Ah, The Wombat Project - A study of emotion through motion.
My strange and unexpected foray into the world of 90’s ambient electronica…
If you are a regular listener of my indie folk tunes, like the Haunted Cowboy Sounds album, you may be asking yourself, what the f*ck is happening? Trust me, so am I…
The Backstory:
As some of you know, I had been struggling with the chronic fatigue of long Covid from October to March. Things have certainly improved, but there are still bad days, even as I write this in early August. In the Spring when it was really impacting my life, I would start practising guitar, or working on the next indie album one day, then get wiped out again for days; leaving me feeling drained and disappointed that I was not accomplishing my goals. It was a constant battle to stay in top form… it was a battle I wasn't winning.
As a guy that’s released 7 albums in 2 years, not being able to create had really taken a toll on my mental health.
When I posted my youngest daughter's “Purrs-day” craft (*Purrs-day is an invented holiday celebrating cats - it happens on a Thursday in February) on Instagram at the end of February, I did a search for a song about cats to go with the post and found “Meow”. I was immediately obsessed with this track! So, I thought I would try my hand at the drum sequencers in my recording gear (It’s GarageBand if you’re curious). I had never used them before, but thought I could make something similar to Meow for fun…
After creating “Robots Dream Of Home” I texted a friend that has an extensive knowledge of music and asked, “What the hell have I just made?”
It seems I had ventured down a musical path I always had an affinity for: 90’s ambient trip-hop… (One of my favs from back in the day was DJ Spooky’s Galactic Funk.)
So, over the course of about 15 days, I had created 12 songs, with SOS From The Outer Edge becoming the 13th and final track about a month later. Creating this album provided me with a much-needed mental health boost, and I was able to explore new sounds and feelings through this different style of music.
And, Volume 2 of The Wombat Project is already in the planning stage ;)
I also had a bit of fun making my first ever music videos too:
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