It’s that Time(s) of the Day………

While there’s a bit of a lull on the gigging front (the calm before the storm!) I’ve been trying to help my partner Miki get more of her artwork online in video format. This has necessitated writing dedicated musical soundtracks – some of them of considerable length. The latest, for example, clocks in at just under 7 minutes, and is an accompaniment for her ‘Times of the day’ series – a huge body of work that depicts, in watercolours, exactly that, from dawn until nightfall and all points in between. I wanted to write something that, if you like, ‘followed’ the development of the day, starting understated, then building to a huge crescendo before finally falling away to single notes.  I’m quite happy with ‘A Journey through the day’ – as I’ve called it, as once again it pushes me compositionally, taking me way out of my comfort zone as a rock and pop writer, challenging me to build on a continuous theme over a long period of time while trying to (hopefully!) sustain interest in the piece.  Check out the video and soundtrack below:

Kev Moore

Moore’s Muso Music….

I like to think that my remit as a writer is eclectic, and never more so than when my partner, the French Artist Miki asks me to create a video to showcase her various works. This time it was her musicians paintings, an astounding array of pieces featuring musicians as diverse as Son House, Michael Jackson, Tal Wilkenfield, Steve Stevens, Billy Corgan, Robert Plant, Barry White, and all points in between!  Because of the sheer volume of works to be shown – Sixty-four in all, ( and that’s only a small proportion of her musician paintings) the video was always going to clock in at going on for 8 minutes, allowing for the fact that each image would need around 8 seconds ‘screen time’, so I set about composing a soundtrack  that would run for around 8 and a half minutes to be safe.  When I do this kind of work, it’s not a song I need of course, moreover, a vibe, a feel that will suit everything that appears on the screen. Clearly, I couldn’t jump around through the different styles as the different musicians appeared on the screen every 8 seconds or so – that would’ve been utter chaos! -So I went for a continual bass and drum groove, with a recurring breakdown section presented slightly differently each time it came around.  Alternating guitar and synth solos try to keep the interest throughout.

I always enjoy this sort of project, as it takes me into areas I don’t normally go. I would never describe myself as a keyboard player for example, never mind a soloist(!) but on this piece – imaginatively entitled “Muso’s Theme”, I have a go! What surprised me is how much I can hear Jan Hammer’s influence (but not his skill) come out in my effort. I used to listen to his mid 70’s work with Beck quite a lot. It was a one-take thing, warts’n’all, but I kind of liked it, so I left it in!

For the gear geeks, I used a Fender Jazz Custom bass with Lace alumatone pick-ups and a Stellartone tone styler, a Fender Aerodyne Stratocaster, an Ibanez AS73 Semi-Acoustic, and a Roland GW-7 Workstation.

But the stars of the show in this video are Miki’s paintings – check them out. You can buy all of them as prints from

FINE ART AMERICA.

Kev Moore