As I mention
ed in a recent blog post, David Byrne was a major influence on The WOMBAT Project. But, another major influence throughout my career and this album in particular, has been The Beatles. While I have always drawn on their songwriting as inspiration on my past albums, it was their groundbreaking work in the studio on albums like Revolver that fuelled WOMBAT.
I have had a resurgence as a songwriter since the release of Peter Jackson’s Get Back documentary as it has given us all an amazing insight into this historic moment in The Beatles' career as a band (originally filmed while they were working on the Let It Be album). But, it is also a gift that keeps on giving. You see, Jackson and his team created new AI technology, which has enabled The Beatles original works to be remastered in an entirely new way. And it was this remastering work that was a new source of inspiration for me.
Working with sequencers and synth sounds for the first time in a serious way, I discovered an interview with Giles Martin, the son of legendary Beatles producer George Martin, discussing his work on the Revolver album.
In explaining the remastering process, in particular the song Tomorrow Never Knows, Giles described how his father, along with John (Lennon) and Paul (McCartney), controlled the main mixing board on that song - all the looped sounds and effects, as they created the final mix. They were adjusting faders for the looped sounds each time they attempted a mix. No two versions were the same or could ever be fully reproduced because the sounds were being manipulated live, while they mixed the song.
As I worked on creating the beats and ambient layers on The WOMBAT Project album, I did not want to simply rely on the sequencers and synths to create a generic sound. It was important for me to actually create new and unique sounds as I added layers to each composition. In building songs like The Astronaut's Last Goodbye and The Wind Phone, I would slide faders and turn as many knobs at once as I could while recording and mixing the album. Some attempts went too far, which meant starting over. Other times, it didn't go far enough… But every attempt brought me closer to my ultimate goal of exploring emotion through motion.
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