Platforms...

The new recording, Platforms is finished!  My latest all acoustic, all instrumental album features nine tracks of original music for solo guitar.  The songs balance intricate finger style playing with compact melodies and harmonic passages that explore the full range of the acoustic guitar. 

The songs of the album were arrived at organically.  Some of the rhythms grew from picking an electric guitar in a bar band over the years.  Some of the melodies were inspired by my experiences as a guitar teacher.  Some of the pieces expand on the reflection of a poetic thought or wistful recollection.  Some of the phrases developed out of a love of the technical exploration of the instrument.  Some of the tracks answered a question such as, “What would a song called ‘Hacksaw’ sound like?” 

I tracked the songs at my home studio in three or four sessions over the summer of 2015.  That winter, I took the rough tracks to engineer Rich Isaac’s studio.  We selected the best takes and mixed the final recording.  I allowed for a lot of flexibility in the mixing process and continued to shape the compositional elements even at this phase of the process.  Some takes, for example, were selected based on a particular dynamic or articulation that focused a section of music more clearly than another take that was otherwise just as good. 

The mixing process was spread out over a few brief sessions each month mainly because of scheduling priorities and other interruptions, but after some time, the final mix down was finished in the summer of 2016.  The mastering and final touches to the album artwork followed in the fall. 

This record was a long journey that started as a concept in 2007.  I kept it on the back burner as I developed the ideas that would take the final form of the record.  The bulk of the music was written between 2013 and 2015.  I had a lot of help along the way.  Rich Isaac is a wizard at Pro Tools, and was essential to the final sonic shape that the recording would take.  Photographic artist extraordinaire Dorrett Oosterhoff provided the cover image and shot the photo inside of the album.  My wife, Kirsten, who was, as always, at every turn throughout the process, contributed her boundless energy and enthusiasm to the project as a whole.  She also created all of the graphic design for the album.  Thanks to everyone, including the friends and fans who let me experiment with their ears as I played some of the rough drafts.  Enjoy!

Check it out here: http://www.robzuzin.com/music
 

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