Chris Conway - Wondrous Darkness

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An album of gently strange soundscapes featuring theremin, piano, keyboards, zithers, bells, & electronics.

The music on this album was recorded as monthly submissions to the United Isolation Ensemble, designed to be mixed with other artists’ tracks. The UIE grew out of the pandemic lockdown to enable collaboration in isolation.

I have released several albums of my solo pieces on their own - Strange New World, When Pianos Dream, & Splendid Isolation. This time I had a lot of tracks which I wanted to release. I realised that some were light and mellow, and others were dark and strange. They didn’t sit well together on one album, so I made two! - Wondrous Light & Wondrous Darkness.

I’m grateful to the UIE which got me to experiement in the studio again. Trying different combinations of instruments, different effects, and ways of recording the sounds.

I’ve always enjoyed the atmosphere in dark spaces. As a teenager I would listen to music in dark rooms - I still do. This album follows the Spendid Isolation album but with a wider collection of sounds and textures. - CC

1 - theremin, effects.
2 - electric piano, synthesizer, Celtic harp, theremin, effects.
3 - steel tongue drum, voice, effects.
4 - piano, effects.
5 - theremin, zither, low Irish whistle, whispers, voice, bells, effects.
6 - theremin.
7 - electric organ, effects.
8 - air conditioner, theremin, cowbell, bells, effects.
9 - voice, electric piano, synthesizer, effects.
10 - piano, field recordings, kantele, effects.
11- theremin, effects.

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A companion album to Wondrous Light - (out in January 2025!)

I used the following effects.
Moogerfooger Ring Modulator
Moogerfooger MuRF filter array
Digitech Vocalist Live Pro harmonizer
Boss DD20 Giga Delay

"There Was A Time" - the text was spontaneously created.

There Was A Time - ©2024 Chris Conway

There was a time, there was a place,
There was a man who had no face,
And no place.

There was a time, there was a place,
There's still time.
Time arrives all the time.
Every line, we find time,
The time before time, on the line.

There was a time, there was a place,
There was a smile across this space.
Time and places, times and spaces.
Future past never lasts, and yet,
Goes on forever.
There was a time, there was a place.

There was a place, there was a time,
When I knew what was on your mind,
Behind the eyes, behind the smile.
And all the while, on your mind,
Was another time, and another place,
And a smile across your face,
Smiling at the human race.

There was a place, there was a time,
Words would never rhyme,
Like now, and then, and the cosmos.
Time, and space, and the cosmos,
And your face, and my face,
In this space - and time.

There was a time, there was a place,
There was a circumstance,
That brought us together.
Together in time, together in space,
At a place of our own chosing.
No winning, no losing.
Just us, the space and the time
Ever expanding.
Like our minds, like our dreams.

Time, space, circumstance,
And chance,
In the dance of life.

And all the time – we knew.
We knew all the time,
We had been here before,
And would be here again,
In this time – in this space.
Re-enacting, redacting, reacting.
No regrets.

Just the space,
And time,
And circumstance.