Abortion - A Counterfact

"Abortion," is a counterfact from my symphony, "Ocean Shell."  The 3rd movement is recontextualized under the topic of abortion, and the title comes with its own disclaimer.  The song itself is a bit of a revolving door that works well in conversation.

It depicts the images that he had seen from a civilization with too many abortions. The effect is subtle psychological horror. You can hear the unerring piano striking a nerve, eventually leading to catharsis release at the end of the song. Something, resembling a human emerging from the soundscape, screeching with agony. Yet, the music is presented in a matter of fact manner, like this is normal. Listener discretion is advised? In America, we share our fears. Feel free to remix.

In practice, when someone says they don't like the song, "Abortion," I tell them I don't like abortion either.  You either love it or hate it.  With that said, the advocacy is there in hopes that anyone can make educated decisions about the process of hard topics, in the news especially.

The track was developed from the saxophone, piano and ambience added after the original sound.  The saxophone is slowed using Paul's Stretch to convey the "orchestra" hidden in the horn.  Altissimo peaks at a hotpoint in the sound, seering white hot spewing lashing out with ocean waves in consequence after the "blissimo."  The piano really throttles throughout the song unapologetically.  If you never felt guilty, you may now.  Anger is accepted form of currency to the imagination in the symphony.  

The ambient instrument was developed by, Kim Cascone, and he was kind enough to be available for review, when he's not trapped in covert.  The form is freeform, but if the altissimo were a dividing factor, a monument to the piece, then it is a diptych, where fractal frames embolden the images experienced.

Pretty much anything you could say about abortion is true for the song, too.  😕

Have fun!

Hi Vonias. First of all:
  

Do you use that formatted text intentionally? It's so difficult to read in dark mode though it's hardly an issue cause I may be the only one using it. Still, it's strange I don't see any filler in the usual mode. 

Anyway, the soundscape you created is indeed eerie, a bit repetitive but that's —more often than not— a definining aspect of many ambient music. I don't dislike it, and now that I am done with its first listening I can almost guarantee that I got used to it. It's not very tense, I think I cannot find any better term other than "eerie", really. Not even the high frequencies at the very beginning bother my ears.  I like the —perhaps tiny— detail of music dying itself and not getting choped with a stop button.

Finally, and reviewing my own brief commentarry, I am not certain if my notes could just apply to abortion 🗿. But I can get what you mean. I don't get what you mean by "counterfact" though. 

Kind regards,
Daniel–Ø.

 

Alright, fixed the dark mode issue.  Counterfact in this case falls into the "other" category where it's all else but redefining a set of chords into a new song, creatively.  I simply forged one of my songs with a new title to approach a different context that also resonates emotionally with me.

I was inspired by, Kim Cascones, "Recontextualizing Ambient Music," vying for a more convincing sound structure, if not by the pounding of the anvil that is ostensive in the music:

Recontextualizing Ambient Music in Csound

That's good that it doesn't bother your ears.  I had it professionally mastered, before I shared.  I have the unmastered version somewhere if that's your thing?

Subtle horror is tough.  I thought I had got it, it's not so much unexciting, but uncanny, psychological, maybe personal, but the subtlety in horror is tough to pull off without explaining everything.  Maybe you have a few pointers?

Anyway, thank you for the review.  It spurs me on to the next one.

Not sure if it serves, but the thing that probably made me not feel that much uneasy was that there was a constant bass sound that I even perceive as comfortable at times. Maybe some more movement in the bass, subtle but noticeable, would help. Or even some absence of bass at times or a shift in its timbre.. At the end of the day, these are your and only your choices. Maybe this is VERY uncanny for some other listener, who knows (I certainly do not). 

Kind regards!

Alright, more bass movement in ambience, and bass timbre.  Right, so work on the bass.  I can do that.

Yes, I was personally asked to tone the music down a bit.  hahaha