moment, I know I want it to be progressive, and accepting towards new genres and styles, but I don't think that Silence really defined what my music was all about. It was a nice record, and i'm very proud of it, but for me the majority of the album feels rushed, and when it wasn't rushed it was trying to be something too big for it's boots. After Silence, I had a few things on-the-go, including the Oldfield-esque 'Pathway To Light' - and interesting experiment that turned out very well in my opinion; and the first record under the name Somnaire. Somnaire will be dedicated to anything too avant-garde or drone to really fit the song-based/progressive music explored with In Sequence. for that reason, it is a separate project entirely.

Rain For Sound, for me, is a strange record. The writing and recording process hasn't been as clean-cut as it was for Silence. Producing Silence was easy, everything flowed naturally and the concept was so personal that I really had total control over the recording and mastering process. Rain For Sound was always going to be different from day one for one reason alone - it had a much more solid concept than any of my previous works. Saying this is probably an anti-climax, as all of the songs so far have been unified by the themes of their respective albums. Atrophy was an adolescent stab at politics, and for the most part it felt uneducated - I didn't really know what I was talking about and the music was far from being satisfactorily produced. The Ride EP was continuing the theme of Atrophy but also adding some personal, even somewhat spiritual matters to the mix. Silence was entirely devoted to personal and spiritual matters - which made for a nice concept and, perhaps more importantly, made it easy to control. Rain For Sound has been anything but that - so let me tell you a bit about what you'll be getting into...

Rain For Sound follows the life of a person, anonymously titled 'Architect'. Architect is an interesting creation, because even I don't really know what he - or it - is. Architect represents negativity on a universal scale. He, or it, is the personified grotesque and abominable nature of man. There are times in the album where I refer to the Architect as a murderer, and there are occasions when the victim is all made reference to. The interesting thing about Rain For Sound is that it very rarely goes to first-person from the architect's perspective; rather, much of it is my study of him. He is a character I created, yet I know very little about him or his life, simply because he represents - or is - something so much more prominent and powerful in our lives, to the extent that studying and writing about his nature is troublesome and, ultimately, very difficult. Anyway, I was you all to try to find out more about Architect as you listen to the album and embrace him, reluctantly, into your lives - or whatever your own interpretation of Architect is. The name is not in place because f a past career of his - it could be - but it represents  the part of humanity that is able to design and build false security, and where necessary taking by materials by force. The rest of the picture is down to you to interpret...

The track listing is as follows;

1) Rain For Sound

2) Setting Sail

3) Boy

4) Electronic Voice Phenomenon

5) Architect

6) Heatwave

7) Amsterdam

8) Boy (Acoustic Version)

The album clocks in at just over 45 minutes. The first half of the record (RFS - EVP) is song based, being different, but not overly unfamiliar to fans of my previous works. Minus the acoustic version of 'Boy', everything past Architect is very different. Architect's song is around 14 minutes in length, and the majority of which is read-aloud segments of poetry that the Architect has written, and also a book-like section depicting a fairly significant chapter in my study of Architect. I am very grateful to have been joined by Emma Wallington and Elliott Mascart in making these moments sound amazing. 

I'm not going to do a track-by-track analysis as I had intended to. I feel that it's something that is going to have to be discovered as you listen. Being able to release the album soon is a breath of fresh air for me, as the album has ultimately turned out well, but it's been a rocky road and there have been times I have hated the very mention of it. Thanks you all immensely and support during this process, and I hope that now we can all sit back and, hopefully, enjoy the music and embrace it's concept. Finally the journey here is over, and I can't lie that I am very grateful to not have to worry about it again.

All in all, it's been an incredibly interesting experience, and I hope you agree that the music and concept is something new for me and my music. After listening to it, I pray you see what I mean by it being a milestone in my musical life. It's different, emotional, epic, moving and at times not altogether pleasant, but when all is said and done, i'm very proud of how it's turned out. I will give you a release date for the album very soon - if not later today. I will release it independently on my bandcamp page for free, of course.

Thanks you all for help. Let's let the new year bring new beginnings and hopefully an even better year than the last!

Best,

Alex Mascart