The Acme Keyboard Telegraph
My writing & recording studio is a library. This is not only because I draw great inspiration & solace from books – I mean you’ve never seen so many wartime Penguin Orangebacks in a row – but also because a wall full of books has great acoustic properties – it dampens the sound and (to my ear at least) bounces back a lovely diffuse quality in the instrument being recorded.I have a shelf in front of my music stand which has stacks of everything I’m currently reading.
I’ve recently become somewhat obsessed with the work of Chris Ware, and a copy of his Acme Novelty Yearbook is permanently open for inspiration.
Studio bookstack
Whilst much of his work deals with melancholia & failure, there’s a healthy dose of influence from the adverts in early American magazines, as well as repeated references to Ragtime
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This piece is a concerto for a single chord on a ukelele written after reading a chunk of this amazing book. Hope you like it…
